# Buying Sudafed...The "good stuff". **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [August 1, 2011, 12:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/buying-sudafed-the-good-stuff/590980 "2011-08-01T00:16:46Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Ambivalid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/a5b964/32.png) [@Ambivalid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ambivalid)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2011, 12:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/buying-sudafed-the-good-stuff/590980/1 "2011-08-01T00:16:46Z")
I’m sure most know that because of the widespread use of pseudoephedrine-containing products to manufacture illegal methamphetamine, the sale of original formula Sudafed (which contains pseudoephedrine) is now restricted to behind-the-counter purchases at the pharmacy dept. of drug stores and supermarkets. What this means is you must present your I.D. to the pharmacist, who scans it through the national database to check against known perpetrators and to see if you’re purchase falls within the permissible limitations on how much a person can buy in a given time. You must then sign a form and it is really all kind of strange. I almost feel like I am doing something wrong when I am going up to RiteAid to get some relief from my stuffed up sinuses. It is intimidating, in a way. I went to the drug store today to buy Sudafed and the pharmacist treated me like a shady teenager trying to buy booze or something. When I initially asked for the sudafed, the pharmicist replied back, “Sudafed 12hr is not available after 6pm. We’ve had a lot of trouble with it lately.” I didn’t even know what he meant at first by “sudafed 12hr” and I just kind of stared blankly at him and repeated “I just need Sudafed”. “Oh, yes, we have the regular Sudafed.” And he glared at me the whole time he was ringing up my purchase. As if my one little 24 count box of sudafed was going towards some meth ring or something. I couldn’t get out of there fast enough. I got to my car and realized how relieved I felt. Man, all that just to get some freaking decongestant! Ugh…:eek: ---
**Author:** ![BrknButterfly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/439d5e/32.png) [@BrknButterfly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrknButterfly)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2011, 12:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/buying-sudafed-the-good-stuff/590980/2 "2011-08-01T00:32:12Z")
I totally agree with you that it can be a pain and it seems like just about everything these days is governed. When I was working as a Pharmacy tech in a grocery chain for a year we had to do all the things that you mentioned, except check a computer base. We just wrote the person’s name down in a book that was provided by the state and note that we checked their ID. Customers were only limited to (I think) 48 tablets a day, depending on the strength, from what I can remember. One of the Pharmacist may have checked the log to see how regularly a customer was buying it, but I never saw them. Though there was a time another store called and asked us to check our list for a certain person and the dates they came in. It turned out he was store hopping for a couple days and that store ended up calling the police. Though besides that one time, we never really did anything with the book. Just stored them away after they were full. I am sure they were sent to the state after a couple months. I never looked at anyone odd for buying them either. I was doing my job by putting their name down. It wasn’t my job to judge a person by their purchase. ---
**Author:** ![Cub\_Mistress](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ea666f/32.png) [@Cub\_Mistress](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cub_Mistress)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2011, 12:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/buying-sudafed-the-good-stuff/590980/3 "2011-08-01T00:37:02Z")
I always feel a bit dirty after buying Sudafed these days and I am usually dressed in scrubs when I buy it. ---
**Author:** ![Living\_Well\_Is\_Best\_Revenge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/6bbea6/32.png) [@Living\_Well\_Is\_Best\_Revenge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Living_Well_Is_Best_Revenge)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2011, 12:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/buying-sudafed-the-good-stuff/590980/4 "2011-08-01T00:42:03Z")
You bunch of meth heads… ---
**Author:** ![Ambivalid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/a5b964/32.png) [@Ambivalid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ambivalid)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2011, 12:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/buying-sudafed-the-good-stuff/590980/5 "2011-08-01T00:48:35Z")
> [@Cub\_Mistress](#): > > I always feel a bit dirty after buying Sudafed these days and I am usually dressed in scrubs when I buy it. Yes! I become VERY aware of my state of dress when in front of the pharmacist asking for the sudafed. I feel judged, like he’s thinking “Oh, so they got a guy in a wheelchair to act as their “front man”, coming in and buying sudafed. Nobody’d suspect a disabled guy.” ☹ ---
