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CVS ditches common cold meds after FDA advisers say they're useless

arstechnica.com

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Re: CVS ditches common cold meds after FDA advisers say they're useless

#211

Post by pdonis »

azinman2 wrote: post #172
pdonis wrote: post #137

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> if you are actually congested, go to the pharmacy counter and get Pseudoephedrine Yes, that's what works for me. And of course it used to be available OTC until the government decided to control access to it because of fears of meth.

Not fears, but actual improper usage.

No, fears that leaving it available OTC would result in lots of people using it to make meth. Which, as far as I can tell, was a fantasy: yes, lots of people were using meth, but there was no real evidence that they were using OTC pseudoephedrine to do it. (And, as others have pointed out elsewhere in this discussion, there is no need to go through all the work of making it from pseudoephedrine when the Mexican drug cartels can provide it cheaper anyway.) Which makes the government's position rather like the old joke about the man who claimed to have invented anti-tiger dust:

Look at this wonderful anti-tiger dust I've invented?

But this is the USA, there are no wild tigers within thousands of miles of here.

See how effective my dust is?

Re: CVS ditches common cold meds after FDA advisers say they're useless

#212

Post by heavyset_go »

wutwutwat wrote: post #141
heavyset_go wrote: post #103

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you have two people who take it everyday for allergies, you've already hit your limit with 60 pills.

And yet still had enough for both of you, and that's if you both don't purchase the meds, and go to a 2nd store, or go to the same store the following day or week. 9 GRAMS every 30 days. The 20cnt box of Sudafed is 120mg pills, so 2400mg total, or 2.4 grams per box, and that's not all phseduo, which I think the 9 grams is only concerned with. So you'd have to look at how much of that 120mg is the limited material if…

> This is where all the complaints that it's too restrictive fall apart. When you do the math, there is room to stockpile and STILL take it daily...

And yet innocent people still get arrested and have their lives upended and/or ruined because they accidentally violated pseudoephedrine regulations.

When that's happening, it's because the regulations are too restrictive.

Re: CVS ditches common cold meds after FDA advisers say they're useless

#213

Post by [deleted] »

The_Blade wrote: post #195
titanomachy wrote: post #99

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Do you usually take decongestants for 12+ days? I usually just take them a couple of times on the worst days of a cold, maybe 5 pills every time I get sick. And pharmacies in my city don’t usually have more than 1 or 2 people ahead of me in line.

i was going to say, what planet are you on where you have to wait 60 minutes at the pharmacy, and what you need more than 24 pills for? you're either Jesse Pinkman or sicker than a vintage Jimi Hendrix lick

[deleted]

Re: CVS ditches common cold meds after FDA advisers say they're useless

#215

Post by jtbayly »

shrugthug wrote: post #191
jtbayly wrote: post #147

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Works great, BUT easily habit forming. Beware.

What do you mean by this? I’ve been using Afrin to deal with nasal congestion when I get a cold for 10+ years now. Do people continue to use the stuff once they have recovered or something?

Yes. It can fairly quickly feel like you can’t breathe without it.

Re: CVS ditches common cold meds after FDA advisers say they're useless

#216

Post by theultdev »

strifey wrote: post #87
hcurtiss wrote: post #53

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Oregon requires a prescription.

Oof, remind me not to move there. I wouldn't survive an allergy season. Though to be fair, I imagine most GPs would write a prescription pretty quick.

You can just buy hard drugs there instead, it's Oregon!

But you will have to go to a shady place since they only decriminalized them...

If it seems stupid it's because it is.

Re: CVS ditches common cold meds after FDA advisers say they're useless

#217

Post by nkozyra »

heavyset_go wrote: post #103
nkozyra wrote: post #78

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Rate-limited...at a quantity too low for a household that has a sinus infection running around. I don't think so. I actually buy this stuff for allergies because it's the only thing that works for me and doesn't disrupt my sleep one way or another. I get 60 pills which are 2x what's in cold medication. I get that it's annoying but for an illness it's more than enough for a large family.

If you have two people who take it everyday for allergies, you've already hit your limit with 60 pills.

At a decongestant dosage this will last two people two months. And of course if the second person is 18+ they can also buy that.

I'm not advocating that the limits are good, just that a single person is very unlikely to hit them for allergies, periodic illness or asthma (it's also available as a prescription for allergies)

Re: CVS ditches common cold meds after FDA advisers say they're useless

#218

Post by nkozyra »

heavyset_go wrote: post #212
wutwutwat wrote: post #141

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And yet still had enough for both of you, and that's if you both don't purchase the meds, and go to a 2nd store, or go to the same store the following day or week. 9 GRAMS every 30 days. The 20cnt box of Sudafed is 120mg pills, so 2400mg total, or 2.4 grams per box, and that's not all phseduo, which I think the 9 grams is only concerned with. So you'd have to look at how much of that 120mg is the limited material if…

> This is where all the complaints that it's too restrictive fall apart. When you do the math, there is room to stockpile and STILL take it daily... And yet innocent people still get arrested and have their lives upended and/or ruined because they accidentally violated pseudoephedrine regulations. When that's happening, it's because the regulations are too restrictive.

> And yet innocent people still get arrested and have their lives upended and/or ruined because they accidentally violated pseudoephedrine regulations.

I'm curious to know if you have any examples of this because I can't find one.

Re: CVS ditches common cold meds after FDA advisers say they're useless

#219

Post by vGPU »

clipsy wrote: post #144
vGPU wrote: post #120

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Under federal law, federally licensed gun dealers, importers and manufacturers must run background checks for sales to an unlicensed buyer. Specifically, a potential purchaser must show identification, complete a federal document known as a Form 4473, and pass a National Instant Criminal Background Check System check. Any licensed firearm dealer MUST run a background check at ALL times. Stop your misinformation.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gun_show_loophole

If the seller is a licensed firearm dealer, they are required to run a background check, no matter whether they’re at a gun show or not. Whereas if you’re purchasing in a private sale, you don’t have to be at a gun show. I can walk over to my neighbor’s house right now and purchase his gun without showing him my ID

This is fearmongering and sensationalism.

Re: CVS ditches common cold meds after FDA advisers say they're useless

#220

Post by johnny99k »

pyrophane wrote: post #90

My understanding is that they are only removing products that ONLY contain Phenylephrine, which means they will still sell it when it is part of multiple-ingredient formulations, which are in themselves kind of a scam. For example, many OTC "severe cold/flu" formulations contain: - Acetaminophen. Potentially helpful for the body aches that come with the flu, but a lot of the time when I'm sick, I don't exactly need o…

I take severe cold/flu medicine with all of these ingredients. Without it, I can't sleep at night and It takes me much longer to recover.

So to say it 'doesn't work' is nonsense.

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