Acetaminophen is present in many cold medicines. Taking two such products means you’re consuming double the dose, which can damage the liver. In the U…
Cost
No cost at all. It only takes a minute or two to glance at the ingredient list on each pac…
Benefit
Over six years, 22 U.S. hospitals tracked 662 cases of acute liver failure. Of these, 275 …
For reducing a child’s fever, none of these three drugs should be used. Aspirin is linked to Reye’s syndrome, a condition that damages the brain and l…
Cost
No cost involved. Simply check the generic name and ingredient list when buying fever redu…
Benefit
Reye’s syndrome can lead to brain disease and fatty liver degeneration, typically occurrin…
Painkillers such as ibuprofen, naproxen, and aspirin can harm the stomach. In large-scale trials, individuals taking ibuprofen faced roughly four time…
Cost
No cost involved. Simply ask a doctor or pharmacist.
Benefit
These medications are classified as nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs); common …
China’s National Medical Products Administration requires 14 types of over-the-counter multi-ingredient cold medicines for children to carry a warning…
Cost
There is no cost at all; you even save money by not buying these medicines.
Benefit
In its Announcement No. 57 of 2021, the National Medical Products Administration updated t…
After 20 weeks of pregnancy, most of the amniotic fluid is produced by the fetus’s kidneys. Taking ibuprofen or similar medications at this stage may …
Cost
No cost involved.
Benefit
In October 2020, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) issued a safety warning. Use …
Since 2022, omeprazole enteric-coated tablets have been available over the counter without a prescription. However, the package instructions clearly s…
Cost
No cost involved — just follow the dosage instructions on the package.
Benefit
In its Announcement No. 68 of 2022, the National Medical Products Administration reclassif…
Taking antibiotics for a cold doesn’t speed up recovery compared to not taking them at all. For adults, the risk of side effects is more than twice as…
Cost
It costs nothing and can even save you money on medicine.
Benefit
A Cochrane systematic review pooled data from 6 randomized trials involving 1,147 particip…
The most important thing during diarrhea is rehydration, not stopping the diarrhea itself. Mix the solution exactly as directed on the package and dri…
Cost
A box of oral rehydration solution costs just a few dollars, so it’s worth keeping one at …
Benefit
WHO’s guidelines on diarrhea treatment state clearly that anti-diarrheal and anti-vomiting…
If you take painkillers frequently for recurrent headaches, the medication itself may eventually provoke more frequent headaches — a clinical conditio…
Cost
No direct cost. You’ll just need to keep track of how many days you’ve taken the medicine,…
Benefit
The third edition of the International Classification of Headache published by the Interna…
Nearly half of unsupervised pediatric medication ingestions involve prescription tablets. About three in ten of those prescriptions belong to grandpar…
Cost
No cost. Sort the medicine cabinet once a year — about ten minutes.
Benefit
U.S. emergency-department surveillance estimated that from 2004 to 2013, children under 6 …
Some cephalosporins and metronidazole can trigger flushing, palpitations, chest tightness, and vomiting when mixed with alcohol; severe cases drop blo…
Cost
No money. Abstain from alcohol for a little over a week; check other medicines for ethanol…
Benefit
This is a disulfiram-like reaction. A 2023 medication-safety popularization from the Fujia…
Many multi-ingredient cold medicines contain first-generation antihistamines like chlorpheniramine or diphenhydramine, which cause pronounced drowsine…
Cost
Free. Check active ingredients before taking over-the-counter multi-symptom cold or allerg…
Benefit
National drug safety bulletins issued by the National Medical Products Administration (NMP…
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