Sometimes precautions go a little too far. About a week and a half ago I received a call from Autumn's "school" asking me if she had any decongestant. So I figured I'd just go up the street, buy some Pediacare and drop it off for her. WRONG.
When I got there, the shelves that previously held Pediacare were empty. So I figured I had to go to the pharmacy, which is where Target has been keeping their Pediacare. But, nope. No Pediacare there, either. I had to settle for a generic brand that had just a decongestant and no cough suppressant. But with a stuffy child, I had to get what I could.
Earlier this week, I needed some more Pediacare at home. I took the $1 coupon I had from our previous box and went through the medicine aisles at Wegmans. Nothing there. So I went to the pharmacy. The young man who first helped me said they didn't stock it and did I check the shelves. I told him I did and because of the pseudoephedrine, I thought they might have it behind the counter. He went back to check with some other people and a woman came out. She told me they had to be careful with it because it was "used to make crack." Two thoughts went through my head:
1. No kidding. Why do you think I'm at the pharmacy instead of browsing the shelves?
2. It's not crack, it's meth that they're making. Crack is cocaine.
Eventually the pharmacy manager came out and went to check the shelves with me (despite the fact that I told them all there was nothing on the shelves). He told me that Tylenol cold was able to be stocked because Tylenol had already switched to phenylephrine, a different decongestant. I told him I didn't need Tylenol. He suggested using a half dose of the children's version. I told him my daughter would spit that out if I tried to get her to drink it. I needed something with a dropper.
So I went to Wal-Mart. I found no Pediacare, but found a card for the generic version of it, which I took to the pharmacy. I asked them about Pediacare and they said they didn't have any. So I got the generic stuff.
The guy at Wegmans said the company just quit making the kind with the pseudoephedrine and when they start making some with phenylephrine it will probably be back on the shelves. He estimated sometime in September.
September is a long time away when you have a kid who needs the decongestant now.
So this morning I did some research and some math. Apparently, a 30-tablet box of Sudafed will make about 1.3 grams of meth. If you do some converting, you'd need about 13 boxes of Pediacare to make the same 1.3 grams. So, at $6 a box, you'd be spending $78 to make that 1.3 grams. Supposedly the street value for 1 gram of Meth is $100. I guess it's still a profit, but, come on.
It makes me want to fight somebody. After all, nothing is more irritating than when you need something for your child's well-being and you can't get it.
So curses meth makers and users for causing this difficulty! Curses drug companies for not having a replacement ready before taking another product away! Curses to you all!