Is there a good place to get a multi-symptom cold medicine, like Dayquil, but without the drowsy nighttime version that’s usually bundled with it, and preferably as a caplet instead of a gel?
e.g. Walmart has Robot or human?, but it’s out of stock for shipping, with only 1 left locally.
Costco/Kirkland signature also has their own, cheaper version, but it’s bundled with their nighttime one (which I don’t want because of excessive drowsiness).
I know it’s possible to get the active ingredients as separate pills, but it’s actually really nice having them combined into one multi-action mega-pill, especially for travel. Where’s a good place to get generic, over-the-counter medicine like this in bulk? I’d like to stock up a few hundred of these… we go through them quite a lot whenever we’re sick.
Phenylephrine is a really really useless drug (unless you need it injected into your corpus cavernosum for priapism treatment) so maybe consider finding a pill without that in it. The pre-Kennedy FDA found it not helpful for nasal congestionback in 2024, and that matches my clinical experience after dealing with patients who used it.
Also note that the effective adult dose of Dextromethorphan is about 30 mg, which you don’t get with two pills worth of generic Dayquil, as it supplies only 20 mg. Even at 30 mg, a lot of studies indicate it doesn’t seem real effective in adults.
Heck, the only really effective med in that combo pill is the acetaminophen.
If you really wanted a bottle of 100 or 300 of those gelcaps I bet you won’t find it anywhere. There’s probably restrictions on putting that many of them into a single package.
I’m kind of confused by wanting quite such a large quantity. Even if you want to take the daytime version at night, it’s 4 doses per 24 hours. So 8 gelcaps. So one of the boxes I cited is 3 days’ worth. You probably should not be taking these things for longer than a weekish, so that’s ~2 boxes worth per person. If you and spouse tend to get sick in sync, 4 boxes will cover any bout of illness you might have.
Thank you! I’ll check out some of those other sources. I didn’t realize it’s so hard to find them in greater doses… I’m used to buying ibuprofen 1000 at a time, for example, and between the car and the house we probably have 5000 individual tablets. I get all my other drugs delivered in 90 day supplies.
So it’s weird to be getting drugs only 24 at a time I didn’t realize they’re partially controlled. Too bad.
Wait, really…? Every time I have a cold/flu like thing, I swear Dayquil makes the symptoms noticeably better. I’ve had a cough these last few days, for example, and it comes back after about 4 hours, but another dose will stop it again.
Does that mean it’s the acetaminophen doing that (can it?), or just a placebo effect…? Or is there some individual or genetic difference between how different adults process dextromethorphan?
Heh, I just like to buy whatever I can in bulk, even during nonpandemic times. We have hundreds of sheets of facial tissue, thousands of ibuprofen, etc. What can I say, we’re good and loyal Costco customers…
And in the specific case of Dayquil and its generics, I really hate that double-layered plastic-covered foil wrapper thing that they use, where you have to first peel off the top layer and then push the caps out of the foil — especially when it’s 3am and I have a runny nose and blurry eyes and the cat’s screaming and I gotta piss and really just want to take another dose and get back to bed It’d be much easier to access in a bulk bottle instead of having to individually unwrap each dose.
I don’t know if I’ve ever seen them in a bottle? Both Dollar Tree and Dollar General have boxes of generic capsules, maybe 12 or 16 in a box, individually wrapped.
I eat probably 3 ibuprofen and 6 acetaminophen tablets per year. I buy the smallest available bottles and the bottle expires while still appearing full. I’m not a big believer in “best by” dates for packaged food. But for meds, even OTC meds, I am.
That stuff is not candy and if you two are actually getting through 5000 ibuprofen tablets within the couple-year shelf life of properly stored bottles, I’m concerned you’re hurting yourselves. And if you’re eating decade-old ibuprofen, that seems … unwise … also.
YMMV, and offered in the spirit of helping, not carping.
You’re probably far healthier than we are We eat ibuprofen like candy. A couple here for backache, another there for a foot injury, muscle spasm, whatever. Between martial arts, outdoor activities, too much TV, overweight, and our general physical deterioration (man, it happens SO quickly after 35)… we use it probably a few times a week, as needed. We have some in every room of the house, in a few different car compartments, and in our backpacks and travel kits. There’s both Costco bottles and reused pill bottles labeled “ibu” scattered EVERYWHERE.
I didn’t think about the expiration date though. I didn’t know they could expire Good call-out, there! I’ll have to check our collections.
The doctor nailed it. Those -quil formulations have been proven over and over to be not effective, except for the acetaminophen relieving fever and aches. All they are good at is putting money in manufacturers’, stores’ and advertisers’ pockets.
It’s not good for your body to dump drugs into it that it doesn’t need and have been rigorously shown to not be effective. And yes, it probably is a placebo effect. Try a cup of hot tea with just the Tylenol and give your liver and kidneys a break. You’ll get the same relief.
