It’s winter season, which makes me become extra grouchy because my allergies get highly reactive and my nose clogs up.
I have a very mixed experience with American otc medicines, but when it comes to nasal sprays, everything we have here SUCKS, doesn’t fucking work most of the time. I bought a Japanese nazal spray called Sato Nazal and I can finally breathe.
This stuff has existed for literally decades and works wonders, but we can’t have it in the US. It’s so god damn annoying I have go to Japan or to some random Asian shop to buy one.
We are missing out on so many products, but I want to ask, why the hell do we not change? Why is our society so excessively conservative about using medicines that our Allies have been using for decades or centuries?
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You mean literally this?
https://www.walmart.com/ip/Sato-Nazal-Spray-Pump/739388857
Or this?
https://www.amazon.com/Sato-Nasal-Decongestant-1-Ounce/dp/B075T2J1Q8
>Why is our society so excessively conservative about using medicines that our Allies have been using for decades or centuries?
You can’t be serious.
Just did a quick google search and its available for purchase or delivery by Walmart or Amazon.
>Why is our society so excessively conservative about using medicines that our Allies have been using for decades or centuries?
Most other nations are appalled at our level of medication consumption.
Because of the Thalidomide babies. It was a drug approved in many other developed countries that was considered safe there, but it was actually causing severe birth defects when used by pregnant women. This affected thousands of babies in Europe and Australia, where the drug was even being used to treat morning sickness in the 1960’s.
The US never approved Thalidomide, mostly due to the stubbornness of one pharmaceutical reviewer for the FDA, Frances Oldham Kelsey. Her insistence on more research saved the US from the Thalidomide scandal. This also lead the FDA to have a policy of not approving drugs simply because another developed country did.
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Because they haven’t gone through the FDA regulatory process.
Just like you can’t import a car that is perfectly safe to drive in Japan which has not gone through the proper certification channels, etc, etc, etc.
You can order stuff that’s OTC from other countries if you really want it. I get oral Ketotifen from Japan because it’s only available from a compounding pharmacy in the US.
>Sato Nazal…but we can’t have it in the US
Looks like I can order it from Walmart and have it sent directly to my home.
Have you tried speaking with your primary care doctor? They may be able to find a substitute. Or you can compare the ingredients to other brands and see if there’s another option.
They keep the good nasal decongestant behind the counter. You just have to ask for it as it’s monitored due to its use in meth production. In fact a lot of nasal decongestant was just pulled from shelves due to it not actually working.
The active ingredient in Sato Nazal is Naphazoline Hydrochloride and it’s approved by the FDA for over the counter use. So you can absolutely get that medication in the US.
Naphazoline Hydrochloride is a nasal decongestant in the same family of drugs as the more common decongestant Afrin (oxymetazoline hydrochloride). Afrin is a very common med and there’s likely less demand for the drug in Nazal – but it is available.
Nasal decongestants like these are not recommended for long term use due to issues with rebound congestion. And they focus on treating the symptom vs the cause of congestion. There are way more effective allergy treatments available. Steroid nasal sprays like Flonase are usually a better option because it addresses the cause and symptoms. Or an OTC antihistamine like Claritin or Zyrtec might be more effective.
We have lots of options available. The best way to evaluate your options is get familiar with the generic name or active ingredient of a brand name med and look at all the available options.
Where are these random Asian shops?
This looks like a good place to do my annual reminder to never use sprays such as Afrin for more than 3 days. If you do, things can actually rebound and make the infection or problem much worse. If you have continued congestion, using a Netti Pot WITH PURIFIED WATER is your best option. Same goes for antibiotics prescribed for sinus infection: it’s critical you take the full course of drugs as instructed to prevent a rebound or repeat infection. My sweet but stubborn Papa ignored this advice and suffered greatly at the end of his life because of constant congestion and infection. Learn from his mistake!
You can order international OTC meds no problem. I use French pharmacy products for skin issues allllll the time.
Tell me you don’t know what google is without telling me.
Lmao OP really thought he was onto something 😭
We have the smartest and most educated doctors and researchers in the world by a long shot, so I’ll trust their judgment over foreign doctors, who from my experience do asinine things that even a decently informed lay person wouldn’t do, like treat viruses with antibiotics.
The nasal sprays I get on Walgreens work just fine. Maybe you’re not looking hard enough.
Sato nazal is a topical vasoconstrictor. These also exist here as well. The classic example is Afrin. Topical vasoconstrictors are a terrible treatment for nasal congestion. They work short term but over time cause rebound nasal congestion with congestion getting worse and worse the longer you use it. My guess is sato is a stronger vasoconstrictor than Afrin giving better short term relief while making your congestion even worse in the long term. The strategy to get off vasoconstrictors is highly effective but fairly miserable in the short term. Continue using the vasoconstrictor in one nostril while using a nasal steroid like Flonase at maximum dose in the other nostril. After 2 weeks switch to just using the nasal steroid at maximum dose in both nostril. After 2 more weeks lowest the nasal steroid dose to the normal dose. Do this and you won’t believe how much better your nose will feel after a month. Steroids take time to work so keep in mind as you first start this you will be miserable and barely able to breathe out of the nostril you have stopped the vasoconstrictor in. Nasal vasoconstrictors are terrible medicine and should be removed from the market in my opinion.
Another bait post
My allergies went away by doing a low carb diet. Carbs causes inflammation.
r/lowcarb