| name | buy-medication |
| description | Help users find over-the-counter medications they can buy on Apotea, match Apotea products to real Swedish medications via the swedish-medications skill, and compare suitable options without giving prescription, diagnosis, or emergency-care advice. Use when users ask what medicine to buy, which Apotea medication fits a symptom, or whether a product on Apotea is a real medication. |
Buy Medication
Overview
This skill narrows medication buying to Swedish OTC products that are actually listed on Apotea and can be matched to the local swedish-medications data. Use it for shopping help, not for diagnosis, emergencies, or prescription treatment choices.
Dependency
This skill depends on swedish-medications.
Do not use buy-medication as a standalone source of medication truth. It relies on swedish-medications to:
- confirm that an Apotea product maps to a real Swedish medication
- provide what the medication is for
- provide active substance, OTC vs prescription status, dosing basics, and warnings
If swedish-medications is unavailable, say that the medication verification step is missing and avoid making confident medication recommendations.
Workflow
1. Triage before suggesting products
Do not recommend a product first. Start by checking whether the request is appropriate for OTC self-care.
Escalate instead of suggesting medication when the user mentions:
- chest pain, breathing trouble, stroke symptoms, severe allergic reaction, seizures, overdose, suicidal intent
- pregnancy, breastfeeding, infants, major chronic disease, cancer treatment, anticoagulants, or complicated polypharmacy
- symptoms that are severe, rapidly worsening, recurrent without explanation, or red-flagged by 1177/FASS
- prescription-only treatment, antibiotics, ADHD medication, antidepressants, or controlled substances
If the case is not clearly suitable for OTC self-care, say that directly and recommend pharmacist, 1177, or urgent care depending on severity.
2. Gather the minimum decision context
If the user is asking what to buy, ask only for the details needed to avoid a bad suggestion:
- main symptom and how long it has lasted
- age, and whether the medicine is for the user or someone else
- pregnancy or breastfeeding if relevant
- important conditions, allergies, and current medications
- preferred dosage form if that matters, such as tablet, nasal spray, cream, drops
3. Confirm the medication is real
Always use the swedish-medications skill before trusting an Apotea product as a medication. This is a required dependency, not an optional check.
Preferred checks:
node /Users/birger/Community/eir-open/skills/swedish-medications/scripts/fass_lookup.js "alvedon"
node /Users/birger/Community/eir-open/skills/swedish-medications/scripts/fass_lookup.js "omeprazol"
Use the lookup to confirm:
- active substance
- OTC vs prescription status
- dosing basics
- key warnings or interactions
4. Confirm it is available on Apotea
Apotea availability is time-sensitive. Prefer the live scraper when the user wants current availability.
Refresh the catalog:
node /Users/birger/Community/eir-open/skills/buy-medication/scripts/scrape_apotea_otc_medications.cjs
The scraper:
- pulls Apotea's live sitemap
- keeps OTC-like candidates only
- verifies each product page still has a medication classification
- matches the product back to
swedish-medications
- writes a fresh snapshot to
references/apotea-otc-medications.json and .md
If you do not need a fresh scrape, read:
references/apotea-otc-medications.md for a quick summaryreferences/apotea-otc-medications.json for exact product rows
The current snapshot was generated from live Apotea pages and includes 465 matched product pages across 169 unique medications.
5. Recommend narrowly and concretely
When the case is appropriate for OTC self-care, give a short comparison instead of a single overconfident answer.
Good output shape:
- State the likely OTC category that fits the symptom.
- List 2-4 Apotea options that are real medications.
- Include active substance, dosage form, and a short reason each might fit.
- Add the most relevant warning or exclusion.
- Link or name the exact Apotea product when possible.
Prefer substance-first reasoning. Example:
- "For short-term heartburn, omeprazole options and alginate/antacid options solve different problems."
- "For allergy symptoms, loratadine and cetirizine are both real antihistamines, but drowsiness risk differs."
6. Keep medical claims tight
Do not:
- diagnose
- claim a medication is definitely safe for the user
- recommend combining medicines without checking warnings first
- tell the user to buy prescription medications
- present supplements, medical devices, or cosmetics as medications
Do:
- distinguish symptom relief from disease treatment
- mention when pharmacist advice is the right next step
- say when the request goes beyond OTC self-care
Common Requests
"What should I buy on Apotea for pollen allergy?"
Use the live catalog or snapshot to find Apotea-listed antihistamines and eye/nasal allergy medications, then validate them with swedish-medications. Compare by substance and sedation risk.
"Is this Apotea product a real medication?"
Check the product name against swedish-medications, then confirm the Apotea page classification is a medication in the snapshot or by re-running the scraper.
"What is the cheapest effective option?"
Stay within a single OTC indication and compare a few verified medications by active substance, form, pack size, and current Apotea price if available in the live scrape.
References
scripts/scrape_apotea_otc_medications.cjs: live Apotea scraper and matcherreferences/apotea-otc-medications.md: generated medication summaryreferences/apotea-otc-medications.json: generated structured product catalog
