Monday, April 28, 2008

Allergy Meds: Another US Canada Difference

Feeling like crap for the last week... finally dragged my butt to a pharmacy for some allergy meds.

So it looks like they name EVERYTHING differently. Took me quite a while to figure out which one I needed to get. Talking to the pharmacist was talking speaking alien... because all I could do was describe how the box looked like - which does not help them at all. Luckily, I vaguely remembered some of the medical ingredients name so I was able to figure out what I need with the pharmacist. Below is the list of the Canadian name, and its equivalent US name, with a little blurp about each:

Claritin Allergy and Sinus (Red) == Claritin D (12 hour)
(A 'Semi-OTC' drug here in the US... you actually take a card to the pharmacist like you are buying some expensive video game, then you sign something before they give you the actual goods)
Medical Ingredients: LORATADINE 5 MG and PSEUDOEPHEDRINE SULFATE 120 MG

Claritin (Blue) == Claritin (without the D)
Medical Ingredients: 10mg LORATADINE

Allegra D == Allegra D
(Prescription Drug here in the US)
Medical Ingredients: 60mg FEXOFENADINE and 120mg PSEUDOEPHEDRINE

Reactine (Dark Blue) == ZYRTEC (24 hr)
Medical Ingredients: CETIRIZINE HYDROCHLORIDE 10 mg

Aerius = Clarinex
Medical Ingredients: 5mg DESLORATADINE

Note to self: talking to a pharmacist, the active ingredient trumps even your best description of how the box looks... no matter how vivid or detailed you are.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

bring your medicine packing when you travel