Wednesday, April 11, 2007

This Post Might Give You a Headache

Today, I went to the firm medicine cabinet for an Excedrin caffeine fix. I read the label on the Extra Strength Excedrin and on the Excedrin Migraine to see which one had the most caffeine. Guess what. The ingredients are exactly the same. I would be willing to bet that some stores charge more for one or the other of these products which sucks eggs.

This made me wonder if the six different types of Excedrin are all the same medication with the only difference being the packaging. Here's what I found out, free of charge to you.


Excedrin Extra Strength
65 mg caffeine (about the same as a cup of coffee)
250 mg acetaminophen (regular strength Tylenol has 325 mg)
250 mg aspirin

Excedrin Migraine
65 mg caffeine
250 mg acetaminophen
250 mg aspirin

Excedrin Back and Body
250 mg acetaminophen
250 mg aspirin

Excedrin Tension Headache
65 mg caffeine
500 mg acetaminophen

Excedrin Sinus
325 mg acetaminophen
5 mg phenylephrine (decongestant)

Excedrin PM
500 mg acetaminophen
38 mg diphenhydramine (antihistamine)

11 comments:

Anonymous said...

Fascinating, actually. . .

Anonymous said...

SNEAKY BASTARDS!!(with fist shaking in the air)

Baby sis

Dave Knechel said...

A friend of mine once told me that the ingredients in many of the athlete's feet remedies are identical to the same products women buy when they have a certain type of infection. Let's just say it generally comes in ointment form. He said that the female product was a lot cheaper to buy and that's what he did.

I asked a pharmacist once, and she said, yes, they are the same. That's sort of strange, since men's stuff - shoes, clothes and so forth - tend to be less expensive.

Anonymous said...

You're quite a pharmaceutical sleuth. I had no idea.

Laurie said...

Popeye - I thought so, too. I didn't think anyone else would though. :)

Baby Sis - No kidding!!

Dave - Now THAT'S interesting.

Leslie - I really had no idea this would be interesting to anyone but me.

Anonymous said...

Advertising folks know that back in the late 50's and 60's detergent companies would spur sales and regain market share simply by changing something on the box and including the words "New and Improved" on the cover, while the ingredients remained the same.

In fact, I see instances of this ploy these days now and then.

Now, can someone shoot Billy May's and get him off late night TV commercials?

Laurie said...

LG - Oh, God! Billy Mays drives me nuts!!!! IT'S THE SHOUTING...THE CONSTANT SHOUTING!!!! Shut the hell up already.

While we're on the subject, why do car salesmen have to yell?

Steve said...

Which one has the methamphetamine?

Laurie said...

Pokerboss - The one my cousin makes.

Miss Cellania said...

Now, if we took that information and went out and bought bulk acetomeniphen, aspirin, and diphenhydramine, just think of all the money you'd save over time! And you could get your caffiene the normal way, with coffee.

Although it will stain your teeth.

Laurie said...

Miss Cellania - That's exactly what they don't want us to do.