Weird difference in medication

This is probably only of minor interest, but thought I'd share...

I don't get colds often, but I expect to get them more now with both my kids in some sort of school. In the UK I would take Lemsip and loved it as it didn't knock me out and really worked for me (though the sachets are nasty - I was a capsule girl!).

Anyway, when I last had a cold here in the US, back in the spring, I took some OTC generic capsules and Oh. My. God. I was totally wiped out. Unfortunately, I was working and had to take something or be permanently attached to the kleenex box. But it took everything I had not to curl up and go to sleep for a long, long time.

So I told myself that when I got a cold again, I'd look up the active ingredients in Lemsip and get whatever the equivalent is here. And yes, I've now got a cold.

Turns out the only way you can get it OTC is as a nasal spray (Neo-Synephrine)! I find this so odd. I wonder what it is about this drug that the US does not seem to use it in any oral form?

I've never really used nasal sprays so this should be interesting. Fingers crossed it works! If not, someone is going to have to send me some Lemsip!!

We stock up on Lemsips when we visit because Theraflu is NOT the same no matter how much I wish it were.

Hope you feel better!

Well so far I'm not impressed with the nasal stuff. It's a dropper kind and I put the drops in and some of them got sniffed right back into my throat and the rest promptly sneezed out.

Lovely.

I must be missing some trick of how to do this!

Turns out the only way you can get it OTC is as a nasal spray (Neo-Synephrine)! I find this so odd. I wonder what it is about this drug that the US does not seem to use it in any oral form?

Are you sure? The active ingredient in Neo-Synephrine is phenylephrine, which is readily available OTC in the US in other forms.

From Wiki (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phenylephrine):

United States

Alka-Seltzer Cold Effervescent formula
Sudafed PE Non-Drowsy Nasal Decongestant
Robitussin CF
Tylenol Sinus (paracetamol and phenylephrine... same ingredients as Lemsip)
DayQuil Capsules
Tylenol Sinus Congestion & Pain
Dristan
Theraflu
Benadryl Allergy & Sinus Headache
Excedrin Sinus Headache (paracetamol and phenylephrine... same ingredients as Lemsip)

We stock up on Lemsips when we visit because Theraflu is NOT the same no matter how much I wish it were.

I just looked it up and a couple of the Theraflu products are almost exactly the same as Lemsip, except they also have a dry cough suppressant as well as the paracetamol and phenylephrine.

That's weird because when I looked it up (and I avoid Wiki), I only came up with Neo-Synephrine. The congestion must be getting to me as I usually don't flub up like that! That said, now that I think about it, I recall other people saying that the US versions just didn't work the same. I'll have to try one of those tomorrow and see as this nasal version is doing DIDDLY SQUAT!

Lemsip max cold & flu direct sachets contain two active ingredients, paracetamol (1000mg) and phenylephrine (12.2mg).
Here a few other brands that have both paracetamol and phenylephrine as their main ingredients a few have other ingrediants too.

Contac Cold n Flu
CVS Sinus Congestion & Pain Caplets Daytime And Nighttime
CVS Allergy & Cold with Fever Reducer Gelcaps
Dayquil Sinus Liquicaps
Sudafed Pe Severe Cold Caplets

Aye okay I searched the cvs website but other pharmacies will have their own brands of the same thing ..

That's weird because when I looked it up (and I avoid Wiki), I only came up with Neo-Synephrine.

Yeah, that seems odd - because phenylephrine is an extremely common ingredient in cold medicines... because of the tightened restrictions on psuedoephedrine, a lot of US companies have been replacing the psuedoephedrine with phenylephrine in their products, so even more US OTC remedies contain it now than ever.

(Regarding Wiki, I know it's not the most reliable, but I only post links from Wiki after I've verified that the information on that page is correct - I'm familiar with which ingredients are used in cold medicines anyway and I also checked the individual websites of each of the remedies I posted from Wiki to make sure they did actually contain that ingredient )

Oh man - if it were up to me, I'd send you all the Lemsip in Britain.  I think the stuff is wretched! 

Give me US cold & flu medicine anyday!  Preferably something that will knock me out, because that's how I kick illness - I sleep, sleep, sleep.  Also I've learnt how to 'tough it out' in the last 10 years or so (often not taking any remedies), because when I was taking BP meds - there wasn't a lot of the cold/flu stuff that I was able to take.

Oh man - if it were up to me, I'd send you all the Lemsip in Britain.  I think the stuff is wretched! 

I remember once when I had a cold, my housemate was nice enough to buy me some Lemsip. I also think the stuff is vile and to top it off she bought black currant flavored.  I used it though, because she was trying to be nice. I made it with as little water as possible then I'd let it cool until I could basically shoot it down my throat.