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.
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.
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.
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.
Phenylephrine.
