A Costco-brand cold and flu medicine has been pulled from shelves by the thousands.

A total of 8,640 boxes of Kirkland Severe Cold & Flu Plus Congestion Day and Night packs were recalled by the Food & Drug Administration (FDA) last week.

This is following the FDA’s proposal to ban the use of oral phenylephrine as an over-the-counter nasal decongestant in early November.

FOOD AND DRINK PRODUCT RECALLS IN DECEMBER: IT’S ALL ABOUT ‘PROTECTING CONSUMERS’

After “extensive review,” the FDA concluded that the active ingredient in the product (oral phenylephrine) is “not effective” as a nasal decongestant.

Dr. Marc Siegel, Fox News senior medical analyst, said he agrees with the recent pushback against the ingredient.

“This chemical is shown to be ineffective against cold and flu in its oral form, except at a dose that has some heart toxicity and can lead to palpitations, arrhythmia and high blood pressure.”

DR. NICOLE SAPHIER’S 5 FOODS TO BOOST THE IMMUNE SYSTEM THIS COLD AND FLU SEASON

The FDA stated that the Kirkland recall was related to quality control issues, noting in the official recall that the “released product should have been rejected.”

This was a Class II recall, which the FDA describes as a “situation in which use of, or exposure to, a violative product may cause temporary or medically reversible adverse health consequences or where the probability of serious adverse health consequences is remote.”

Recalled boxes of Kirkland Severe Cold & Flu Plus Congestion had lot numbers P139953 or P139815 with an August 2026 expiration date. (eBay)

Katy Dubinsky, a New York pharmacist and founder and CEO of Vitalize, confirmed with Fox News Digital that the recall most likely occurred due to deviations from CGMP (Current Good Manufacturing Practice).

“[That means] the product failed to meet required quality control standards and should have been rejected before release,” she said.

CLICK HERE TO SIGN UP FOR OUR HEALTH NEWSLETTER

“To guarantee all products meet strict safety and quality guidelines, the FDA made a Class II recall, which suggests low consumer risk and typically addresses issues unlikely to cause serious harm.”

For more Health articles, visit foxnews.com/health

Manufacturing inconsistencies and labeling errors can cause “many” CGMP deviations, according to the pharmacist, as well as other procedural issues rather than ingredient problems.

“Acetaminophen, dextromethorphan, guaifenesin and phenylephrine – the listed active ingredients – are widely used as well as considered safe when taken as directed,” she said.

Pharmacist Katy Dubinsky told consumers to stop using recalled lots of this product. (iStock)

Dubinsky instructed consumers to stop using the recalled lots and consult with a health care professional if concerns or symptoms arise after taking the product.

“However, there is no need for panic,” she said. “Recalls like this are important to keep products safe and help people trust the over-the-counter medications they rely on.”

Recalled boxes of the Kirkland Cold & Flu product had lot numbers P139953 or P139815 with an August 2026 expiration date.

Fox News Digital reached out to the FDA and Costco for comment.

For those who are feeling “stuck” or overwhelmed while striving for work-life balance, some experts recommend adopting a “pendulum lifestyle.”

Coined by Dr. Jeffrey Karp, Ph.D, a professor of biomedical engineering at Brigham & Women’s Hospital Harvard Medical School in Boston, the pendulum lifestyle is defined as a “concept that acknowledges life’s natural ebb and flow, and empowers you to thrive amidst the swings.”

“Rarely are we in balance … it’s just unrealistic and an anxiety-inducing expectation,” the doctor told Fox News Digital in an interview. 

WHY THERE’S NO SUCH THING AS A ‘WORK-LIFE BALANCE,’ SAYS CAREER COACH AND AUTHOR

Seeing the world as a pendulum fosters a more compassionate mindset and alleviates the pressure to be perfect, Karp said.

With this approach, people can take small steps to “swing the pendulum,” enabling them to feel more emotionally, mentally and physically “balanced” during the day, according to the expert.

This could also empower individuals who feel “stuck” when facing daily challenges, he said.

“Looking at nature, there are so many cycles, so many things that are kind of going back and forth, like night and day …. changes of seasons, and the waxing and waning of the moon,” noted Karp. 

MOST PRODUCTIVE THINGS YOU CAN GET DONE EARLY IN THE MORNING BEFORE WORK, ACCORDING TO CAREER COACHES

The pendulum lifestyle involves daily “self-check-ins” where the person gauges their physical, emotional and mental energy levels, Karp said. They can then take immediate steps to move their levels in a positive direction toward the ideal balance.

“If we can visualize everything on a pendulum, we can think, ‘What’s the one step I could take today to bring the pendulum a little closer to where I want it to be?’” he said.

With this approach, people can take small steps to “swing the pendulum,” enabling them to feel more emotionally, mentally and physically “balanced” during the day. (iStock)

For example, a person who has low physical energy could visualize a pendulum with the lowest energy on one side and the highest energy on the other.

