A guy at the grocery store who doesn’t trust grocery stores asked me for some help in regards to pain meds. He wanted to know if these products were the same, because his wife specifically asked him to buy something for a migraine.
Upon further inspection, these products have exactly the same dosage of ingredients, cost the same, but are labeled differently. Essentially a placebo ripoff.
Ridiculous.
The Art of M. 
That’s crazy. Plus…I have migraines…that stuff just won’t work
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Right ? Excedrin Migraine is for the stupid people that don’t throrougouhly know what they are buying
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Or they don’t know what a migraine is. People think migraines are bad headaches, and they don’t realize it’s more about the brain and such
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I agree with LA, not adequate for migraines for most people. Re-branding the same product is common I think and just another way to get the company name out to more consumers. It’s like people who won’t buy generic. Products made with exactly the same ingredients and amounts, manufactured in the same facilities that make the name brand version- absolutely identical but because it’s not well known people shy away. Consumers want to complain yet like with so many things in life they also don’t want to put in an effort to educate themselves about what is going into their shopping carts.
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I understand that generic and name brand can be the same, but usually generic is cheaper. This was the same price, it’s just ridiculous to me.
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Yes, it’s absolutely ridiculous and that guy was lucky you helped him realize it! Did he pick one or just give up entirely?
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I think he went with the migraine branding for fear his wife would be mad. He seemed very lost in the market, had I had more time I would have helped him shop.
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First, it’s not stupid ~ the combo of aspirin, acetaminophen, and caffeine can knock out some migraines if taken early. This sometimes works for me and I don’t have to step up to the sumatriptan. Second, it is silly to buy Excedrin Migraine/ES though if generic is available, which it usually is!
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The medication combo isn’t what I am calling stupid. I am saying why sell the exact same product for the same price, but call one extra strength and one migraine. That to me is false advertising.
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Why though? There are migraines and also tension headaches. People may not know…
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Paula…it’s exactly the same, why not just sell it as extra strength and add migraines to the list of things it can help.
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Probably they sell more this way since people are not careful readers
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Hi! Not a doctor but I worked in the pharmaceutical industry for 25 years. My guess it’s bec the formulas (ingredients/amounts) are the same but the dosing instructions (how many caplets, how often) aren’t. Migraine headaches are very different from other headaches. They typically aren’t resolved by OTC meds, although the combination of aspirin+acetaminophen+caffeine can help some migraine patients temporarily (mostly bec of the caffeine). But “rebound” headaches are frequent (mostly bec of the caffeine). That’s probably why Glaxo introduced the product for migraines, with a reduced amount & frequency of dosing. On the other hand, the most common kind of headache – aka “tension” – can usually be dealt with effectively using simple pain relievers. Headache quickly over, no need to take for multiple days, no rebound. So the amount & frequency of dosing can be higher.
The change in dosing was likely the reason for separate branding. The FDA is super-fussy about labeling & branding. When usage directions are different new approvals are required & sometimes the FDA lets it be known to the manufacturer that the product is different enough because of the change in directions (dosing instructions) – even though the formulas are identical – to require separate branding.
And, yes, the placebo effect is real. But it’s tough to quantify so although a manufacturer might not mind having people by one version of a formula over another bec of personally-perceived efficacy, they probably wouldn’t count on it.
(Typed this fast, no time to proof, there are no typos.)
🙃
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LOL:
(…hoping there are no typos.) not (…there are no typos.)
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So one is basically to make people with migraines feel better and the other is extra strength
And both are exactly the same 😂
Hello pharmaceutical consumerism
~B
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Yeah, ridiculous
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Surely that criminal? 💜
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