
This old box of Alka-Seltzer has been in the medicine cabinet for years. Every so often, if I have a pain in the belly, I drop one tablet into a glass of water, wait for the fizzing to stop, and then drink it down. It has always worked great. Recently, I used the 2nd to last tablet, so I went to the drugstore to buy another box. To my dismay, they no longer had the Alka-Seltzer of yore, but only a new and less effective version! Now that is progress. No more taking this for a headache. But wait, wasn’t Headache the first thing that Alka-Seltzer was listed as treating? Not anymore.

Acetylsalicylic acid is missing! I asked the pharmacist what was going on, and all he could say was that “they removed the aspirin”. No kidding! That’s what I said! So I looked it up, and it seems that they still make it with aspirin, but apparently, not here. Maybe where you are, if you’re lucky. This pill has been sold for nearly 100 years, so why did they have to change it? I can’t take anymore change, I’m too damned old to cope! But, there is a solution – here it is:

No medical advice intended, use at own risk!!! What they now call “extra strength” is the same dose that was in the old pill. Regular now has less stuff in it. Does the conniving ever cease? Is the term “false advertising” not a tautology? Yes, well …. Caveat Emptor!


