She may have done what you just did, and confused pseudoephedrine (which works) with phenylephrine (the one that doesn’t). 😜

LOL. Oops. I wrote the wrong active ingredient in the link, but the article talks about how phenylephrine, which replaced pseudoephedrine, is ineffective. The former isn’t even available, so I’d hope she didn’t confuse the two all these years!

There was one amusing article which I seem unable to find again that suggested American cold sufferers should get their hands on pseudoephedrine by obtaining crystal meth

LOL. That’s the most American pharmaceutical story I’ve ever heard! 😂