Drugstores around the country are stripped bare of these medications as cases of RSV and flu slowly begin to rise, along with COVID.
The "tripledemic" is wrecking havoc on many parents as they struggle to find children's medication for their children.
Drugstores around the country are stripped bare of these medications as cases of RSV and flu slowly begin to rise, along with COVID,
Some parents have even taken to social media to show how grim the situation is in some drugstores, posting videos that show row after row of empty shelves.
There is one alternative for parents trying to get these medications — compounding pharmacies.
While some pharmacies, like CVS, have responded by limiting the amount of medication a family can purchase from the store, compounding pharmacies can provide individuals with the same medications that they are struggling to find in drugstores.
This is because compounding pharmacies produce medications and prescriptions from scratch. This is a service that is most often utilized by individuals who require treatments that are not mass-produced or who have allergies that prevent them from taking mass-produced prescription medicines.
It is also a service that becomes incredibly valuable when there are sudden shortages of an over-the-counter medication, because they can make that same medication from scratch.
"We are taking the products that are in the commercially available products and we are putting them together from scratch," Sherri Cherman tells Inside Edition.
Cherman is the president and CEO of Elements Pharmacy in Los Angeles, which is a compounding pharmacy.
Inside Edition even got a look at the weighing, grinding, mixing, sweetening, and bottling that goes into making medication from scratch at Elements. It is a very precise science, and that extra work does come with a higher price tag.
These pharmacies cost more than their more traditional counterparts because the products are made-to-order, but at times like these they are able to provide a service that customers may not be able to get at pharmacy chains.
Lisa Fox lives in New York, and she experienced firsthand what it is like to have a sick child and no medication.
"I think the worst part about [my son being sick] was him saying, 'make me feel better mommy,'" Fox says. "And you can't. That, you know breaks, your heart."
There is some good news for parents however, with the American Society of Pediatrics telling Inside Edition that in the absence of medication, just be sure children are getting liquids, staying hydrated, and passing urine.
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