Well, Alka-Selzer is good for the old 1-2, but if you look more closely, Alka-Selzer is appropriate only for patients who have both acid indigestion and headache and other aches and pains.

The ingredients, of course, are aspirin and sodium bicarbonate, but why does someone need to take aspirin if they have only upset stomach?

And I think therein lies the problem. A lot of these over-the-counter remedies have ingredients that patients either don't need or for some other reason shouldn't take. Yet we're all familiar with the "plop, plop, fizz, fizz," but are we?

Copyright 2001