NYT gift article expires in 30 days.
During a meth epidemic about 20 years ago they made a rule that medicine with pseudoephedrine had to be sold behind lock and key and drivers license scan.
Most cold medicine brands reformulated to use unrestricted phenylephrine. I tried phenylephrine but it was total snake oil and I have continued to submit to government tracking so I can get cold medicine that actually works.
I used to buy that shit at a gas station to help me stay awake on an overnight solo shift. Didn’t always work but it’s weird falling asleep with a heart rate of 100 bpm. It was in appetite suppressants, weightlifting formulas, and of course cold meds, but you could get a bottle of 50 for a few bucks and bypass all the markup for the specific products.
I get it’s to fight meth, and it did lead to a few non-meth deaths being totally unregulated, but having to pay $30 for a 24 pack of Mucinex is fucking highway robbery and people barely even know it.
ye gods I miss Mini-thins. Used to buy those at 7-11 when heading out on a road trip. Ephedrine FTW.
FDA saying out loud what we all knew already.
BTW if you are young enough to never have used “real” Sudafed, it actually works and you can easily tell that it is working. You can still get it if you ask the pharmacist.
Sudafed or death. It was unregulated when I was a kid, which was when I was constantly sick. I think my body must be like 30% sudafed at this point. I understand the regulations, but I do feel bad for sick kids these days. A box is not always enough to deal with a bad infection!
So I just ask the pharmacist “Can i have a box of Sudafed?”
Yes. You have to be 18. They check your ID and make sure you’re not buying too many boxes of it to stock your meth lab, but otherwise it’s not restricted.
That and hand over your ID to make sure you’re not buying too much. Don’t want people making meth. We sure solved the illicit drug problem in this country with that one.
Anyone who’s ever taken phenylephrine knows this. Especially we allergy sufferers. It’s worthless.
I’ve always gone to the counter (in the US) to get actual pseudoephedrine (Sudafed).
If you ask for it you can get full on ephedrine at a lot of pharmacies over the counter. Sold under the brand names Primatene and Bronkaid. Just prepare to be asked for your ID so they can track how much you buy (in the US anyways) since it’s a meth precursor.
It’s meant for people with asthma so it also includes guaifenesin.
Huh, I don’t think I’ve ever taken ephedrine. Is it stronger than the pseudo version? Sudafed (or generics) usually works just fine for me, since I use it for stopping a runny nose.
It’s better for chest congestion than pseudo (which is better for nasal).
Very interesting. I wonder what their metric was for determining it doesn’t work. Anecdotally, I use phenylephrine HCl alone and find it keeps me clear most of the time, but not always. I also have to be well hydrated or it actually makes me even more stuffed. Maybe the inconsistency is why they reached this verdict? Maybe I’ve just been experiencing a placebo effect?
The metric was that it is no more effective than placebo. It is a very old drug and was grandfathered in from a time before modern standards.
The FDA was told this by researchers in 2007, but they wanted mOrE dAtA.
Edit to add: It does have more effectiveness when used nasally as opposed to orally.
I get very Give me pseudoephedrine or give me death when I can’t breathe through my nose.
Preach. I hate the shit, it makes me feel shaky, but god damn does it work.
I call it methinex instead of Mucinex
No shit. Took them long enough to admit it.
Phenylephrine.
The nasal spray version works great. I think this was about oral not the nasal version. I will be very upset if they discontinue the nasal version. Used it for years at critical times when nothing else works.
It amazing to me that I feel like the entire general public knew this was the case. Like… we’re not doctors or anything but it’s clear when something isn’t working. Great way to continue to sap confidence in the US medical system/regulations for it
The irony that phenylephrine intravenous is actually effective at maintaining blood pressure in people who are trying real hard to die on ya. (Our ICU uses it sometimes.)
https://www.lhsc.on.ca/critical-care-trauma-centre/phenylephrine-neosynephrine
There was an article a while back about pseudoephedrine manufacturing and the pharmaceutical industry. Almost all of the pseudoephedrine was made by a german company and the US pharmaceutical companies lobbied and got it made illegal and switched to producing phenephelprine in China.
Guess I was the only one who didn’t know this.
