In the age of centenarians, a must-read for your health: "Medicine."
How to Buy Medicine Without a Prescription, as Told by a Current Pharmacist

“If I take Pancol and Tylenol at the same time, I could get liver toxicity and end up in the emergency room?”
“I accidentally used Otrivin because my nose was blocked. If I spray it incorrectly for a long time, it can actually cause drug-induced rhinitis?”

For the sake of my health, I should carefully check whether I am taking, applying, and spraying the medicine I bought at the pharmacy correctly.
Medicines that can be purchased without a prescription, also known as 'over-the-counter medicines', are often purchased on one's own according to symptoms rather than consulting a pharmacist at the pharmacy each time.
It can even be purchased at places other than pharmacies or online shopping malls.
You may be concerned that this medication may not work well with existing medications, nutritional supplements, or foods you frequently eat.
“Can I Take This Medicine Together?” is a medicine guidebook that is good to keep in every home and refer to whenever needed. It is a book that was meticulously written by a pharmacist with 18 years of experience to meet this need.


Among general medicines, the number one seller for the past two years is Tylenol 500 mg.
It has antipyretic and analgesic effects, so it is widely used for various ailments such as headaches, menstrual pain relief, cold medicine, and alleviating coronavirus symptoms.
Before taking Tylenol, it is a good idea to know if there are any precautions to take and what ingredients are in the medications you are currently taking.


"Can I Take This Medicine Together?" divides the top 100 general medicine sales products into 6 categories: cold medicine, eye/nose/throat medicine, digestion-related products, comprehensive nutritional supplements, wound healing, and unknown pain (such as hemorrhoids and hair loss), and explains in detail the ingredients they contain, the possibility of side effects due to interactions with medications taken for underlying diseases, etc.
This book, which clearly compares and analyzes the ingredients and efficacy of Tylenol vs. Gevorin vs. Taxen, Zyrtec vs. Comekina, Fucidin vs. Madecassol, Insadol vs. Igatan, Mediform vs. Duoderm, etc., is a good guidebook to keep by your side and refer to whenever needed.

Both "Panpyrin" and "Pancol" contain 300 mg of acetaminophen, which can cause liver toxicity if taken in doses up to 4,000 mg per day.
Since most cold medicines on the market contain acetaminophen, it is better to take separate medicine for specific symptoms such as cough, phlegm, and runny nose rather than taking a combination cold medicine.
--- From "Comprehensive Cold Medicine"

"Modcol S Soft Capsules" are prohibited for use by athletes during competition. Both DL-methylephedrine hydrochloride and pseudoephedrine are classified as "stimulants" and are prohibited from doping under the International Standard for Prohibited Lists. DL-methylephedrine hydrochloride is prohibited only when detected in urine samples at concentrations exceeding 10 mcg/ml, and pseudoephedrine is prohibited only when detected in urine samples at concentrations exceeding 150 mcg/ml.
--- From "Comprehensive Cold Medicine"

The reason why we insist on buying a multivitamin supplement at a pharmacy when you can buy it online is because there are more products at the pharmacy with higher concentrations of active vitamins than those purchased online.
While regular vitamins must go through a metabolic process to be used in our bodies, active vitamins are either given in a form that can be used directly in the body or in a form with increased absorption and bioavailability.


"Aronamin" began selling in 1963 and has sold over 9 billion tablets in total. It is said that if you lined up "Aronamin Gold" in one line, it would be enough to circle the Earth three and a half times.
In addition, we have a variety of product lines, including “Aronamin Gold Premium” and “Aronamin C Plus.”
"Aronamin Gold" is the first active vitamin containing fursultiamine as its main ingredient, a modified form of allithiamine, first developed by Takeda Pharmaceutical Company of Japan.
Fursultiamine is known to be able to pass through the blood-brain barrier and supply vitamin B1 to the brain. Although it is not yet fully known whether it has a specific effect on brain function, it is said to have the effect of helping heart muscle contraction.
Non-active form of vitamin B1 is called thiamine, but because its utilization rate in the body is so low, it is better to take the active form.

--- From "Comprehensive Nutritional Supplement"

We recommend vitamin C products that are not mixed with other substances, if possible.
There are products such as neutralized vitamin C (labeled as Ester C, Neutral, etc.) that are said to prevent heartburn.
By reacting ascorbic acid and calcium carbonate, a new substance was created that was a complex of calcium ascorbate and a vitamin C metabolite, and this was called ester C.
This neutralizing vitamin C has a high absorption rate and stays in the body for a long time.
Vitamin C plays a variety of roles in the body and it is best to excrete it.
If you are considering megadosing vitamin C, neutralizing vitamin C, which stays in the body for a long time, is not suitable for megadosing.

--- Among the "antioxidants"

General pharmaceutical nutritional supplements are products that have been recognized as effective in treating and preventing diseases, and are labeled as “general pharmaceutical products” on the product box.
Since all pharmaceutical products are subject to the management of the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety, they are produced through strict standards and manufacturing processes.
These products have undergone various clinical trials and have high reliability in terms of efficacy, and include vitamin and mineral products, bioactive substances, and herbal medicine preparations.
It is only available at pharmacies.
Products such as “Aronamin Gold” and “Magbi Speed” are only sold at pharmacies.
Meanwhile, "Tentenchujeong," which children often ask to buy at pharmacies, looks like candy, but it is actually a regular nutritional supplement containing vitamin A, nicotinamide, calcium, etc.

--- From "What is this? Aren't nutritional supplements sold in pharmacies and online nutritional supplements the same?"

Both Fucidin and Madecassol come in various series by product group, but the most famous of them are "Fucidin Ointment" and "Madecassol Care Ointment", both of which are wound ointments containing antibiotics used on wounds at risk of infection.
Both contain antibiotics and should not be used for long periods of time as there is a risk of resistance.
All of them have a usage period of 7 days or less.
--- From "Wound Medicine"

Originally, 5% minoxidil topical solution was used only for male pattern baldness, and only 2% or 3% minoxidil was used for female pattern baldness.
The reason is that when women use 5% minoxidil, the effect of minoxidil becomes stronger, causing a significant increase in hair, including fine hair on the forehead.
However, "Rogaine Foam" is a 5% minoxidil in the form of a topical foam, not a gel, and is unique in that it is the only product approved for use by the FDA for women in 2014, making it suitable for use by both men and women.
Minoxidil was initially used as an oral antihypertensive drug, but after the side effect of hair growth was confirmed, topical application was used as a hair loss treatment.

--- From "Hair Loss Treatment"