Be mindful of expiration dates on meds-thousands and thousands of pills are too many for any two people to take within the expiration window.
That foil backed blister wrap is primarily to protect children who will get frustrated and wander away before freeing up enough to do serious harm, unlike opening a bottle of 100 pills and downing those pretty gels in one fell swoop. That you have thousands of ibuprofens in stock is scary enough.
Huh, all right, I didn’t know those other active ingredients were useless. I’ll try just plain acetaminophen next time (even for congestion or runny noses or coughs?). How come the FDA doesn’t stop those other drugs from being sold then?
And I’ll check the expiration dates too… one bottle is definitely about to expire. I didn’t expect to use them all quickly, I just (mistakenly) thought they last forever. Nope, there’s definitely a date on there.
How quickly do they lose efficacy? Is a few months or years past the date still OK?
I take most meds a few months or even up to a year after their date of expiration (over the counter). Prescription meds I’m stricter about. All of this is predicated in storing them where it is cool and dry (I.e. not long term in a warm, moist bathroom).
There’s a bit of a story that Doc QtM alluded to about pseudoephedrine.
There were effective decongestants: ephedrine and pseudoephedrine. But they could be used to make illicit meth. So Congress had the DEA banned them. So FDA & the OTC drugmakers were in a quandary to come up with something, anything, that stopped runny noses and could be sold OTC. They settled on phenylephrine which sorta kinda worked if you tortured the test data enough. But could not be used to cook meth. And really does not work in almost all humans. At all.
And here we are. The requirement to inhibit meth cookers from buying their key ingredients at Walgreens overrides all law-abiding folks’ desires to buy something OTC to not be snuffling and dripping all day.
Thanks for that background… I had no idea. I do remember at one point some of those drugs were locked behind a glass cabinet, but they never told me why and I didn’t investigate. That explains a lot.
Too bad.
Is dextromethorphan still worthwhile to take, at at least 30 mg, bought as a separate pill?
Pseudoephedrine is still legal in the US and available without a prescription. You must request it at the pharmacy counter, show ID, sign for it, and maybe jump through some other hoops, but it is commonly available.
It’s been a couple years since I’ve bought it, but I have bought Sudafed (non-PE) at my local Walgreen’s before. It was under lock and key behind the pharmacy counter. I don’t recall signing for it, but did have to show ID.
Yep, Better off getting real Pseudoephedrine (e.g., Sudafed) (From the Pharmacist now, you have to show ID) and generic acetaminophen. And some cough medicine (if you have a non-productive couch) that doesnt contain either- or take it instead. (Very easy to take too much acetaminophen as it is in many OTC medicines).
Guaifenesin in the Severe formula may help loosen mucus.
Both are not banned. You have to get pseudoephedrine from the Pharmacist counter and show your ID.
Right.
Nyquil makes you sleepy due to the Doxylamine succinate and a bit of alcohol. Generic Benadryl is way way cheaper- but not to be used over long periods, I heard.
Just FYI, since @Reply mentioned Costco, you can get up to three packages of their 30 mg Pseudoephedrine (granted, with all the steps above) at their pharmacy for something like $2 per package which is 24 capsules/12 doses. It’s quite reasonable. In fact, that reminds me to get another package tomorrow when I’m picking up my wife’s prescriptions. Since I’ll be there anyway, and won’t have to go through main check out!]
[ to be clear, they also carry “real” Sudafed but their store-brand works just fine at a fraction of the cost, which is what I referenced above!]
Aside, I also keep a lot of painkillers in the house, but in part because I rotate through them, so one big bottle each of generic for Acetaminophen, Ibuprofen, Naproxen, and Aspirin. For travel / work bag / car kit I just separate them out into a small leftover bottle, and rotate them out every year.
Part of the reason is that they all work slightly differently for me. Ibuprofen works best on tension headaches and pulled muscles, acetaminophen works pretty well for everything, but is comparatively easy to overdo it on, Aspirin works okay but not great on everything, and Naproxen works most weakly but lasts longest, so good for anything overnight.
When I’ve bought pseudoephedrine at CVS (which I’ve done in the last two weeks), I have to both let them scan my ID, as well as sign an agreement on the touchpad.
I didn’t realize they’re partially controlled. Too bad.
It’d be much easier to access in a bulk bottle instead of having to individually unwrap each dose.
We eat ibuprofen like candy. A couple here for backache, another there for a foot injury, muscle spasm, whatever. Between martial arts, outdoor activities, too much TV, overweight, and our general physical deterioration (man, it happens SO quickly after 35)… we use it probably a few times a week, as needed. We have some in every room of the house, in a few different car compartments, and in our backpacks and travel kits. There’s both Costco bottles and reused pill bottles labeled “ibu” scattered EVERYWHERE.