"This medicine is so good at coughing, why can't I buy it?".”
Last week, Grandma Wang from Shandong Province had a dry cough due to a pharyngitis attack, so she asked her grandson to help buy some compound licorice tablets. However, what is frustrating is that the grandson ran through many pharmacies, but could not find any trace of compound licorice tablets. In desperation, the grandson had to buy other medicines and return to his grandmother.
You may have noticed that the licorice tablets that you used to eat when you were a child are now hard to find in pharmacies. For the older generation, compound licorice tablets can be called a "miracle medicine", and their cough, analgesic and detoxification effects are highly respected. It is not only cheap, but also cost-effective, and has become a must-have drug for almost every household.
The core of this cough suppressant effect lies in its ingredients, mainly licorice flow extract (the most important ingredient, accounting for 1125mg), opium powder (4mg), camphor (2mg), star anise oil (2mg), sodium benzoate (2mg).
Among them, licorice flow extract can reduce the irritation of the pharyngeal mucosa and exert a cough suppressant effect;Camphor and star anise stimulate the bronchial mucosa, promote gland secretion, dilute sputum, and aid in the discharge of phlegm.
Therefore, compound licorice tablets are often used for tracheitis, bronchitis, pharyngitis, upper respiratory tract infection, asthma and allergic cough.
However, this also leads to the fatal drawback of compound licorice tablets – drug addiction.
The opium powder contained in compound licorice tablets, if used in large quantities for a long time, is easy to cause addiction and drug dependence. Since 2005, the Food and Drug Administration has classified compound licorice tablets as a prescription drug, stipulating that they can only be used under the guidance of a doctor and cannot be purchased on their own.
In 2020, the State Food and Drug Administration once again strengthened the restrictions on compound licorice tablets and issued the "Announcement on Revising the Instructions of Compound Licorice Tablets", which revised the contents of "adverse reactions" and "precautions" in the instructions of compound licorice tablets, and clarified which groups of people should not take them.
In addition to addictive properties, compound licorice tablets, there are these***
1. Hypokalemia- Long-term use of licorice tablets may lead to hypokalemia, which can affect from mild muscle weakness, bloating, nausea to intestinal symptoms, and in severe cases, it can cause dyspnea, arrhythmias, heart failure, and even sudden death.
The reason for this situation is that the glycyrrhizic acid in compound licorice tablets has the effect of excreting potassium and preserving sodium in the human body, promoting the excretion of potassium from the body. Long-term use can greatly reduce the concentration of potassium in the blood, especially for the elderly.
2. Pseudoaldosteronism- Long-term overdose of compound licorice tablets may also trigger pseudoaldosteronism, a type of secondary hypertension. Its typical symptoms include increased blood pressure, low blood potassium, metabolic alkalosis, etc., which may lead to kidney failure, heart failure, and even periodic paralysis if not intervened in time.
3. Gastric ulcer- Licorice tablets have a glucocorticoid-like effect, which can increase gastric acid secretion and reduce gastric mucus secretion. When combined with salicylic acid-containing medications such as aspirin, the risk of gastric ulcers increases significantly.
As a result, it has become extremely difficult to buy compound licorice tablets in pharmacies, and if necessary, you must go to the hospital and ask your doctor for a prescription.
Recently, many people have found that some common old drugs such as licorice tablets, chlorpheniramine, roxithromycin, etc., are becoming more and more difficult to find in pharmacies, and even if they do, they are often placed in the corners.
Pharmacy point of view: the drug *** big
In a pharmacy, a clerk said that although some drugs are effective and close to the people, such as chlorpheniramine, they are very effective in relieving allergy symptoms. However, this type of drug is often accompanied by more *** such as dizziness, drowsiness, etc., so it is more cautious in its sales.
The manager of another pharmacy pointed out that some old drugs are subject to purchase restrictions due to their large size. At the same time, with the emergence of new drugs, such as loratadine and montelukast, which have replaced chlorpheniramine, the effect is more significant, but it is relatively rare. Due to market competition, old drugs are gradually withdrawing from the stage.
Manufacturer's point of view: cost**
The cost of drug production**, and the price is difficult to increase accordingly, has become one of the factors restricting manufacturers. Manufacturers face a dilemma: the market may resist the price increase, but if the price is not raised, it will face losses. In this case, some manufacturers choose to stop selling or limit production, or even change the packaging to re-launch.
Conclusion:The decline in cheap and easy-to-use old drugs is the result of a combination of factors, and market adjustment and national policy intervention may be able to solve this problem. If you can't find an old drug when you buy a medicine, you can choose another medicine with the same effect under the advice of your doctor.