What percentage of people that take Pepto use it frequently?
My ma is 90 years old. She has had an upset stomach for at least the last 60 years, maybe longer but that's as far back as her offspring can remember. Worse from stress, raw veggies, and fresh fruit. Removing her gall bladder didn't change anything, except the gall bladder attacks she started having when she was about 80.
Somewhere on the internet, it said the problem with taking too much Pepto is Salicylic poisoning. Looks to me similar to an Aspirin (acetylsalicylic acid) overdose, with the stomach ulcerating.
The bottle says you can take up to 16 tabs per day, as required. Bet you that some people need more than 16 per day, chronically, and that's the failure of Medical Science.
My Ma's upset stomach is 95% better if she takes 2 per day. Maybe she can miss an occasional day, but she really shouldn't. Wish we could find out what's with her insides, but Medical Science has failed her, too. Hoping that 2 tabs per day, forever, is safe.
The Pepto website doesn't provide the list of "inactive" ingredients. The bottle of tabs doesn't show the inactive ingredients. That's a neglect that I haven't seen with a product in a very long time. Even my Chapstick lists everything. I strongly suspect that Pepto uses a combination of Red Food Dyes that do nothing for the efficacy of the Pepto, but only make it pretty. Given that most people who use Pepto are using it periodically, I think most of the users would be delighted if the artificial colors were removed for reduced chemical exposure and a more pure product. And in the 21st Century, I think it would be a Marketing windfall for Pepto if the product turned gray. They could keep the packaging "pink."
I give Pepto 4 out of 5 stars, because it works well and appears to be low toxicity. But instead of a cure, it's a product you generally need to keep purchasing, maybe forever. Sounds like an investment opportunity?
I also rated it "Not recommended" because it's only a symptom suppressor, and what's truly "recommended" is to find the cause of the problem (like diet?) and correcting the underlying cause. In such a situation, I also had to rate it "Not a good value." Again, "value" would be finding the cause of the problem.
And there's no way for the consumer to rate the "Quality" of Pepto. Quality includes purity and consistency with the stated milligrams, and there's no way for me to test that stuff. Our lives are in their hands.
Hey, I got a reply from Pepto: "Additionally, while we use D&C Red #22 and Color D&C Red #28 for the coloring, I'll be sure to share your feedback with my team regarding just having the packaging pink."
How about that.
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