I have a new favorite drug :)

Advances in every part of medicine in the last century except in treating the common cold. Having a 3 year old in the house I catch everything she catches from everybody she comes into contact with at school and that is a LOT! In the last year I've had more colds than I've had in the last 5 years put together!

Out of desperation to not be in the worse throws of a cold during an upcoming trip I splurged at the grocery store and picked up a bottle of "Zicam" nasal spray Zinc stuff. It's only mildly unpleasant to use and wow what a difference! I only needed 1 dose of an pseudo-ephedrine one evening to get to sleep instead of the same for 4 or 5 days like usually.

Hardly a miracle drug, but the only thing that has ever worked to help me get over a cold! I have tried taking zinc lozenges before, but they are yucky and honestly I couldn't tell any difference. But this nose spray stuff works!

I am all for curing cancer and all the other important things we need to do, but lets not forget the mild misery that we go through more often /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif

On the subject of new favourite drugs, I had a headache a couple weeks ago at work and my colleague gave me one of her little pink pills. It took about 45-60 minutes for me to notice it had kicked in but then I was practically euphoric for about four or five hours after that. It was fantastic!

No idea what it was though...

Al

Me want some of those! /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/buttrock.gif

James - my family certainly endorses Zicam (and plenty of fluids, a little extra vitamin C, rest, & don't forget the chicken soup!)! Seriously, when noting the first symptoms of a cold coming on...if one agressively attacks it with the above "treatments" - it doesn't seem to be as severe or last as long!

jezz never take something if ya dont know what it is /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/thumbsdown.gifthats is way to dangerous .my way to remedy colds is to drink non alchol drinks to my eyes float i mean a boat load

On the subject of headaches, my wife has migranes quite often. She tried Imitrex with no luck. She was then prescribed a drug called Maxalt-mlt 10mg.(rizatriptan benzoate). It is a pill that simply disolves on your tongue kinda like cotton candy. She now swears by this stuff. The bad part...if you don't have any insurance...it's going to cost you through the nose. Which could cause a severe headache. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/icon15.gif

My sister gives me one pill that just sort of mellows me. Makes minor aches and pains go away. We call them Happy Pills. I'll have to find out what that one is.

She has another one that I ONLY take at bedtime. It is supposedly a muscle relaxant (Tizanidine 4mg)... but that little bitty pill makes me goofy in about 20 minutes. I guess it helps though. I have a shoulder that has a pinched nerve in it. It is mildly numb as I am typing this. Sometime it aches fiercly! With that little pill, I wake up in the night not hurting.

We often joke about "better living through chemistry".

[ QUOTE ]
Size15s said:
On the subject of new favourite drugs, I had a headache a couple weeks ago at work and my colleague gave me one of her little pink pills. It took about 45-60 minutes for me to notice it had kicked in but then I was practically euphoric for about four or five hours after that. It was fantastic!

No idea what it was though...

Al

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Al,

This sounds like a synthetic morpheine, such as hydrocodone, oxycodone, or codeine. Hydrocodone is the main active ingredient in Vicodin. Oxycodone is the main active ingredient in Percocet. Hydrocodone is, per mg, just about as strong as morpheine. Oxycodone is stronger. These pills usually also have acetaminephine in them, too. I've been prescribed these type pills before for a short term intense pain episode, and, let me tell you, what relief. They REALLY worked. Then I found out that hydrocodone was on a par with morpheine, and I was thinking, Ah, hello?, of course I liked it.

Still, these things are pretty much the ONLY thing that really touches any sort of pain that I have. I pulled a muscle in my lower back last week and did the usual things: rest, icing, etc. but it's still bothering me. Went to see a doctor and he puts me on 600 mg Ibuprofen pills every 6 hours. Apart from being very hard on the stomach and making a very, very slight reduction in the intensity of the pain, these do NOTHING. NADA. ZIP. Nor does Aleve, or Tylenol, or any of the others. And what really peeves me is that hydrocodone is a specific for lower back injuries! I also got muscle relaxants which I hate and which pretty much just make me sleep all the time, so I can't take them if I have work, so what's the point?

Ah, well, at any rate, I know exactly what you are talking about. It's so nice when something REALLY works when you've been in pain for a day or two. The last time I had some prescription hydrocodone pills I saved the remainder and used them very sparingly over the following months for that really bad headache. Alas, they are all gone now. Probably for the best, I suppose.

Why do some people have no problem taking an unknown, prescription, drug from someone else to relieve discomfort but criticize the use of pot to relieve severe pain? The use of another's 'script meds is illegal too.

