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I don't like this type of medicine, so consider that I have a personal bias; but it's not without reasons. When used sparingly, in the lower dose range and in the daytime, they are pretty well tolerated and can provide good relief from sinus and nasal congestion.
There are basically 2 available oral decongestants. Pseudoephedrine and phenylephrine. Almost no studies have been done to compare the two, it is thought that they are roughly equivalent in side effects and effectiveness. Phenylephrine is becoming more common as pseodoephedrine can be used to make illegal amphetamine, and is being moved to behind the counter.
The high full dose of pseudoephedrine is 240 mg total a day. This is best given using a brand name 120 mg 12 hour time release pill. Phenylephrine is full dosed at 25 mgs time release over 12 hours, 50 mgs per day total. I like a slightly lower than maximum dose if you can find it and try to get by with only a morning dose.
Decongestants are not indicated for chronic use. They have several side effects that are almost always present even if not noticed. They can increase your blood pressure and interfere with normal sleep patterns. Even when you don't seem to have trouble sleeping after taking them, they will affect your sleep patterns and negatively affect the quality of your sleep. Over time they may become less effective. In general they are constricting all of the blood vessels in your body just to help decrease the thickness of the vascular membranes in your nose and sinuses.
Get 12 hour time release generic pseudoephedrine . These are now often kept behind the counter because they are an ingredient in illicit drug manufacture. I think that a morning dose of 60 mg of time released pseudoephedrine. A full 12 hour dose is 120 mg, but that is a bit much for many people. When doctors prescribe expensive decongestants, they are almost always just time release pseudoephedrine mixed with some a mucous thinner. There are hundreds of prescription brands with fancy names, the only differences between them are minor variations in the amounts of the mixture.
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