**Author:** ![Joey\_P](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/919ad9/32.png) [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2011, 12:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/buying-sudafed-the-good-stuff/590980/6 "2011-08-01T00:50:25Z")
Ditto for me too. I don’t go through much of it, but just because of the hassle of buying it, I rarely give any to coworkers anymore. Luckily I have a rather exotic selection of other decongestants, but Sudafed is still nice if I’m looking for something gentler. I always feel like for I ought to be getting a buzz from it for the extra trouble I have to go through to get it. I assume this is similar to what buying codeine is like in Canada. \*I was seeing a psychiatrist in college for ADHD who over-prescribed like you wouldn’t believe. Without going into all the illegal things I did with those pills, 10 years later I probably still have 500 or so left. A half a pill makes it like you don’t even have a cold…amphetamines are nasal decongestants. Pseudoephedrine does a good job…Adderall and Dextrostat (pharmaceutical speed) does a _great_ job. ---
**Author:** ![GythaOgg](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/49beb7/32.png) [@GythaOgg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GythaOgg)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2011, 1:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/buying-sudafed-the-good-stuff/590980/7 "2011-08-01T01:50:23Z")
Sudafed is fast turning into a prescription-only item in Missouri. This hasn’t happened in St. Louis City or County yet, but I wouldn’t be surprised if it did shortly. The more rural communities are all putting laws in place, one after another. There is quite a large meth making problem in Missouri and they see this as an effort to bring it under control. Supposedly, this helps, more than just putting it behind the counter and making people sign for it; I have no idea if that’s true or not ---
**Author:** ![Unintentionally\_Blank](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/unintentionally_blank/32/5418_2.png) [@Unintentionally\_Blank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Unintentionally_Blank)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2011, 1:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/buying-sudafed-the-good-stuff/590980/8 "2011-08-01T01:55:16Z")
Consider yourselves lucky. Twice a month I get to drop $25 for the 10 hour, 30-cap Claritin-D I’d LOVE to be able to buy, I dunno, 100 at a time, but it’s OTC. I’d love to save a little dough on my constant an forever-after allergy condition. $600 a year for PART of my regimen. The eyedrops last a long time at $12 a bottle. The Nasal spray lasts quite awhile at $10 copay per bottle. But without that REAL decongestant, I’m deaf, can’t smell, and am nearly unfunctional. And yeah, I expect the TSA to take over the pharmacy soon. Making 99% of the population suffer for the less than 1% that causes the problems is fargin stupid. They just buy it in bulk and manufacture the stuff south of the border.:mad: ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2011, 2:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/buying-sudafed-the-good-stuff/590980/9 "2011-08-01T02:07:22Z")
I remember when these restrictions weren’t in place. I graduated from college in 1988 and if you went to the infirmary complaining of a cold, they’d just hand you an envelope with ten or twenty generic pseudoephedrine pills in it. No big deal. I doubt they do that now. ---
**Author:** ![Joey\_P](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/919ad9/32.png) [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2011, 2:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/buying-sudafed-the-good-stuff/590980/10 "2011-08-01T02:24:04Z")
> [@Dewey\_Finn](#): > > I remember when these restrictions weren’t in place. I graduated from college in 1988 and if you went to the infirmary complaining of a cold, they’d just hand you an envelope with ten or twenty generic pseudoephedrine pills in it. No big deal. I doubt they do that now. When I was in college (98-02) they handed out all kinds of free stuff in those “Welcome to college” gift boxes that were full of No Doz, shaving cream, cold meds etc. The cold pills were something magic. They had them at the on campus doctor’s office as well, free samples to boot, take as many as you want. I don’t remember what was in them, but all of a sudden they disappeared. Turns out whatever the magic ingredient was got taken off the market. I’d imagine it was some sort of stimulant that was probably giving people heart attacks or strokes. Wish I could remember what it was. ---
