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Dr. Bob is Robert Hsiung, MD,
bob@dr-bob.orgShown: posts 1 to 5 of 5. This is the beginning of the thread.
Posted by GOGO on August 30, 2007, at 19:13:19
Hmm ... dumb question. but what do you do when you catch cold but cannot take tylenol, advil, etc?
Posted by gardenergirl on August 30, 2007, at 22:47:31
In reply to MAOI PEOPLE ... WHAT TO TAKE WHEN YOU CATCH COLD?, posted by GOGO on August 30, 2007, at 19:13:19
You can take tylenol, advil, aspirin, etc. You can take many antihistamines as long as they are not part of a multi-med preparation containing pseudoephedrine, a decongestant that could trigger a hypertensive crisis. There's an expectorant you CAN take, guaifenesin (brand name Mucinex), and I've found relief from congestion with this.
The most important thing is to read the labels for contraindications and ingredients since so many OTC cold medicines are multi-purpose and contain more than one active ingredient. When you're taking an MAOI, you get really used to reading labels of all kinds. Check with a pharmacist, too. They can usually direct you to which are safe and which are not.
Also, I use a neti pot to wash out my sinuses to help relieve sinus symptoms. This and breathing in steam with eucalyptus can help, too.
gg
Posted by Cecilia on August 31, 2007, at 2:39:01
In reply to Re: MAOI and treating a cold » GOGO, posted by gardenergirl on August 30, 2007, at 22:47:31
Colds, at least, go away in a week if you treat them, 7 days if you don't. What's scarier is serious injuries, I rembember when I had a knee injury and the PA refused to prescribe any opiate meds because the computer said they were contraindicated with the Marplan I was trying at the time, even though really only Demerol is the truly dangerous one. Doctors are so clueless anyway, another time when I was doing a retrial of Prozac, a doctor prescibed a pain med and then called back concerned because the computer showed I was taking Emsam (ancient history, another failure), she said the pain med was contraindicated with the Emsam, obviously, since I had just been talking to her about the Prozac, she had no clue what Emsam was, if, as she apparently thought, I'd been taking Prozac and Emsam together I'd most likely be dead, yet her only concern was the pain med! Definitely, when on a MAO, you need to do a lot of research and be very careful who you trust. Cecilia
Posted by Meri-Tuuli on August 31, 2007, at 15:22:09
In reply to Re: MAOI and treating a cold, posted by Cecilia on August 31, 2007, at 2:39:01
I think your immune system will do a good job clearing out your cold. You don't need to take anything to 'treat' a cold. I let colds run their course, and I don't take anything at all, other than plenty of orange juice (or other liquids) and bedrest, and I don't extert myself.
The symptoms of colds (fever, runny nose etc) are just your body's ways of trying to rid yourself of those little viruses giving you the cold in the first place, so I tend to just let them do their thing.
Meri
Posted by blueboy on September 7, 2007, at 14:28:48
In reply to Re: MAOI and treating a cold, posted by Meri-Tuuli on August 31, 2007, at 15:22:09
Well, I agree with you 100% in terms of your practical advice. But you would be surprised how and why the symptoms of a cold occur. There's a BBC/Discovery show available (I know Netflix has it), called "Body Story". It is really mixed, as some of the time it is silly and even insultingly elementary, but mixed in are some things that I guarantee you don't know about your immune system, pregnancy, death, bones, etc.
Anyway, one of the episodes deals with getting the flu and I was amazed, astonished, and generally perplexed at what actually goes on and how utterly ignorant I was. Believe me, it's not like you cough to get rid of the bad germs and get phlegm when your white corpuscles die after killing viruses.
(The one on getting drunk is pretty good, too. If I remember correctly, "our hero" and "our heroine" actually have inappropriate sex under the influence.)
> I think your immune system will do a good job clearing out your cold. You don't need to take anything to 'treat' a cold. I let colds run their course, and I don't take anything at all, other than plenty of orange juice (or other liquids) and bedrest, and I don't extert myself.
>
> The symptoms of colds (fever, runny nose etc) are just your body's ways of trying to rid yourself of those little viruses giving you the cold in the first place, so I tend to just let them do their thing.
>
> Meri
This is the end of the thread.
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