It’s yours chance to save money on OTC drugs
Have you ever stood in front of shelves filled with pain relievers or allergy medications trying to decide which would be the best one to buy?
That’s because it can be quite a task to pick the right OTC option. Over 100,000 OTC products are available for you to choose from. Those 100,000 products contain variations and combinations of about 1,000 active ingredients.
Therefore many OTC medications have multiple brand names. Some popular products that are available under a variety of names include allergy medications, heartburn remedies and pain relievers.
One way to make the search a bit easier is to check and see what is in your medicine cabinet right now. Find the products that you use most often and note the active ingredients. Make a list of them.
Acetaminophen (Tylenol), ibuprofen (Motrin), aspirin or some combination of these products is often found in pain relievers. Frequently headache remedies contain caffeine. Once you have found out which remedy suits you best and what its active ingredient is, you can identify it in other medications by reading the label information. There is often a big price difference between brand name and generic versions of a medicine.
Benadryl’s generic alternative is diphenhydramine. Tylenol PM is one of the many sleep aids that you can purchase over the counter that contains that ingredient. If you need something to help you sleep but do not need a pain reliever, you might want to try generic Benadryl. Not only will you save money, but you will avoid taking unnecessary medications. If you are comparing three different sleep aids that each contain the same dosage of diphenhydramine, cost may be the only variable. Evaluating the price difference is not difficult.
Differences in packaging and pricing are sometimes the only difference between allergy medicines. There is often a significant price differential between brand name and generic products.
When you browse our online pharmacies, stock generics may appear right alongside brand name products. It is not hard to find out if there are generics and compare the prices.
Several well known heartburn aids can now be purchased in generic form as well as under the brand name. Discover which active ingredient is the most effective and look around for it. You may be pleasantly surprised to see the differences in costs.
If the brand name OTC product that you normally take is expensive and you are short on money, you don’t necessarily have to do without. Investigate the availability of a generic brand. Check with the pharmacist. A pharmacist may be able to recommend another option.
You can find pain relievers, allergy medications and heartburn remedies under a wide variety of names, and you can save quite a bit of money by purchasing a generic formula. For some, generic or house brand alternatives seem to be more effective than the brand name medications. However some have no success with generics at all. If this is the first time you are trying a product, start out by purchasing a minimal amount. Sample it. If it does the job, you can put the money you save toward a future vacation. It is well deserved.