**Author:** ![Cub\_Mistress](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ea666f/32.png) [@Cub\_Mistress](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cub_Mistress)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2011, 2:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/buying-sudafed-the-good-stuff/590980/11 "2011-08-01T02:33:28Z")
> [@Unintentionally\_Blank](#): > > Consider yourselves lucky. Twice a month I get to drop $25 for the 10 hour, 30-cap Claritin-D > > I’d LOVE to be able to buy, I dunno, 100 at a time, but it’s OTC. I’d love to save a little dough on my constant an forever-after allergy condition. > > $600 a year for PART of my regimen. The eyedrops last a long time at $12 a bottle. The Nasal spray lasts quite awhile at $10 copay per bottle. But without that REAL decongestant, I’m deaf, can’t smell, and am nearly unfunctional. > > And yeah, I expect the TSA to take over the pharmacy soon. Making 99% of the population suffer for the less than 1% that causes the problems is fargin stupid. They just buy it in bulk and manufacture the stuff south of the border.:mad: loratadine (claritin) and sudafed (the D part) are both available in generic. the downside is you would take two pills instead of one, but it might make a considerable savings for you, depending on your insurance plan. I find I pay less if I just buy OTC than if I send it through my insurance plan. ---
**Author:** ![Moonlitherial](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/4bbf92/32.png) [@Moonlitherial](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Moonlitherial)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2011, 2:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/buying-sudafed-the-good-stuff/590980/12 "2011-08-01T02:41:06Z")
> [@Joey\_P](#): > > I always feel like for I ought to be getting a buzz from it for the extra trouble I have to go through to get it. I assume this is similar to what buying codeine is like in Canada. Although they keep stuff with codeine behind the counter you don’t need to present ID nor do they take down your name. A few months ago my desk bottle and my home bottle ran out at the same time so I bought 2 bottles, 400 tablets each and didn’t even get a blink. Once in a while they ask if you’ve taken it before and if you say no the pharmacist will review the side effects with you. Basically it’s easier to buy codeine than Sudafed. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Hilarity\_N.Suze](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hilarity_n.suze/32/6223_2.png) [@Hilarity\_N.Suze](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hilarity_N.Suze)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2011, 2:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/buying-sudafed-the-good-stuff/590980/13 "2011-08-01T02:53:03Z")
At least you can still get real Sudafed (that sounds funny to me). But you can’t get real Coricidin D, which was a magic drug. You can’t get it at all. It’s gone. I found some really old ones three years ago when I moved. I kept them for emergencies. I kept thinking, “Well, they’re old. And probably they really aren’t that much better than Zyrtek” (although certainly CHEAPER, and with a better name). And then the day came when I just couldn’t take anymore almost-sneezing, which of course is worse than actual active sneezing, at least for awhile, until you start really sneezing. And you know what? They are that much better. Yanno, Sudafed used to be prescription-only. I can live with that. But why can’t the original Coricidin D be prescription-only if it’s so damn dangerous? My brother the pharmacist said it caused something (liver trouble? Heart problems?) in women of a certain age, but I’m PAST that age so WHY CAN’T I HAVE IT IS THAT TOO MUCH TO ASK? I guess it is. I really hate the idea that I might be tagged a frequent flyer just because I want to be able to breathe through my nose. ---
**Author:** ![Unintentionally\_Blank](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/unintentionally_blank/32/5418_2.png) [@Unintentionally\_Blank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Unintentionally_Blank)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2011, 3:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/buying-sudafed-the-good-stuff/590980/14 "2011-08-01T03:10:04Z")
> [@Cub\_Mistress](#): > > loratadine (claritin) and sudafed (the D part) are both available in generic. the downside is you would take two pills instead of one, but it might make a considerable savings for you, depending on your insurance plan. I find I pay less if I just buy OTC than if I send it through my insurance plan. I’ll look into the sudafed part, you’re right in the Claritin part: 300 for $12 at Costco…it’s the decongestant part where they’re screwing ya. ---
