Johnson & Johnson to the rescue...

This isn’t a topic I exactly wanted to ever have to write about while over here, but since I’m going through the wonderful experience, why not share it with you.

I came over to Rome back in January on the last week of a 3 week prescription of antibiotics. I had a bit of bronchitis in the fall, and only got rid of it finally when I took that medicine and got over here. I’ve felt pretty good ever since, but I guess I was due for another cold. I tend to get sick pretty often at school, at least once a semester I seem to come down with something, so I was hoping I could make it through my Study Abroad program without getting sick again. I was wrong I suppose.

We can blame it on the crazy weather, or at least I’m going to. The fact that it has been going from 65 and sunny to 30 and rainy for the past two weeks every 24 hours or so has thrown my immune system off, or so I believe. So the past few days I’ve developed a head cold. Pretty standard stuff. I normally travel prepared for this situation, since I’m used to having allergy and sinus headaches and colds, but it seems I forgot to bring a medicine for at night. I’ve got the daytime stuff covered with Tylenol cold and sinus day, and my favorite ColdEeze cough drops (I swear by them, I think they reduce the severity/length of a cold, google ColdEeze and see what you find) but I didn’t have any Nyquil or other night-time medicines.

So off to the pharmacy I went today, to see what I could find. I walked in and took a look around. The pharmacies in Rome are tiny, unlike a CVS or RiteAid you would find back home. As it turns out lots of the medicine has to be asked for at the counter, since it is kept in a storage closet.

Healthcare is public in Italy, and that’s what makes this interesting. You can actually go into a Pharmacy and just buy antibiotics over the counter, though you have to ask for exactly which you would like. Antibiotics are a prescription in America, so I found this pretty interesting. There are also signs up around Italy campaigning against the use/abuse of antibiotics. Turns out since their so easy to get here, people take them whenever they feel sick because they think that will stop anything. Clearly this is not the case, and since I wasn’t interested in buying any antibiotics, that’s the end of my knowledge on them in Italy vs. America, though I thought you might find that interesting.

As it turns out, though it is easier to get different medicines here, you have to ask for just about anything at the counter. They don’t just have Tylenol or asprin even lined up on the shelves, but they are all behind the counter. I asked the pharmacist for an Antihistimine, and she said, in Italy, we have this. She then handed me over a very plain looking box, with the name “ACTIfed” on it. I took the box and looked at the labels. There were none. It didn’t have any real information on the outside of the box, other than that it was made by Johnson and Johnson. That was familiar to me, so I figured it was worth a try.

When I got back to my room and opened the box, I found a pamphlet with all the information I was looking for. As it turns out, this “ACTIFed” is actually Pseudoephedrine, or “Sudafed” as we more commonly know it. Sudafed though in the United States doesn’t contain Pseudoephedrine anymore due to restrictions, but is still available by request at a pharmacy if you ask for “original Sudafed” to a pharmacist. A quick google search showed me that what I have is the exact same formula that the “original Sudafed” is.

Now if there are any medical/medicine buffs out there, you know that pseudoephedrine isn’t an antihistamine but a decongestant. The original Sudafed though, and the ACTIFed that I purchased today, contains triprolidine HCl which is an antihistamine, and a more effective one than what is in Sudafed today, according to my quick google/Wikipedia search.

So why can I get the original Sudafed so easily in Rome and not in the USA, when it is believed that the original Sudafed is more effective? …No I don’t have an answer to that, feel free to answer or leave it as a rhetorical question, up to you. (maybe it has something to do with the different healthcare systems? Discuss…) (Update: Upon further research, you can still get the original Sudafed from a Pharmacy in the U.S. by going to the counter and asking for it, just like I did in Rome. But why is it that you have to ask at the counter and not just pick it up off a shelf, and why in Rome do they not sell the "alternative" Sudafed, or Sudafed PE? Do the Italians know something we don't know? Are we being taken by J&J by buying a lesser product? Or are we just that advanced and aren't willing to share our new findings with Europe?)

And also, why can’t J&J just make it easier and call it Sudafed in Italy? Why did I have to go through all that trouble to find out that’s what it is? I’m pretty sure there is some legality with other companies using “Sudafed” in the states, because that is trademarked by J&J, but why not carry the name over into Europe? (Again, feel free to answer, or to leave it…maybe a lawyer with this area of expertise can answer that?)