A pharmacist has once-again gone viral on TikTok after revealing which popular over-the-counter medicine you should avoid buying from popular drug stores.
Grant Harting (@grant_harting), a licensed pharmacist in three states, went into a nondescript CVS to make his point to viewers. After scanning the shelves of various medicines and antibiotics, Harting revealed that he was looking for a drug called docusate, which is often used for managing and treating constipation.
The pharmacist quickly pondered which stool softener he should buy before telling viewers what to do. Don’t purchase any of them.
“This is absolute junk,” Harting said.
Still, he bought a CVS-brand “stool softener docusate” for 100mg for a “specific reason.” He revealed the reason once he brought the medicine into his car. As of Sunday, Harting’s TikTok had amassed more than 2.4 million views.
What’s wrong with the CVS-brand drug?
Harting told viewers that they should “never, ever” buy docusate by itself. But what exactly is wrong with using it alone?
To demonstrate, Harting conducted a small science experiment. He poured the bottle’s capsules onto a paper plate and then, after procuring a syringe, popped a small hole into one of the pills to draw the liquid out. He then poured the liquid onto the plate and grabbed some of it with his fingers.
“Whenever I put this on my finger, you can feel exactly what it is,” Harting foreshadowed. “Does anyone know yet?”
Before the big reveal, he punctured a few more tablets and poured the mysterious liquid into a BlenderBottle. After squeezing three pills in, he poured some water on top, and shook the bottle in front of the camera.
“Look at that,” Harting said. “Bubbles for days.”
Then he gave his grand reveal. Docusate is soap. Harting said he wouldn’t recommend using this as hand soap, in part, because the texture was different.
“That’s an absolute scam of a medication and it’s incredibly expensive,” the pharmacist said of the $7 bottle. “There’s no reason why it needs to cost $7… That’s insane. That’s absolute nuts.”
Is docusate really just soap?
Indeed, docusate is a surfactant. That means it’s a substance that, when added to liquid, reduces its surface tension and increases its spreading and wetting properties.
But according to various online reports, it’s meant to work similarly to detergent or soap and supposedly helps water to move into users’ stool. On its own, docusate doesn’t directly stimulate the muscles of your intestines or increase the frequency of bowel movements, according to Quad City Herald. Still, it said, docusate can “relieve constipation by replacing some of the water in your stool that is absorbed by your body as it moves through your intestine.”
@grant_harting Licensed Pharmacist in Three States Tries Soap! #asmr #pharmacyasmr #cvs ♬ original sound – Grant Harting
What should people buy instead?
For people wondering what they should use instead, Harting recommended Miralax. “That’s what virtually any pharmacist would recommend,” he said.
GoodRx gave the same advice, though it singled out that Miralax is the better option for pregnant people. “Miralax is a first-choice laxative for constipation during pregnancy,” its website read. “Docusate is also considered to be safe, but it may not work as well as other options.”
According to GoodRx, Miralax and dulcolax work differently. The former, it said, works by drawing water into the users’ intestines to help soften stool. The latter, it added, works by causing water and fat to move the stool. It admitted, however, that there’s research suggesting that dulcolax doesn’t work any better than placebo.
And if you need additional recommendations for stool softeners, commenters were happy to offer their two-cents.
“Magnesium citrate all the way,” one user said. “Helped me everytime after surgery and it tasted amazing.”
“PharmD student here: magnesium citrate,” another echoed.
Others said that docusate works better for other ailments.
“Docusate helps soften ear wax,” one woman offered.
“In my clinic we use liquid docusate with warm water for ear washes to loosen up the wax,” another confirmed.
The Daily Dot has reached out to Harting via TikTok comment.
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