To get around having their products kept behind the pharmacy counter and limited and logged, some allergy/cold products are now being reformulated to use Phenylephrine HCl instead of Pseudoephedrine.  You can see this in the labeling, which usually features “PE” somewhere on it. 

I call my packing habits when on long trips the “+1 plan.”  I tend to pack one extra of everything, which paid off yesterday (being the 11th day of my 10 day trip).  However, I forgot to pack an extra day’s worth of Claritin-D.  I found an ALCO store within walking distance of the hotel on Sunday and went there in search of allergy medicines.  This store doesn’t have a pharmacy, so they didn’t have Clairitin-D or any of the generic equivalents.  Instead, I tried to make do by getting a package of loratadine (the allergy-controlling portion of Claritin-D) and a package of Phenylephrine HCl (PE).

On Monday I discovered that I don’t get along with the PE very well.  Unlike pseudoephedrine, the PE makes me extremely sleepy.  Perhaps for some people it’s an acceptable substitute, but it definitely won’t work for me. 

As usual, an effective product is being replaced by an ineffective one due to government regulation.  I suppose I shouldn’t be surprised by now.

I just hope that the makers Claritin-D and the generic equivalents don’t give up completely on it due to the meth madness regulations.