When you have a medical question, where do you turn -- your doctor, or your pharmacist?

Local pharmacists say their role is changing. When medicine is the news, like it's been for months with the H1N1 virus, a lot of us have plenty of questions, but they seem too silly to bother a doctor.

Pharmacists tell us they're finding themselves on the front lines in a war between your health, and so much information, it's overwhelming.

So many bottles making hundreds of promises. It's The Medicine Shoppe pharmacist Jeremy Popek's job to handpick the best combination.
   
"Everybody's taking the prescription, interpreting it, putting the right medication in the right bottle," Popek says.

"Should I go to the Tylenol?" a customer asks.

Customers are asking their local pharmacists to help sort the noise.

"Is it as good as this?" the customer asks.

"Oh yeah, it's the same active ingredient," Popek replies.

Target is capitalizing on the trend in its latest commercial where customers ask the basic, yet important questions, like what's the difference between Advil and Tylenol?

"This is going to be the acetaminophen," Popek says.

As we found, Popek's fielding the same questions at his store.

"I want to be a resource to people and we do pick up the phone," he says.

And what's something a lot of people are asking about? You guessed it: H1N1.

"Maybe the condition wasn't explained in detail as much as it could have been," Popek says.

Or sometimes, it's just easier, not to mention cheaper, to get a pharmacist's opinion.

"They might have to make an appointment with their doctor, or maybe their doctor is only in on certain days," Popek says.

The Medicine Shoppe may not have the advertising budget of a big-box store, but Popek says it does have the personal touch.

"We know you by name because I make it a point to know my patients by name," he says.

Plus the answers, so customers leave the store carrying prescriptions and armed with knowledge.

Another major question Popek fields is how different medicines interact. Here's an example: a patient who takes Vicodin may also take Nyquil for a cold, but both medications contain acetaminophen, and too much of that drug can be dangerous. Popek says it's very important that you do pick up the phone and bug your pharmacist in that scenario.