He would then do a “self-check” to identify where his energy level lies on the pendulum and what small steps could move it closer to the ideal balance point, Karp said.

“True well-being doesn’t lie in perfection or consistency, but in our ability to navigate the ebb and flow of life.”

That might mean taking a 10-minute walk, doing some jumping jacks or performing a few stretches to move the pendulum to a higher energy level position. 

“This empowers the person and reminds them they are not stuck,” Karp said.  

Taking a 10-minute walk, doing some jumping jacks or performing a few stretches can move the pendulum to a higher energy level position, the expert said.  (iStock)

On the flip side, if it’s late at night and a person needs to wind down, she might engage in a calming exercise like meditation or listening to relaxing music as a way to swing the pendulum to a level more conducive to sleeping, the expert advised.

The pendulum lifestyle can also serve as a mood-booster, Kelp said. When someone is feeling down, watching a funny movie or practicing gratitude can help shift the pendulum.

WHAT IS ‘BRAIN ROT’? THE SCIENCE BEHIND WHAT TOO MUCH SCROLLING DOES TO OUR BRAINS

The approach could also help launch forward momentum if someone feels “stuck” in life, the expert said. 

“When you start to realize that you’re not limited to being at that spot on the pendulum, but can take a step forward and be intentional, it’s just so empowering,” he said.

The daily check-in process could help individuals identify when they are feeling in less than tip-top shape and find ways to swing in a better direction, one expert said. (iStock)

Dr. Molly Sherb, an assistant professor of psychiatry at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai and a licensed psychologist at Mount Sinai in New York City, commented on Karp’s concept of a pendulum lifestyle.  

“When you start to realize that you’re not limited to being at that spot on the pendulum, but can take a step forward and be intentional, it’s just so empowering.”

She agreed that the daily check-in process could help individuals identify when they are feeling in less than tip-top shape and find ways to swing in a better direction.

“That might include getting better sleep or eating a healthier breakfast … to help you wake up with a better bandwidth tomorrow,” Sherb said.

Progress, not perfection

Dr. Christopher Fisher, a psychologist at Zucker Hillside Hospital Northwell Health in Queens, New York, said the pendulum lifestyle could help those who feel pressured to achieve a perfect work-life balance.

“The pendulum of life’s experiences – whether emotional, cognitive or physical – is one of the truest expressions of what it means to be human,” he told Fox News Digital.

TRUMP’S DAYLIGHT SAVING TIME PLAN AND SLEEP: WHAT YOU MUST KNOW

“True well-being doesn’t lie in perfection or consistency, but in our ability to navigate the ebb and flow of life,” he told Fox News Digital.

Sherb agreed that the essence of the pendulum lifestyle is that it’s not always possible to strike that 50-50 equal balance.

Adopt a constructive viewpoint and ask yourself what positive changes or routines can help you achieve a more optimal level on the pendulum path, one expert advised. (iStock)

“It’s about constantly tuning into yourself … and seeing which parts of your life might need you more at certain times,” she said.

“It’s not a one-size-fits-all approach, but a more tailored approach based on what you need and what people in your life need from you.”

4 steps to implementing the pendulum lifestyle

Karp shared some specific strategies for adopting the pendulum approach.

1. Perform a head-to-toe check-in each morning

Ask yourself how you are feeling emotionally, physically and mentally. What parts do not feel at a 100% level?

CLICK HERE TO SIGN UP FOR OUR HEALTH NEWSLETTER

2. Make any necessary adjustments

Based on your self-check-in, consider changing your routine to accommodate your energy level or take simple steps to help move the pendulum in a positive direction, Karp suggested.

3. Be compassionate and curious

If you feel off-balance, Karp said to recognize that as part of the natural pendulum swing and to embrace it with self-compassion rather than shame and criticism. 

“It’s about constantly tuning into yourself … and seeing which parts of your life might need you more at certain times.”

Adopt a constructive viewpoint and ask yourself what positive changes or routines can help you achieve a more optimal level on the pendulum path, he advised.

4. Understand your pendulum swings

It could be helpful to ask yourself specific questions, such as the following.

“What factors helped contribute to a state of feeling balanced?”

“What factors contributed to feeling off-balance?”

“What small changes can I make today to foster a sense of better balance?”

“How did I respond to feeling imbalanced and was it effective?”

For more Health articles, visit www.foxnews.com/health

Above all, Karp said, it’s important to remember that finding balance is a “lifelong journey.”

What Donahue knew was that we — women especially — were eager, desperate, to be understood, to learn and learn and learn. We call his job “host” when, really, the way he did it, running that microphone throughout the audience, racing up, down, around, sticking it here then here then over here, was closer to “switchboard operator.” It was “hot dog vendor at Madison Square Garden.” The man got his steps in. He let us do more of the questioning than he did — he would just edit, interpret, clarify. Egalitarianism ruled. Articulation, too. And anybody who needed the mic usually got it.