I feel the government is way overblown in its drug policies and that politics and profit are what drive our draconian drug laws. Still, why the double standard between pot and another person's pills?

careful with that oxycodone and other stuff.

A very common reaction to codeine in any form is projectile vomiting. I suffer from this. I learned the fact as a teenager when I was prescribed some codeine cough medicine for a particularly bad illness. Adding violent vomiting to my existing list of symptoms didn't help at all /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/crazy.gif /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/icon15.gif

but then, I started this thread to tell you how happy I was with a tiny dose of zinc mineral, not to suggest that we should all share our prescriptions or use pot or whatever. But it's too late for me to change the cheaky subject line now /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif

Rather than get onto a discussion regarding taking prescription drugs not prescribed to you, or taking illegal drugs, please lets try keep this thread away from this.

I will ask my colleague tomorrow. I don't believe it was prescribed to her. Lets find out whether js is right!

Al

My absloute FAVORITE drug.... is Caffiene (sp?) IE: Morning Coffee!!!

Personally I could give a darn about the use or not of Pot.

He77, I might find it would be just the trick for my aches and pains. But for now, "Happy Pill" will do.

"Migraleve Pink"
Paracetamol DC 96% 520 mg (equivalent to Paracetamol Ph Eur 500 mg)
Codine phosphate Ph Eur 8 mg
Buclizine hydrochloride BP 6.23 mg
E127
E171

For migraines - "no more than two pinks in 24 hours."

So it doesn't sound that impressive but I'm not a pill-taker in general and I'm sure my attitude had a positive influence.

Al

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Size15s said:

. . .
Codine phosphate Ph Eur 8 mg
. . .

Al

[/ QUOTE ]

Yup, Codine is in the same drug family as hydrocodone, but is milder, and is a NON-prescription drug in many countries, Canada being one of them. Perhaps it's the same with the UK. If my migranes ever get more frequent, I'll have to ask my doctor if he can give me any pinks /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif

Thanks for the follow up, Al. I was curious.

[ QUOTE ]
PlayboyJoeShmoe said:
My absloute FAVORITE drug.... is Caffiene (sp?) IE: Morning Coffee!!!


[/ QUOTE ]

Me too. Caffeine is my thing. Well, coffee is my thing, which by extension makes caffeine my thing. I tend not to the like the strong painkillers that many people seem to like so much, they make me very sleepy and often a little nauseaus (and yes, I realize I can't spell "nauseaus").

LOL Joe,

I ran out of COFFEE and there was a Freezer baggy in the closet with something in it that looked like coffee.

Turns out it was decaff. It TASTED like coffee, it looked like coffee, but it had NO EFFECT!!!

Good ole Folgers! That's the stuff!!!

Playboy, have you considered an inexpensive grinder and purchasing whole bean coffee? The ritual of grinding adds to the pleasure of the "fix" for me. There are so many varieties of coffee that you may find one you prefer over your old standby.

For me? Its Claritin. . .
I used to be like the little boy in the bubble. As soon as Spring came around, my eyes would swell shut and I would sneeze until I couldn't sneeze anymore. Then along came Claritin, now I only sneeze maybe once a day when the pollen count is really high. I'm even going Cherry Picking this weekend, I havn't gone in years in fear of all that pollen! /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/buttrock.gif

I know that codeine, at least in the form of liquid cough medicine, used to be over the counter in the UK as my grandmother was given some by a pharmacist there during a visit we made back in '88 or so. I don't know now if that is still the case.

Playboy, I'm with you about pot, couldn't care less. If you come to work for me giggling and high I'll fire your *** on the spot, but if you party on the weekends why should I care?

Coffee, ah yes! I just ground the last of a very good bag this morning. AND I USED MY LAST COFFEE FILTER TO BREW IT! There is a trip to the grocery store in my plans for this evening /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif I do not yet roast my own, but my friends and colleges are falling to this new addiction one after another and it is just a matter of time before I succumb myself...

Darkcobra, I have some generic Claritin D 24 hour timed release stuff. And that is my decongestant of choice when I have no other choice. It's the only combination of drugs that in addition to making me feel very strange actually makes a token effort to drying up my nose (in addition to every other moist part of my body, but what are you gonna do?) It's funny really, I can feel the pseudoephedrine ebb and flow throughout the 24 hours. There are times when I'm almost normal and then it will drop another dose and I'll be off spinning and dry again. Really makes you feel like Woody Allens character at the end of Casino Royal /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif

I had pretty good luck with Alavert (10mg Loratadine).

-Bill