The *Angriest* Pharmacist You want your prescription filled when? Eat shit…

Non-Drowsy Claritin

"My husband has been sick for the last month. He's had a really bad congestion, headache, sneezing, itchy/watery eyes, and been unable to sleep. We've tried a bunch of stuff. Does he need to try that Mucinex stuff I've been seeing ads for?"
"No, no...absolutely not. Mucinex is for chest congestion, and based on what you told me, your husband is not having that problem. First, is he taking any prescription medicines? [NO]. Okay then. What have you tried?"
"Well, we've tried the Tylenol cold stuff [There's no telling which product they got], and he's been taking 24-hour Wal-Phed."
"I think he's probably having some allergy problems -- It's not a cold since it's been going on for a month. I'd say he needs to try taking a generic Claritin every day. He could also use some Benadryl at bedtime to help him sleep. I'm betting he's having trouble sleeping because the products you've tried have Sudafed in it -- which can cause people to have trouble sleeping. By taking that Claritin, we can get ahead of the symptoms and prevent them from occuring. It's a better route that treating the congestion once it's a problem."
"Okay. Great. Can you show me where these product are?"
"No problem. Here's the Claritin. One of those a day. It'll take about two weeks for that to reach it's full potential -- and he should just take that until the end of this allergy season which is roughly the beginning of winter in this area. The generic Benadryl is right here. It will help him sleep since it causes drowsiness. It is an antihistamine as well, but because of the drowsiness, it's best to take that at night until the Claritin kicks in. For his congestion, he can try using this generic Afrin nasal spray. Limit that to 5 days though otherwise it will make the congestion worse."
"Now, this Claritin says 'non-drowsy.' He's already having trouble sleeping and you want to give him something that is a stimulant?"
"Ohh no -- not at all. Sudafed has pseudoephdrine in it, which is essentially a low grade amphetamine. It is what is keeping him up. Claritin isn't stimulant or sedative. It's neutral. He won't notice anything except his allergies clearing up and those symptoms subsiding."
"Yes, but it says NON-DROWSY right here!"
"I see that, but that doesn't mean it will keep a person awake. It just means that it won't make him sleepy. That's why we're gonna give him this Benadryl -- to help him sleep and treat overnight allergies until the Claritin kicks in in about two weeks or less. It won't keep him awake."
"Then why do they put this on here?"
"Well, that's because all these other allergy medicines can cause drowsiness -- it's usually known that Benadryl causes people to get drowsy -- it's used as a sleep aid as well. You've probably heard of Unisom. It's just Benadryl and repackaged. They just want people to know that this product is different from those. It's a newer generation antihistamine, so it doesn't cause the drowsiness."
"That's confusing. You should tell them to take that off of there."
"Okay. I'll send them a note. Hope he feels better!"

-=+=-

Has anyone else had this issue? Do people really think that NON-DROWSY means insomnia?

Does Non-Profit mean that an organization is designed to LOSE money?

Just wondering...