4 ms·

If you take any kind of OTC medicine, it’s assumed that you’ll read the directions (which includes the list of ingredients). Clearly most people don’t, and they

by orev 3y ago

If you take any kind of OTC medicine, it’s assumed that you’ll read the directions (which includes the list of ingredients). Clearly most people don’t, and they just rely on the marketing material printed on the box/bottle to understand what the medicine does. If they did read the ingredient list, people would realize that all those products in the pharmacy are mostly remixes of the same handful of chemicals sold at different prices.

burkaman 3y ago
I do know to always buy the generic version of a medicine when it's available, but I also generally rely on the FDA to not let companies lie about what a drug does. Apparently that has failed in this case. I guess I only buy decongestants like once a year at most though, I would probably pay more attention if I needed them more often.
dessimus 3y ago
Sure, but one hopes that a national brand takes care to avoid any type of contamination that might cause a scare on the level of the Tylenol scandal in the 80s. A generic making 20-some store brands might be more lax.
AnthonyMouse 3y ago
> If they did read the ingredient list, people would realize that all those products in the pharmacy are mostly remixes of the same handful of chemicals sold at different prices. This is one of the major problems with putting pseudoephedrine behind the counter. It had been an ingredient in many of these combination products -- after all, if you have a cold, you have the combination of symptoms that come with a cold and want to take the corresponding combination of drugs. But the combination products are convenience products. You could just as well buy the ingredients individually and take them together. People buy the combination product to be saved the trouble, which isn't compatible with the trouble of getting something from behind the counter. So there generally isn't a combination product available with the decongestant that actually works in them. And phenylephrine, in addition to not working, has more dangerous side effects (e.g. larger increase in blood pressure) than pseudoephedrine. But now it's the thing in the bottle grandma gets when she has a cold.
scottyah 3y ago
Just because two medications contain the same active ingredient doesn't mean they'll have the same results. A lot of work gets put into speed and location of of release.

by orev 3y ago

burkaman 3y ago

I do know to always buy the generic version of a medicine when it's available, but I also generally rely on the FDA to not let companies lie about what a drug does. Apparently that has failed in this case. I guess I only buy decongestants like once a year at most though, I would probably pay more attention if I needed them more often.

dessimus 3y ago

Sure, but one hopes that a national brand takes care to avoid any type of contamination that might cause a scare on the level of the Tylenol scandal in the 80s. A generic making 20-some store brands might be more lax.

AnthonyMouse 3y ago

> If they did read the ingredient list, people would realize that all those products in the pharmacy are mostly remixes of the same handful of chemicals sold at different prices. This is one of the major problems with putting pseudoephedrine behind the counter. It had been an ingredient in many of these combination products -- after all, if you have a cold, you have the combination of symptoms that come with a cold and want to take the corresponding combination of drugs. But the combination products are convenience products. You could just as well buy the ingredients individually and take them together. People buy the combination product to be saved the trouble, which isn't compatible with the trouble of getting something from behind the counter. So there generally isn't a combination product available with the decongestant that actually works in them. And phenylephrine, in addition to not working, has more dangerous side effects (e.g. larger increase in blood pressure) than pseudoephedrine. But now it's the thing in the bottle grandma gets when she has a cold.

scottyah 3y ago

Just because two medications contain the same active ingredient doesn't mean they'll have the same results. A lot of work gets put into speed and location of of release.