Cold medicine vs. flu medicine

Factual Questions
1

So I was in the store the other day, buying some Tylenol Cold in preparation for the winter germ season. My eye wanders over to the next spot, where there’s Tylenol Flu for the same price.

“Hmmm,” I says to myself, “Do I need to get flu medicine as well? If I had a flu and took cold medicine instead, would it be ineffective?”

So I look at the ingredients lists on the boxes, and lo and behold – both of them were the same thing! Admittedly, the Tylenol Flu had a higher dosage of acetaminophin(sp?) than the Tylenol Cold did, but otherwise they were AFAICT identical. I decided to buy the Tylenol Flu, then, figuring I might as well get more medication for the buck.

So what’s the dope here? Does it really not matter what over-the-counter medicine you use for colds and flus? Why bother differentiating between them, then? Is this the same reason why Robitussen has 30 variations of cough syrup?

2

This has more to do with marketing than medicine.

I suspect that with a good jolt of the flu you will feel crappy enough that the standard dose of 1 g of acetaminophen in Tylenol Flu isn’t going to do a whole lot more for your aches and pains than the 650 mg you’ll get with Tylenol Cold caplets.

Get your flu shot yet?

3

It’s marketing. ‘Flu’ = ‘Flu strength’ = ‘max strenght’ = ’ the most we can sell over the counter’. You rarely actually need such a high dose, although I admit I’m prone to taking the maximum recommended at the slightest hint of snuffles.

And anyway, if it’s actually flu (and not just a bad cold that people call flu), you’re not going to be capable of getting to a pharmacy.