Credibility within Medical Field
Earlier this week I saw my doctor. He suggested a prescription for Claritin (generic: loratidine). I'd tried it once before and wasn't overly impressed, but the doctor told me it was okay to take two tablets. He also told me that it would likely be cheaper if he wrote it as a prescription rather than me buying it OTC (over the counter).
I went and picked up the prescription, and just as he'd promised, it was cheaper. 100 tabs for $10. However, the directions said to take only one tablet in 24 hours. Not one or two. I wondered if I'd heard my doctor correctly, and went to Google to find out.
Every American site stated that the dose was one 10 mg tablet per 24 hours. When I researched taking 20 mgs of loratidine, again the American sites recommended 1 ten mg tablet per 24 hours with health warnings if more was ingested. Then I happened a European site, which stated for everyone else in the world - except America - the recommended dose is 20 mg in 24 hours; not 10 mg.
The reason why? In America, loratidine is marketed as a non-drowsy antihistamine. At higher doses, the chances of it causing drowsiness are higher. What?!
So my doctor was right.
I'm sure a case could be made about a higher frequency of side effects with a higher dose. But isn't that true of anything?
My issue is this: I needed to know if taking twice the established dosage was dangerous. It turns out that it is not, and the reason for the 10 mg recommended dose is spin; not a true health danger. The problem when spin is more important than accuracy is that when people realize it's crap, they assume all information in the same vein is crap. With medications that is a dangerous tack to take. Some really do not have much leeway.
I went and picked up the prescription, and just as he'd promised, it was cheaper. 100 tabs for $10. However, the directions said to take only one tablet in 24 hours. Not one or two. I wondered if I'd heard my doctor correctly, and went to Google to find out.
Every American site stated that the dose was one 10 mg tablet per 24 hours. When I researched taking 20 mgs of loratidine, again the American sites recommended 1 ten mg tablet per 24 hours with health warnings if more was ingested. Then I happened a European site, which stated for everyone else in the world - except America - the recommended dose is 20 mg in 24 hours; not 10 mg.
The reason why? In America, loratidine is marketed as a non-drowsy antihistamine. At higher doses, the chances of it causing drowsiness are higher. What?!
So my doctor was right.
I'm sure a case could be made about a higher frequency of side effects with a higher dose. But isn't that true of anything?
My issue is this: I needed to know if taking twice the established dosage was dangerous. It turns out that it is not, and the reason for the 10 mg recommended dose is spin; not a true health danger. The problem when spin is more important than accuracy is that when people realize it's crap, they assume all information in the same vein is crap. With medications that is a dangerous tack to take. Some really do not have much leeway.