Psycho-Babble Medication Thread 82505

Shown: posts 1 to 12 of 12. This is the beginning of the thread.

 

Going to bootleg Alka-Seltzer

Posted by Gracie2 on October 28, 2001, at 13:21:58


I am going to some other country where they still manufacture Alka-Seltzer with PPA and bring home a whole crate of it. I've always used Alka-Seltzer for colds (or the occasional hangover)and Tavist D for sinuses with excellent results.
Now, neither medication does squat.
Suffering from headcold and very unhappy-
Gracie

 

Re: Going to bootleg Alka-Seltzer » Gracie2

Posted by Elizabeth on October 28, 2001, at 17:38:44

In reply to Going to bootleg Alka-Seltzer, posted by Gracie2 on October 28, 2001, at 13:21:58

Have you tried any other decongestants, and if so which ones?

-elizabeth

 

Re: Going to bootleg Alka-Seltzer - E

Posted by Gracie2 on October 28, 2001, at 21:44:09

In reply to Re: Going to bootleg Alka-Seltzer » Gracie2, posted by Elizabeth on October 28, 2001, at 17:38:44


Besides the Alka-Seltzer Plus and Tavist D, I've tried Actifed and also, I just managed to choke down a cup of NyQuil without gagging. Too soon to tell if it's going to help but if it does, I'll put it in the freezer and pretend it's Jaegermeister.
-Gracie
PS. I was at Target and picked up some stuff that was supposed to be "all natural", can't remember what was in it, probably zinc and Vitamin C, etc.
Since the pharmacist was standing right there I asked him, "Do you have any idea if this works?" and he kind of made a face and shook his head a little. So I put it back.

 

Re: Going to bootleg Alka-Seltzer » Gracie2

Posted by Elizabeth on October 29, 2001, at 19:02:55

In reply to Re: Going to bootleg Alka-Seltzer - E, posted by Gracie2 on October 28, 2001, at 21:44:09

I was hoping you'd know the names of the active ingredients in the things you'd tried -- I don't know them all off the top of my head although my guess is they have pseudoephedrine. Are you looking for just a decongestant, or what?

> PS. I was at Target and picked up some stuff that was supposed to be "all natural", can't remember what was in it, probably zinc and Vitamin C, etc.

Some "natural" cough/cold/flu preparations have ephedrine (AKA "ma huang") in them -- those are the only ones that do anything, AFAIK.

-elizabeth

 

Re: Going to bootleg Alka-Seltzer

Posted by stjames on October 31, 2001, at 15:06:58

In reply to Going to bootleg Alka-Seltzer, posted by Gracie2 on October 28, 2001, at 13:21:58

See if you can find some Morman Tea at a health food store. It is pure ephedra that you brew like a tea. Was used as a coffee substitute and is an effective decongestant.

Or throw some whole cloves into so water and bring to slow boil, inhale the steam. Clove
is another very effective decongestant.

james

 

God bless ya, Doc

Posted by Gracie2 on November 1, 2001, at 5:42:04

In reply to Re: Going to bootleg Alka-Seltzer, posted by stjames on October 31, 2001, at 15:06:58


Couldn't take it anymore. Went to the doctor (before reading stjames letter) after almost 2 weeks of congestion, sinus headache and coughing that kept me awake half the night.
He gave me some cough syrup with codeine and some Guaifen (whatever that is) and I feel like a new person 12 hours later. Of course I am also awake at 4:30 am from all the psuedoephedrine, but I don't even care. I can breathe, I can breathe!
-Gracie

 

Re: God bless ya, Doc

Posted by susan C on November 2, 2001, at 12:42:13

In reply to God bless ya, Doc, posted by Gracie2 on November 1, 2001, at 5:42:04

hi ya gracie,

Glad to hear you are feeling better. Here are my two cents: I have a standing scrip at the pharmacy for Guaifen, so when I feel the congestion coming on i nip it in the bud. If I am careful to start with one half, and build up, flood my self with more water, then i hover between keeping my sinuses clear and being too wakeful. Any thing to avoid more sinus infections...and, I haven't been able to find ANY references that indicate conflicts with any other meds I take. (depakote, ambien, hrt, prevacid, asthma related stuff...) and it is better than sudafed cause it lasts longer...I cant take antihistamines...makes me very depressed. lavender+eucaliptus oil, (and probably cloves) steam inhaler irritates my lungs so thats out.

Just One Of Those Opposite Mouses
susan C

> > Couldn't take it anymore. Went to the doctor (before reading stjames letter) after almost 2 weeks of congestion, sinus headache and coughing that kept me awake half the night.
> He gave me some cough syrup with codeine and some Guaifen (whatever that is) and I feel like a new person 12 hours later. Of course I am also awake at 4:30 am from all the psuedoephedrine, but I don't even care. I can breathe, I can breathe!
> -Gracie

 

I wonder why...

Posted by Gracie2 on November 3, 2001, at 18:42:51

In reply to Re: God bless ya, Doc, posted by susan C on November 2, 2001, at 12:42:13


I wonder why Guaifen needs a prescription if it's a non-narcotic and doesn't interfere with most other meds? The only thing the pharmacist warned me about was taking it close to bedtime with the cough syrup because they both contain pseudoephedrine, but so does lots of other OTC stuff. What am I missing here?
-Gracie

 

Re: I wonder why...