The show was about both what was on our mind and what had never once crossed it. Atheism. Naziism. Colorism. Childbirth. Prison. Rapists. AIDS. Chippendales, Chernobyl, Cher. Name a fetish, Phil Donahue tried to get to its bottom, sometimes by trying it himself. (Let us never forget the episode when he made his entrance in a long skirt, blouse and pussy bow for one of the show’s many cross-dressing studies.) Now’s the time to add that “Donahue” was a morning talk show. In Philadelphia, he arrived every weekday at 9 a.m., which meant that, in the summers, I could learn about compulsive shopping or shifting gender roles from the same kitchen TV set as my grandmother.

Sex and sexuality were the show’s prime subjects. There was so much that needed confessing, correction, corroboration, an ear lent. For that, Donahue needed an expert. Many times, the expert was Dr. Ruth, a godsend who didn’t land in this country until she was in her late 20s and didn’t land on television until she was in her 50s. Ruth Westheimer arrived to us from Germany, where she started as Karola Ruth Siegel and strapped in as her life corkscrewed, as it mocked fiction. Her family most likely perished in the Auschwitz death camps after she was whisked to the safety of a Swiss children’s home, where she was expected to clean. The twists include sniper training for one of the military outfits that would become the Israel Defense Forces, maiming by cannonball on her 20th birthday, doing research at a Planned Parenthood in Harlem, single motherhood and three husbands. She earned her doctorate from Columbia University, in education, and spent her postdoc researching human sexuality. And because her timing was perfect, she emerged at the dawn of the 1980s, an affable vector of an era’s craze for gnomic sages (Zelda Rubinstein, Linda Hunt, Yoda), masterpiece branding and the nasty.

Hers was the age of Mapplethorpe and Madonna, of Prince, Skinemax and 2 Live Crew. On her radio and television shows, in a raft of books and a Playgirl column and through her promiscuous approach to talk-show appearances, she aimed to purge sex of shame, to promote sexual literacy. Her feline accent and jolly innuendo pitched, among other stuff, the Honda Prelude, Pepsi, Sling TV and Herbal Essences. (“Hey!” she offers to a young elevator passenger. “This is where we get off.”) The instructions for Dr. Ruth’s Game of Good Sex says it can be played by up to four couples; the board is vulval and includes stops at “Yeast Infection,” “Chauvinism” and “Goose Him.”

On “Donahue,” she is direct, explicit, dispelling, humorous, clear, common-sensical, serious, vivid. A professional therapist. It was Donahue who handled the comedy. On one visit in 1987, a caller needs advice about a husband who cheats because he wants to have sex more often than she does. Dr. Ruth tells Donahue that if the caller wants to keep the marriage, and her husband wants to do it all the time, “then what she should do is to masturbate him. And it’s all right for him to masturbate himself also a few times.” The audience is hear-a-pin-drop rapt or maybe just squirmy. So Donahue reaches into his parochial-school-student war chest and pulls out the joke about the teacher who tells third-grade boys, “Don’t play with yourself, or you’ll go blind.” And Donahue raises his hand like a kid at the back of the classroom and asks, “Can I do it till I need glasses?” Westheimer giggles, maybe noticing the large pair on Donahue’s face. This was that day’s cold open.

They were children of salesmen, these two; his father was in the furniture business, hers sold what people in the garment industry call notions. They inherited a salesman’s facility for people and packaging. When a “Donahue” audience member asks Westheimer whether her own husband believes she practices what she preaches, she says this is why she never brings him anywhere. “He would tell you and Phil: ‘Do not listen to her. It’s all talk,’” which cracks the audience up.

But consider what she talked about — and consider how she said it. My favorite Dr. Ruth word was “pleasure.” From a German mouth, the word conveys what it lacks with an American tongue: sensual unfurling. She vowed to speak about sex to mass audiences using the proper terminology. Damn the euphemisms. People waited as long as a year and a half for tickets to “Donahue” so they could damn them, too. But of everything Westheimer pitched, of all the terms she precisely used, pleasure was her most cogent product, a gift she believed we could give to others, a gift she swore we owed ourselves.

I miss the talk show that Donahue reinvented. I miss the way Dr. Ruth talked about sex. It’s fitting somehow that this antidogmatic-yet-priestly Irish Catholic man would, on occasion, join forces with a carnal, lucky-to-be-alive Jew to urge the exploration of our bodies while demonstrating respect, civility, reciprocation. They believed in us, that we were all interesting, that we could be trustworthy panelists in the discourse of being alive. Trauma, triviality, tubal ligation: Let’s talk about it! Fear doesn’t seem to have occurred to them. Or if it did, it was never a deterrent. Boldly they went. — And with her encouragement, boldly we came.

Wesley Morris is a critic at large for The New York Times and a staff writer for the magazine.