so afrin people might know of as a nasal decongestant. only trick with afrin is if you use it for more than five days, it can actually make a congestion worse. so be very careful about that rebound. and if you have other conditions that result in congestion like allergies like i do, there are a lot of other effective treatments like nasal steroids. flonase all of these actually work very well to help people with allergies. >> all right. hey dr. chin-hong, i got to ask you, you know, we're talking about cold medication. cold and flu season is starting up. of course, i know you've been encouraging people to get the flu vaccine, but also today it is now available. you can get the newly reformulated new version of the covid vaccine. so i want to ask you if you think people should rush out right now to get both or what do you advise? >> so i think there's one group of people who should rush out a little bit more than the others. and the people i'm worried most about are those who are older than 65 and immune compromise of any age, particularly

>> use afrin or something like that? an over the counter nasal spray that does the trick?l look i still believe personally that with the totality of the evidence that phenylephrine probably is providing a treatment effect here, albeit a small one, and a short acting one. it's not providing long-term relief. i think it is providing an incremental benefit to some patients. if this project isn't available and people don't want to use it now, kee mind the fda didn't raise safety questions about the product, the product is safe, how much efficacy is it delivering but if people don't want to use its, there are other products on the market all of which have shortcomings. use nasal preparations like nasal steroids, things like afrin which, that can cause rebound if you use it for a long period of time. i suspect if phenylephrine is taken off the market you will see more homeapathy put on store aisles. i'm not sure there is a good opportunity for an oral that can provide some benefit. all that said, i don't think the fda will withdraw these products from the market. in all likeliho

you can take afrin, flonase, common spray decongestants. people prefer oral pills versus the spray.l versus the spray. in that case sudafed is still effective. sudafed pe no longer likely effective. this is likely going to impact things like tylenol cold and flu. this has a massive impact as we think about otc meds for cold and flu season. >> do you have a sense of how long it might take these drug companies to move over, get the stuff off the market that is not effective and putting things on the market that are? >> there's already tools out there that exist that are effective. the big challenger is patient confusion. sudafed versus sudafed pe, that can be confusing. we'll have to talk and educate. >> berkeley lovelays jr., dr. gupta, thank you very much. >>> the big change for anyone with an iphone. pretty soon you're going to need a new charger. >>> first, the heartbreaker at metlife stadium. legendary quarterback aaron rodgers out for the season with a torn achilles tendon. his highly anticipate dated bu with the super bowl favorite jets ending just 244 seconds into the game. th

those don't actually work, it's because the main ingredient in all of those medicines, it's fennel, afrin. now that's the most common ingredi ent in over-the-counter nasal and sinus products. the fda now says that it's ineffective, live in tablet form. doctors have been questioning its effectiveness for years. but doctor peter chin-hong at ucsf says there are some other options. if you are feeling congested, it's included in things like theraflu and mucinex and all of these nyquil , a lot of these combination meds instead going over, you know, behind the counter or using a license to get pseudo ephedrine, also known as sudafed . that has actually been shown to decrease congestion in individuals. according to the data from the fda products with phenylephrine generated. nearly $1.8 billion in sales. that's just last year. the products are still on the shelves right now. but if the fda follows through on these recommendations, companies could be required to remove them from shelves or reformulate them. now, the fda says that some studies seem to show that it does work in nasal spray form. so

to hear that the fda is now claiming that that the ingredient is not working because it does feel afrine main ingredient in medicines such as sudafed, pe and vicks sinex, is supposed to be a decongestant. but after looking at years of data, the fda says it's ineffective in tablet form. phenylephrine is the most common ingredient in over-the-counter nasal and sinus products like mucinex, nyquil and theraflu. why did it take all these years if it's not working? you know, it seems kind of crazy, huh? this news has many people asking that same question now, rethinking whether those meds actually made them feel better. did you feel like it helped you feel less congested? well, you know, who knows? doctors say it could be a placebo effect. and in combination meds like dayquil, it could actually be the pain reliever or cough suppressant making you feel better. but if you do need to relieve congestion, there is another option instead going over, you know, behind the counter using a license to get pseudoephedrine, also known as sudafed. that has actually been shown to decrease congestion in indi

over-the-counter medicines became even more popular, according to data from the fda products with fennel, afrin generated nearly. $1.8 billion in sales just last year. the products are still on shelves right now. but if the fda follows through on these recommendations, companies could be required to remove them or reform them. now, studies seem to show that the nasal spray with that ingredient still does work. so if you're using the nasal spray, you could feel the effectiveness of that. and also it might just be the placebo effect of it. but if you're using some of those combination meds, if you have dayquil, you might just be feeling the other ingredients in that dayquil some of the pain relievers, some of the cough suppressants. so that is what might be helping you feel a little better live in walnut creek? amanda quintana, ktvu fox two news. amanda, thank you so much. and you could get a new covid booster shot as soon as today. pharmacies across the country are starting to receive supplies and taking appointments even walk ins. these vaccines are now available after the fda approved the shot

afrin. it's the most common ingredient in over-the-counter nasal and sinus products.ave been questioning its effectiveness for years, but there are some other options if you need to relieve congestion. well, it's not harmful. so placebo does make a difference to some people. but for me, i suffer from a lot of allergies. and i even before this, after a ruling, i knew that it wasn't doing anything for me. so instead i get like claritin or sudafed or, you know, behind the counter here, which definitely works for me. products behind the counter are different because they have pseudoephedrine that's been behind the counter since 2005, and that's really when the over-the-counter medicines became even more popular, according to data from the fda products with phenylephrine generated. nearly $1.8 billion in sales just last year. the products are still on the shelves right now. but if the fda follows through on these recommendations, companies could be required to remove them or reformulate them. now, some things to note study seems to show that it does still work in a nasal s