Posted by JGalt on November 3, 2001, at 22:04:53

In reply to I wonder why..., posted by Gracie2 on November 3, 2001, at 18:42:51

Nothing, as far as I know. Its simply that you can buy some medications OTC and with a prescription.

A significant number of weight loss products contain ephedrine (I love ephedrine, and when I'm on an MAOi, I love very tiny dosese of ephedrine) and guafenstien (which is an expectorant I believe, makes it easier to hack up stuff in your throat, the ephedrine is what gets rid of congestion). The guaf. is only included in products for weightloss because 1. Ephedrine could kill you in high enough doses, Guaf in the ratio in these products would make you throw up long before that 2. Ephedrine alone in a pill would be WAY too easy to convert to methamphetamine.

Ephedrine and Psuedoephedrine each work equally good as decongestants, but ephedrine has a lot of other peripheral effects that are much stronger than psuedo, such as: NE stimulation (wonderful when you have a cold and are tired/unmotivated) appetite suppression (who's going to complain about that?), slight increase of metabolism. In high doses (which varies from person to person, for me, anything higher than 50mgs at a time while not on an maoi can cause slight anxiety and tremor...and euphoria if you combine it right), it can cause anxiety, euphoria, irritability, tremors, shakiness, and hyperactivity (till you develop a tolerance, which interestingly could be counteracted by Remeron or Yohimbine). Pseudoephedrine also has these effects but the doses you'd have to take to achieve them would be ridiculous.

The guaf. is really unnecessary for decongestant purposes. Just makes the phlem easier to hack up. Honestly I've never been able to hack up an ounce of phlem in my life and I don't see that it helps the people who do, their body just produces more while they have the bug. Pseudoephedrine is available in tons of OTC products. That plus a little tylenol is good if you don't want to risk side effects.

Of course, if you wouldn't mind the possibility of some mild sides, I'd go with real ephedrine. Metabolife, ripped fuel, diet fuel, all contain ephedrine (herbal form), albiet rather expensively due to their brand names. If you don't mind the taste of strong coffee or are good at swallowing drinks with powders floating on top of them, then simply buy standardized ephedra powder. 1/8th of a teaspoon and good bye cold type symptoms. I've seen it a few places but the cheapest and fastest service I've found is http://www.beyond-a-century.com Lots of interesting things there, the ephedra is in the herbal section. 165x 1/8th teaspoon doses (25mg ephedrine) for $6 I believe.

That was probably more info than you really needed so I guess I'll stop there before I write a 10 page thesis about it.

JGalt

 

Re: I wonder why...JGalt

Posted by Gracie2 on November 5, 2001, at 20:52:40

In reply to Re: I wonder why..., posted by JGalt on November 3, 2001, at 22:04:53


No it was interesting, particularly the part about converting ephedrine to methamphetamine. I understand that OTC products with ephedrine contain a lot of fillers that make it difficult to extract the ephedrine. Maybe the Guaf is prescription because it doesn't have all those fillers? I also understand that part of the process of manufacturing meth is DRANO. Good Lord.
-Gracie

 

Re: I wonder why...JGalt

Posted by JGalt on November 5, 2001, at 21:23:04

In reply to Re: I wonder why...JGalt, posted by Gracie2 on November 5, 2001, at 20:52:40

Well the guaf is a filler...you only want pure ephedrine (along w/ two other elements) to make meth, so the guaf serves as a filler. Draino is one solvent that you can use in the production of meth, there are many others. The backyard process of making meth involves quite a few chemicals and people that don't always know/care how to make a pure product. The entire process is quite cheap, and despite gov. regulations the ingredients are relatively easy to obtain both legally and illegally. Indeed, the impurities could be more dangerous than the actual drug in some cases.

Actually I now see that I misread your post, I thought your doctor prescribed a mixture of guaf. and psuedoephedrine, but after reading it over again I see you did not ever say that, rather you said that the guaf. was prescription but made no mention of the psuedo being prescription. I have seen the guaf. as prescription before too, I don't understand it. It's not used to make anything interesting (though it is often put in ephdedrine products for the reasons I mentioned earlier) and unless you think throwing up constitutes a high, it has no real recreational potential so I don't understand it. If you read the ingredients of alkaseltzer night time, it contains (as far as I remember) 200mg guaf and 25mg psuedo along w/ DXM and a few other things. Doesn't make any sense...oh well, I could write a book (and a long one at that) about things in our medical practice that make no sense so I'll stop there.

 

Re: I wonder why...

Posted by susan C on November 6, 2001, at 10:37:56

In reply to Re: I wonder why...JGalt, posted by JGalt on November 5, 2001, at 21:23:04

hi i may not be following this conversation right, but my understanding of what i am taking is it is the equivilent of a 12 hour sudafed, so all i need to do is take it at most 2x a day and that this is what makes it a prescription...

not a medical mouse
susan C


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