Whenever someone in my home is sick or in need of over-the-counter medications, I panic and one of two scenarios happen.
Scene one. I gather four or five over-the-counter products and I head to checkout where I spend money I don’t have on products I won’t need. Yes, it is not uncommon for me to spend an excess of $50 attempting to purchase the right OTC product for whatever the ailment or illness may be.
Scene two. I spend twenty minutes reading the back of boxes to gather four or five OTC products or consideration. I wait in line for fifteen to thirty minutes at the pharmacy counter in hopes someone can help me. There, I will drop an armful of products on the pharmacy desk, tell the pharmacist what I’m looking to achieve, and I watch them set aside product after product and tell me none of medicine I spent twenty minutes reading the boxes on will work. The pharmacist will point me in the direction of their chosen product and, unless they take a few moments to walk around the desk with me, I will overlook it. After spending five minutes trying to locate the product, I will give up and return to the pharmacy line where I will wait an additional fifteen to thirty minutes to speak to the pharmacist, just so I can have them walk around the counter to hand me what we need. This entire process can take me over an hour. I don’t spend as much money this way, but I am spending an significant amount of time.
With the hundreds of over-the-counter (OTC) products for cold and flu symptoms, and other minor ailments, there are usually only a few solutions. How do you find what you need? What is more valuable to you when someone in your home is sick? Time or money? For me, it is both. I can’t always spare a significant amount of money on over-the-counter medications, but I rarely have an hour to spend searching the drug store isles and waiting in line.
Can you easily find what you need for your symptoms?
or are you like me browsing the aisles confused by everything you see on the shelf?
Dr.OTC is an app available at the iOS store that can save us all time, money, and frustration. Simply select the age and symptoms, and then the app quickly finds you a product that can help. Additional health tips are also included with the results.
Dr.OTC FEATURES:
- FREE 7 day trial
- Ad-free
- USA over-the-counter products
- A database built by pharmacists (Over 900 products & 380 symptoms on file.
- A sleek and simple user interface
- Continuous database updates (We’re always researching for the best products and information to share with you)
- Find products based on age, individual or multiple symptoms, and brands (i.e.
- Brand names and store brands like CVS, Walgreens and Walmart – More stores coming soon!)
- Additional product and symptom information that may help you
- View product images and alternative brands
- Share your findings with family and friends
Dr.OTC In Use:
After downloading Dr.OTC, please pay special attention to the Terms of Service and Disclaimers before beginning use. Once you have read the TOS, you will be taken to the main screen. Selecting the age and symptoms you wish to search is easily completed from here. Once your search results appear, look to the bottom right corner of your screen and verity that you don’t need to update your database. (An exclamation point appeared there for me letting me know that I needed to update and my database was updated within two minutes.)
Tip: If you need to remove a symptom, press the “minus” symbol. The symptom boxes will turn red and then you may press the symptom box you wish to remove. Likewise, if you need to add a symptom, press the “plus” button symbol.
The photo below shows my product selection for a search conducted for a Walgreens brand product used in car sickness. I used the symptoms nausea and vomiting to determine my results. After I selected the product name, this is the information I was provided.
The bonus of the photo shown above is that I did not take a screen shot to show this to you. Instead, I emailed it to myself directly from the app using the share button at the top right corner of the screen!
My favorite Dr.OTC app feature is selecting “view image” for the product you wish to purchase. This will show you a photo of the product box so you can easily identify what you are looking for on the shelf.
Overall, I believe the Dr.OTC app is easy to use and will save me time and money the next time a common illness hits our home. Please visit Dr.OTC online for more information.
Download the Dr.OTC app in the iOS Store
HERE
Disclaimer: The Content provided in this article, on the app and the Dr.OTC Website is for reference only, and not a substitute for proper medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Always consult with a qualified health provider regarding any concerns you have about your health.