Listening to: James Blunt album.
Feeling: Crappy.
After working another freaking Saturday night shift at the Pharmacy (God I hate them…)
But anyway while I was trying to waste 5 hours I decided that after more than a year working there, that I probably should be a little more ‘in the know’ of the products, as I still don’t konw what a lot of the products are for…So that day I decided to get clued up on the different Cold & Flu tablets, and that is just what I did!
For your easy viewing I have created a table of it! And some definitions in my own language of what each of the ingredients do:
Ibuprofen: A non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug (NSAID) This is really only found in Advil and Nurofen
Pseudoephedrine: This is the decongestant in the products..the ingredient that makes your nose better. To buy products with this in it, you need photo ID because long story cut shirt you can somehow break it down to get some bad drug, hence why it isn’t exactly over the counter, and the over the counter items were replaced with Phenylepherine.
Paracetamol: Your general pain killer
Dextromethorphan: The cough suppressant.
Codeine: Another type of pain killer.
Continued beneath the table…

Okay well, now for my complaining. Have you observed the table?
Every Cold & Flu (C&F) tablets have pretty much the same ingredients, and the only thing that differentiates them is the price and type of tablet whether it is tablet, caplet, gel caps (fastest) etc etc.
If you look at the table, Lemsip and Dimetapp have exactly the same ingredients, and they are both liquid formulas. Then again they are the same price, so it isn’t much of a difference. But the one that gets me is Demazin and Chemists’ Own. EXACTLY the same ingredients, same tablet form. $4 difference. You are paying $4 for a name. Look at the ingredients of Codral/Original and compare it to the Chemists’ Own again, exactly the same ingredients, and you get 3mg more of Codeine! $4 cheaper as well!
I never realised this, and every time someone would come in with teh line ‘I have a runny nose, headache body aches and pains etc’ I would head straight for Codral/(Original). Mainly because I knew everyone settled for it. But now that I have realised that there is pretty much no difference between all the products I referred someone to the Chemists’ Own brand. They didn’t buy it did they? Pretty weird. People won’t buy the ‘home brand’ because they think its worse, but really it’s the same thing and cheaper. They all work at the same pace, just the gel cap products work faster cause they break down quicker. But all tablets go at the same pace.
So in conclusion i’m going to stop referring Codral and choose Chemists’ Own instead
The fact we’re paying really for just the freaking name really urks me.
Only a short pointless one this week, but the issue bugged me.