Hey, Buddy... You got any Sudafed?

I wish I could breathe like a normal person, I really do. My allergies come and go as they please, my sinuses flaring up regardless of the time of year. They were bothering me so much one year that I actually went to the trouble of getting tested to find out what the main culprit is. It was not any kind of flowering plant or animal hair which I had previously suspected; instead I found out that my main allergen is common house dust, specifically the dust mites that inhabit said dust.

Basically, what this means is I'm allergic to just about everything in my house that collects dust. Finally, I have a legitimate excuse to avoid housework, and a reasonable understanding of why I hate it so much: It makes me sick. (Honestly, if I go to the trouble of vacuuming, I breathe like an asthmatic for three days; suffice it to say, I don't get much vacuuming done these days). My only recourse is to wrap everything in plastic, buy phenomenally expensive 300-thread-count woven Egyptian cotton sheets, and pay someone else to clean my house (yeah, like any of *that* is going to happen). My only *other* recourse is to find a drug that works.

Enter Sudafed, with pseudoephedrine. This is the stuff that works. And it's the only stuff that I can't get. You know why? Because pseudoephedrine is also the main ingredient of crystal meth. So to keep evil people from coming in and buying buckets of the stuff, this drug has been officially moved "behind-the-counter." You have to ask for it.

Now, I don't have a problem with this. I understand they need to control access to this drug. What I don't understand is why they limit purchase to two boxes per customer which does *not* equal a month's supply, if you are using it as the manufacturer intended. And do you know how they track this? They run your Driver's License through the computer to ensure you aren't sneaking around to other drug stores buy more. When I murmur my complaints about this, the pharmacist only shrugs and says it isn't his rule and directs me to the alternate. This drug, Sudafed with phenylephrine, is sold without restriction; however, case studies have shown that not only is it ineffective, it is little better than a placebo.

Well, *I* could have told them that! I have popped up to three of those things at a time and *nothing happens*!!!

It just burns me that because criminals are using this drug illegally, I have pay the price. I'm the one restricted from this drug. It's easier to buy this stuff on the street than to get it from your local pharmacy.

For the love of Pete, I am *not* running a meth lab in my home! I just want to breathe like a normal person!!!