You may not know the word "phenylephrine", but you almost certainly know Sudafed (and perhaps its generic name, pseudoephedrine).
If you live in the US or several other places, you probably know that the "good" Sudafed is kept behind the counter, and you have to sign for it. You may have also noticed that there is another version, called "Sudafed PE", that you can just pick up off the shelf.
A lot of people have done that and concluded for themselves that the PE version didn't work. That's why there are so many people commenting that they already knew the thing the article is about.
So... a lot of people were familiar with "PE", and apparently a lot of them knew that it stood for "phenylephrine". And it all touches on a bunch of existing controversy about why the effective medication is locked up.
It wasn't always. People knew that Sudafed was an pretty effective drug. (It was even used, under a different brand, on Apollo missions -- there was a TV ad with an astronaut endorsing it.) A lot of people are grumpy that a well-known effective medicine was made hard to get, and something else sneakily substituted.
The point being, it's not entirely a surprise that people are aware of the phenylephrine -- especially if they're older than, say, 40, and live in the United States. They remember, sniffily, when cold medicine started to suck.
> you probably know that the "good" Sudafed is kept behind the counter, and you have to sign for it.
In my state, that's not how it works. You have to have a doctor's prescription to get it, which means you have to have a doctor -- and getting a doctor is incredibly difficult.
What's even worse than that is that the only allergy medicine that was really effective for me is no longer manufactured at all, because one of the ingredients was pseudoephedrine. Once these stupid regulations came into effect, sales of it plummeted to the point where it was no longer worth making it.
For years, I had friends in other countries buy it and mail it to me, but that's no longer an option at all.
As a connoisseur of alergy meds, I'm also stumped. I know many allergy meds were sold as 'D' formulations that included pseudoephedrine, but I wasn't aware of any sold exclusively that way.
Benedryl is what I switched to. It took a long time to get acclimatized to it enough that I wasn't perpetually on the edge of going to sleep!
It was Drixoral, which is a combination of pseudoephedrine and dexbrompheniramine. You can get dexbrompheniramine OTC and combine it with pseudoephedrine and it's OK -- but not quite the same because Drixoral was a time release thing.
Probably, but that would require a prescription and I've not yet been able to find a primary care doctor (there is an acute shortage of them around here).
Thanks this is helpful, I'm aware of the Sudafed/meth issue but I didn't realize the alternatives were all clearly labeled PE. That explains why it's so obvious to a lot of people.
It isn't labeled as such in the UK. Both the "full fat" version and the placebo worthless one are just called Sudafed - but the proper one is kept behind counter and you have to ask for it.
In early 2000s, I switched to using codeine for cough after seeing commentary that is the best treatment for cough/lungs without any bad side effects. That person, a physician noted that all others will have some effect.
I usually pick these cough syrups with codeine when traveling overseas, and has worked extraordinary well, including for my then young children. They are recovering by the 2nd or 3rd day after sleeping though the night without coughing. Obviously children dosage. I think sleep was the medicine.
Codeine is indeed the right stuff for a cough. Unfortunately it was made a controlled Rx-only drug in the US in the 1960s because it could be abused. Now US OTC cough medicine sucks.
This is a fantastic write up and as for anecdotal confirmation, an award winning career journalist cited his “on deadline” setup was a box of Sudafed and a pot of Coffee, then a bottle of Jack Daniels once it was all in. Very effective compound and I also didn’t know the PE longhand…only went to the counter…
A little red sudafed and a caffeine pill was my normal cram session. I thought it was the stimulant effect for years until I was diagnosed with adhd and my doc said what I was doing is called the sudafed test. If it helps you focus, you have adhd. I was self medicating without realizing it. It wasn't a great idea, it has more side effects than the main stimulant adhd drugs.
I can’t even imagine this combo; I can barely tolerate Sudafed alone.
It’s like drinking 15 cups of espresso all at once for me. Jittery; quick tempered; but a clear head and nose. Good with the bad when you’re ill but holy fuck would it be brutal without the head cold + alcohol + caffeine.
My wife and I find that taking a whole 120mg (12 hour) pill makes us too jittery, but they're easily broken in half, and half a pill gives acceptable decongestant effects while making the side effects a bit better.
If you live in the US or several other places, you probably know that the "good" Sudafed is kept behind the counter, and you have to sign for it. You may have also noticed that there is another version, called "Sudafed PE", that you can just pick up off the shelf.
A lot of people have done that and concluded for themselves that the PE version didn't work. That's why there are so many people commenting that they already knew the thing the article is about.
So... a lot of people were familiar with "PE", and apparently a lot of them knew that it stood for "phenylephrine". And it all touches on a bunch of existing controversy about why the effective medication is locked up.
It wasn't always. People knew that Sudafed was an pretty effective drug. (It was even used, under a different brand, on Apollo missions -- there was a TV ad with an astronaut endorsing it.) A lot of people are grumpy that a well-known effective medicine was made hard to get, and something else sneakily substituted.
The point being, it's not entirely a surprise that people are aware of the phenylephrine -- especially if they're older than, say, 40, and live in the United States. They remember, sniffily, when cold medicine started to suck.