1. Natural Cold & Flu Remedies Slideshow Pictures
2. Take the Common Cold Quiz!
3. Immune Boosting Foods Slideshow Pictures

What happens if I miss a dose (Alka-Seltzer Plus Cold Formula)?

Since cold medicine is often used as needed, you may not be on a dosing schedule. If you are using the medication regularly, take the missed dose as soon as you remember. If it is almost time for the next dose, skip the missed dose and wait until your next regularly scheduled dose. Do not use extra medicine to make up the missed dose.

What happens if I overdose (Alka-Seltzer Plus Cold Formula)?

Seek emergency medical attention if you think you have used too much of this medicine.

Overdose symptoms may include ringing in your ears, headache, dizziness, nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, stomach pain, confusion, feeling restless of excited, hallucinations, rapid breathing, fever, and seizure (convulsions).

What should I avoid while taking aspirin, chlorpheniramine, and phenylephrine (Alka-Seltzer Plus Cold Formula)?

This medication can cause side effects that may impair your thinking or reactions. Be careful if you drive or do anything that requires you to be awake and alert.

Avoid drinking alcohol. It can increase some of the side effects of aspirin, chlorpheniramine, and phenylephrine.

Avoid using other medicines that make you sleepy (such as cold medicine, pain medication, muscle relaxers, and medicine for seizures, depression or anxiety). They can add to sleepiness caused by chlorpheniramine.

Avoid using other medicines that may cause restlessness (such as caffeine, stimulants, diet pills, and decongestants contained in over-the-counter cold medicines). They can add to the stimulant effects of phenylephrine.

Do not use any other over-the-counter medication without first asking your doctor or pharmacist. Aspirin, antihistamines, and decongestants are contained in many medicines available over the counter. If you take certain products together you may accidentally take too much of a certain drug. Read the label of any other medicine you are using to see if it contains aspirin, an antihistamine, or a decongestant.

Avoid taking an NSAID (non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug) while you are taking aspirin. NSAIDs include ibuprofen (Motrin, Advil), diclofenac (Voltaren), etodolac (Lodine), indomethacin (Indocin), meloxicam (Mobic), nabumetone (Relafen), naproxen (Aleve, Naprosyn), piroxicam (Feldene), and others.

Avoid drinking alcohol while you are taking aspirin. Alcohol may increase your risk of stomach bleeding.

What other drugs will affect aspirin, chlorpheniramine, and phenylephrine (Alka-Seltzer Plus Cold Formula)?

Before using this medication, tell your doctor if you regularly use other medicines that make you sleepy (such as allergy medicine, sedatives, narcotic pain medicine, sleeping pills, muscle relaxers, and medicine for seizures, depression, or anxiety). They can add to sleepiness caused by chlorpheniramine.

Tell your doctor if you are taking an antidepressant such as citalopram (Celexa), duloxetine (Cymbalta), escitalopram (Lexapro), fluoxetine (Prozac, Sarafem, Symbyax), fluvoxamine (Luvox), paroxetine (Paxil), sertraline (Zoloft), or venlafaxine (Effexor). Taking any of these drugs with aspirin may cause you to bruise or bleed easily.

Tell your doctor about all other medications you use, especially:

• a blood thinner such as warfarin (Coumadin);
• gout medication such as probenecid (Benemid);
• diabetes medication you take by mouth;
• a barbiturate such as amobarbital (Amytal), butabarbital (Butisol), mephobarbital (Mebaral), secobarbital (Seconal), or phenobarbital (Luminal, Solfoton); or
• another salicylate such as choline salicylate and/or magnesium salicylate (Magan, Doan's, Bayer Select Backache Pain Formula, Mobidin, Arthropan, Trilisate, Tricosal), or salsalate (Disalcid).

This list is not complete and there may be other drugs that can interact with aspirin, chlorpheniramine, and phenylephrine. Tell your doctor about all the prescription and over-the-counter medications you use. This includes vitamins, minerals, herbal products, and drugs prescribed by other doctors. Do not start using a new medication without telling your doctor.

Where can I get more information?

Your pharmacist can provide more information about aspirin, chlorpheniramine, and phenylephrine.

Remember, keep this and all other medicines out of the reach of children, never share your medicines with others, and use this medication only for the indication prescribed.

Every effort has been made to ensure that the information provided by Cerner Multum, Inc. ('Multum') is accurate, up-to-date, and complete, but no guarantee is made to that effect. Drug information contained herein may be time sensitive. Multum information has been compiled for use by healthcare practitioners and consumers in the United States and therefore Multum does not warrant that uses outside of the United States are appropriate, unless specifically indicated otherwise. Multum's drug information does not endorse drugs, diagnose patients or recommend therapy. Multum's drug information is an informational resource designed to assist licensed healthcare practitioners in caring for their patients and/or to serve consumers viewing this service as a supplement to, and not a substitute for, the expertise, skill, knowledge and judgment of healthcare practitioners. The absence of a warning for a given drug or drug combination in no way should be construed to indicate that the drug or drug combination is safe, effective or appropriate for any given patient. Multum does not assume any responsibility for any aspect of healthcare administered with the aid of information Multum provides. The information contained herein is not intended to cover all possible uses, directions, precautions, warnings, drug interactions, allergic reactions, or adverse effects. If you have questions about the drugs you are taking, check with your doctor, nurse or pharmacist.

Copyright 1996-2012 Cerner Multum, Inc. Version: 1.02. Revision date: 12/15/2010.

Your use of the content provided in this service indicates that you have read,understood and agree to the End-User License Agreement,which can be accessed by clicking on this link.

Need help identifying pills and medications?
Use the pill finder tool on RxList.