Yes that ingredient in antihistimines is a big problem here in NZ. People smuggle it through the borders it is called contac NT I think and is used to manufacture what is called P here but might be what you call ice. It is a heinous drug.
We have the same problems here with the govt allowing drugs with terrible side effects. I was given a prescription for a drug for migraines from a specialist and after reading an entire page of possible side effects including basically going insane I declined to take it. I showed it to my GP who agreed with my decision wholeheartedly.

Contac nt is used to manufacture methamphetamines.

The side effects are a joke. I use all natural when I can becuz I have had horrible reactions to wellbutrin when I quit smoking 9 months ago. I've turned to accupuncture and aroma therapy to help me with anxiety, hormone problems through menapause, and headaches......no side effects and relief all rolled up in small needles :)

I will make a comment which I know will be not very popular. All drugs have side effects. Some can be really dangerous. But drugs also save lives and improve quality of lives. I would be 3-5 times dead if not for medications I will be having for the rest of my life. As with everything in life education and restrain are the best answers. With my long history of autoimmune problems with peculiar symptoms and strange reactions to medications, I learn to be very careful with drugs, take them when there is no other choice. Sometimes one condition improves another gets worse. I always calculate pros and cons. I had to learn how to live with this risks, but live, not merely to survive the day and try to rest at night. No ammount of government research and regulation is going to solve these problems. We want to have good living, we have to invest our time to get to know important things ourselves. Relaying 100% on other opinions being that doctors, financial advisers etc, who not always have our best interests at heart, is in my opinion big mistake. It exposes us to even bigger risks. I am in favor of using complementary and natural medicine, but when you are seriously il, it will not save your life.
Kutani

Kutani, my husband, like you is very ill and he takes about 40 pills a day some of them have side effects but his life depends on them. I think wevneed to weigh up the risks and benefits and make an informed decision

When I'm sick, if they make a pill to make me feel better... I'm taking it. I hate being sick!

You have to watch the all natural supplements too. They are not regulated AT ALL.
At least pharmaceutical medications have some kind of regulatory guidelines.

The benefits of some medications.... for most people.... far far outweigh the slight chance of the possible side effects for a very few.

It's really no different than getting in your car or in an airplane.... there's always a slight chance for really bad side effects, but you do it anyway because the odds are completely in your favor.

Like Kutani says.... It's best to take the time to do your research and make your own decision. One is not necessarily "better" than the other.

I agree natural remedies are better if they in fact do help then that is great. I think when taken as directed prescribed medications are a necessity for many people.

The ingredient found in antihistamines such as Sudafed are used to make meth by drug dealers & other scum that are brewing this drug in their homes and have been doing this for years now....it is very common in our area also. These people go to extreme to make cheap drugs and to mix them with other ingredients such as a white powdery substance, such as Inositol in order to extend their supply ...I found this out while working at GNC, I think it has gone to more extreme than anyone realizes.

What is so frustrating to me is that it makes the process for us to get what we need almost impossible. Have anyone else noticed you cannot find bath salts anymore....these people have started sniffing the stuff to get high, so most places have taken it off of the market......it is a crazy world!!!!!

I can't speak to all drugs but I know for me, I wouldn't be here if I didn't take antidepressants. I have suffered from chronic depression my whole life due to extreme abuse as a child.

Back then (in the dark ages) doctors didn't believe children could have anxiety or depression. When my hair started falling out they thought I was allergic to our family cat! I didn't learn until I was an adult about alopecia.
I was so stressed that it caused my hair to fall out and I was only about 8 or 9 years old. Once I married and left my parents home it stopped! I also chewed my nails and cuticles to the point of two nail beds getting so infected I lost two nails. That was in the 7th grade.

If I hadn't started taking antidepressants I am quite sure I wouldn't be here to talk about this. So I for one and extremely grateful for the progress medical science has made in this area.

I'm not dissing drugs altogether as I know many of them are absolutely necessary. I do take blood pressure medicine, but some of the others just scare the heck out of me. It makes my anxiety soar through the roof. I am careful with natural supplements as some are just as dangerous as perscription drugs.
I took anti depressants for years and am one of the lucky ones to be able to get off them.
I say that a person has to do what is good for them. Natural has worked for me, but it is not necessarily the remedy for others....and I respect that.

Well actually, you guys, I was pointing out the irony of being able to buy drugs that are known to be deadly to some - and yet we are required to sign off on a government form for an over-the-counter antihistamine.

I realize that some of the contents of the antihistamines are used for making illegal drugs - but I'm not sure that those illegal drugs are anymore dangerous to us than the legal drugs are. Who knows........

It just seems odd to me - that's all.

You opened a can of worms...LJ LOL!!!

Actually I agree...and it is odd that we are required to sign & show our ID for these over-counter drugs, but not for prescribed ones.

Maybe the government is so busy trying to catch criminals that as usual they have no problem letting the honest ones suffer!! Yes there are more oddities going on than we probably want to know, especially when it comes to what we consume...it is scary!!

;) I'm glad you got my point, rebooting.

But one thing.....are you saying that the FDA is honest? I'm very afraid that they are in the pocket of big pharma unfortunately. I think that is not your point - I just wanted to say that :)

I'll work my political points in any way I can it seems......

Oh no honesty there not by any stretch of the imagination...that is really sad to say, isn't it?!!

No I was referring to the way that as usual the everyday person gets sent through the grill due to what these scums are allowed to get away with, they make it difficult for the rest of us to simply get an aspirin, everyone else but the ones that keep committing these crimes are the ones that suffer.

Did you see my earlier note about how people are now sniffing Bath salts to get high? What is next??? I have always enjoyed the different fragrances they come in....so relaxing. Now I am making my own!!! Which is actually really easy to do :-)

The drug called bath salts isnt made fron the ones you take a bath in. They are just made of epsom salts etc. If you google search it there is a lot of info about it.

Thanks CM that is actually good to know, I rarely watch the news anymore and have not followed up with it since. Honestly nothing surprises me anymore so it would not surprise if it were a new fad. I am not sure about other places but in our area that was not clearly reported and was a false scare. I was even told by one store they had to take it off of the shelves. I did find a article from a San Francisco area paper in an attempt to clarify the miscommunication.

"San Francisco Bath Salt Company is concerned that all the media reports about the growing drug problem with ‘bath salts’ will create an unwarranted fear that all bath salts are dangerous. “There are legitimate companies, like ours, offering real bath salts that are completely unrelated to these fake bath salts and cannot be used as a way to get high,”