Luckily, I rarely have to take prescribed medicine (when I do, it’s usually a mild anti-biotic for a throat infection I sometimes get). I do, however, have the need to take OTC medicines like Sudafed and Tylenol or some such pain relief.
Even though I have taken these for years, I ALWAYS read the directions. If the package says, “Take two every four hours up to eight in a 24-hour period. DO NOT EXCEED MAXIMUM DOSAGE)”
Now, I’m not so anal that I time it exactly at four hours, but I will wait at least that long before taking the next dose. In other words, I won’t take a dose after 3.5 hours.
Mrs. Blue Sky thinks this is just the funniest thing in the world.
What say you, fellow Dopers? How closely do you follow directions on OTC medicines?
I just assume whatever dosage they recommend is about half the safe and effective dosage. It’s like speed limits. They expect you to go 45, so they set the speed limit at 30.
If I have to take antibiotics (rarely, so far), I follow that dosage carefully to get over whatever I have. Last time it was a sinus infection a few years ago. But for other things, I do my own “as needed” dosage. When Claritin was prescription, I took only as needed.
Being aware that the OTC Ibuprofen is much less than the toxic dose, and prescription Ibuprofen is often 2 or 4 times stronger, I use the stuff til the pain goes. As long as I’m not taking more than twice what the packet recommends, I’m happy.
The same does not apply for anything containing paracetamol (acetominophen), codeine or aspirin. Then I stick to the packet, and if it still hurts, go to the doc and get something stronger.
Most OTC cold, flu and allergy preparations make me too drowsy to excede the stated dose anyway, I tend to use Tiger balm or Olbas oil instead of decongestants because of that.
irishgirl is right… while there are some OTC medications for which doubling the dose might be acceptable, there are some (like Tylenol) where the labeled maximum really should not be exceeded. Some studies have even indicated that long-term use of the maximum (but not over the maximum) dose of Tylenol can lead to liver damage.
When I’m in the midst of Cramp-mania, I’ll pop about twice the recommended dosage of Advil–3/4 pills–until they recede.
Which is usually within two hours, so I only do this once a month, max…although I do “overlap” them sometimes if I’m afraid I’ll forget, or if I feel the cramps coming back. You know, pop another one or two 3 hours later, instead of 4.
I’m a tiny bit afraid of just about any pill, so I don’t like using more than the maximum dosage, or even taking them at all…but sometimes, a girl’s gotta do what a girl’s gotta do. My mother’s doc told her to take “as much Advil as she needs” for her cramps, so I try not to feel too guilty about doubling the dosage every once in a while.
Prescription medication I take religiously; if it says “with food/without food/1 hour before meal/with 1 glass water,” etc., etc., I follow that with scientific precision. When I had surgery five months ago, and had two prescriptions, I had a chart on the fridge with times and dosages just to make sure I was following orders to the T.
And I don’t know if it was that, or all the gallons of water I drank, but I healed so quickly my surgeon was amazed.
LOL…this was actually a debate for me this morning. I am trying to take an OTC medicine to fight my acid reflux. The directions say take with a full glass of water before eating. Well… my carpool had donuts this morning. I LOVE donuts. So, I ate one. I get to work and have to decide whether or not I still want to start the 14 day cycle of medicine or wait until I can start and follow directions. After last nights pain, I took it anyway.
I will definitely take more Advil than recommended, but not Aleve. why? No clue.
Somebody already mentioned Tylenol. Don’t do it. It’s pretty awful.
Ibuprofen, on the other hand, I’ll take three at a time if I need to. Usually this is for cramps, and I only need to do it once to get ahead of them. What DID women do before ibuprofen???
For OTC stuff I usually take half the suggested amount, that way if it doesn’t work, I can take the other half before the recommended time and not worry that it’s too much. It doesn’t always work, but when it does, why take more than you have to?