**Author:** ![WhyNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c77e96/32.png) [@WhyNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WhyNot)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2011, 3:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/buying-sudafed-the-good-stuff/590980/15 "2011-08-01T03:16:39Z")
> [@Joey\_P](#): > > When I was in college (98-02) they handed out all kinds of free stuff in those “Welcome to college” gift boxes that were full of No Doz, shaving cream, cold meds etc. The cold pills were something magic. They had them at the on campus doctor’s office as well, free samples to boot, take as many as you want. I don’t remember what was in them, but all of a sudden they disappeared. Turns out whatever the magic ingredient was got taken off the market. I’d imagine it was some sort of stimulant that was probably giving people heart attacks or strokes. Wish I could remember what it was. [Phenylpropanolamine](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phenylpropanolamine). Yep, banned because of the stroke risk, specifically in young women. Gods, I miss that stuff! ETA: PPE was also the stuff in Coricidin D. ---
**Author:** ![Joey\_P](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/919ad9/32.png) [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2011, 3:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/buying-sudafed-the-good-stuff/590980/16 "2011-08-01T03:22:22Z")
> [@WhyNot](#): > > [Phenylpropanolamine](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phenylpropanolamine). Yep, banned because of the stroke risk, specifically in young women. Gods, I miss that stuff! > . Yup, AKA PPA. The pills we got probably also had tylenol in them based on how big I remember them being. ---
**Author:** ![Joey\_P](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/919ad9/32.png) [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2011, 3:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/buying-sudafed-the-good-stuff/590980/17 "2011-08-01T03:24:40Z")
> [@Moonlitherial](#): > > Although they keep stuff with codeine behind the counter you don’t need to present ID nor do they take down your name. A few months ago my desk bottle and my home bottle ran out at the same time so I bought 2 bottles, 400 tablets each and didn’t even get a blink. Once in a while they ask if you’ve taken it before and if you say no the pharmacist will review the side effects with you. Basically it’s easier to buy codeine than Sudafed. 🙂 Out of curiosity, what type of pills can you buy? Is there a limit on the codeine strength before you need a script? Was this Tylenol/codeine or just codeine? ---
**Author:** ![Dung\_Beetle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dung_beetle/32/7945_2.png) [@Dung\_Beetle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dung_Beetle)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2011, 1:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/buying-sudafed-the-good-stuff/590980/18 "2011-08-01T13:43:22Z")
We bought pseudoephedrine last night. After we’d stood in line for a while, I nearly forgot what we were there for, and I stammered when I asked for the pills. Then my husband asked a question about the strength, and the cashier went off to speak to the pharmacist. I whispered to my husband, “Now you’ve done it.” Then the pharmacist came back and said, “I’ll be completing this transaction for you.” It took her so long to finish ringing us up and get the logbook, I was certain they were trying to delay us until the cops arrived. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Max\_Torque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e9bcb4/32.png) [@Max\_Torque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Max_Torque)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2011, 2:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/buying-sudafed-the-good-stuff/590980/19 "2011-08-01T14:08:54Z")
> [@Dewey\_Finn](#): > > I remember when these restrictions weren’t in place. I graduated from college in 1988 and if you went to the infirmary complaining of a cold, they’d just hand you an envelope with ten or twenty generic pseudoephedrine pills in it. No big deal. I doubt they do that now. When I was in college in the early 90s, for a while there I went crazy trying to lose weight. As part of that, I was taking a “triple stack” four times a day: 300mg of aspirin, 100mg of caffeine, and 30mg of ephedrine. None of this “pseudo” stuff, actual ephedrine. I bought it from an online [nutrition store](http://www.dpsnutrition.net/) that would also sell vitamins and protein supplements. As I recall, I’d buy three 90-count bottles at a time. It was cheap. Of course, they don’t sell it anymore. I stopped taking the stack when I realized it was causing some personality changes, such as the time I threw a couch at my brother. ---
**Author:** ![Rushgeekgirl](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rushgeekgirl/32/3715_2.png) [@Rushgeekgirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rushgeekgirl)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2011, 2:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/buying-sudafed-the-good-stuff/590980/20 "2011-08-01T14:20:52Z")
One good thing that happened to me was a while back I had to show ID for a box and the guy gave me the stink eye and said my driver’s license had expired. Oh. Wow. I had no idea! I had been driving for _months_ that way. Luckily I found out there and not by the police. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/buying-sudafed-the-good-stuff/590980.md?page=2)