Consumer Alert--Excedrin Analgesics

Excedrin sells some great pain killers. They have a bunch of different products for various ailments (back/body ache, headache, migraine, etc). And they work well. All their products contain 2+ of [aspirin, tylenol, caffeine]. For example, the tension headache formula has tylenol and caffeine, but no aspirin. Migraine and extra-strength headache relief contain all three.

Now the combination of tylenol, aspirin, and caffeine is a great thing, especially in treating migraines. Not only does the caffeine potentiate the tylenol and the aspirin, but it also helps to constrict blood vessels. Since blood vessels typically dilate or spasm during migraines, this is a good thing. Also, tylenol potentiates the aspirin, if I recall correctly.

So I'd encourage migraine sufferers to use Excedrin's products, since they actually work very well (for OTC analgesics).

But here comes the alert. For some reason, the "good" folks at Excedrin feel they can charge $1.00 or more per bottle of pills when they use the word "migraine" instead of "extra-strength headache." You'd think something between the two formulas would be different. But the pill count of the two medicines is the same, as are their active ingredients (and dosages).

I don't doubt that this is an effective sales technique, but it leaves a bad taste in my mouth.

So remember folks, shop for your pain killers before you're actually in pain, and look at what they're actually giving you. If pills that claim they're for back pain have the same ingredients (in the same proportions) as pills that claim they're for migraines, then they're the same damn thing.

And in case any Excedrin marketing execs are reading this post, shame on you. Shame!