[zo1]

>"And trying to do so could actually put them at higher risk for drug interactions or other human error. You have to read and reconcile warnings and directions labels from 3 or 4 different product packages, instead of just one."

I don't see how "combined" pills that are vetted by pharmaceutical companies or the FDA stop unwanted interactions from drugs. People don't read the entire huge and tiny-font booklet that comes with most medicine and cross-reference the ingredients from each with all the other medicine they're taking. Sure, they rely on doctors to help them out (if they know/can anticipate), but that's just as much a disaster waiting to happen as what you're arguing against.

So what ends up happening is that the drug interactions occur anyways even though people took approved combinations of ingredients. I'd rather we not promote this whole approved combinations prevent unwanted interactions as people mix different pills anyways.

[sokoloff]

Having your SOP for dealing with a cold being "select exactly one box from your medicine cabinet [or pharmacy shelf] and take the recommended dose" is likely to produce fewer unwanted interactions than if your SOP is "select 1 to N boxes from your medicine cabinet and take the recommended dosage of each of those medications", especially when the person selecting is far from their peak mental performance due to the cold symptoms they're experiencing.

Many (likely most males under 60) people take zero pills on a given day when not sick.