Scan before you medicate... need your recommendations

_tierachanel

Okay, so I have a cold and had to go to work today. My head is pounding, I have earaches in both ears, nose is stuffed up, and on top of that I have to stare at a computer all day. I thought I would be okay so I didn't take any meds. It got so bad that I needed something to control the symptoms asap so I raided the company medicine cabinet. In all its glory I find liquid DayQuil. I poured 2 TBS and downed it as fast as I could not thinking to scan it first. I go back to my desk to log it into MFP... 2 TBS had 19.5 CARBS!!! I stick to 20 g of carbs a day and that one drink of cough medicine had my whole days intake of carbohydrates. *face palm*

Any recommendations of cold meds that wont kill your total daily carb intake??

Bubbas_girl

Yikes (on the carbs!) Sorry you are feeling bad!

I understand the "when in a pinch" scenarios...as a rule for me (& my kids as well) I almost never buy the "One-med-fixes-all" kind of thing just because we almost never have all the symptoms that are supposed to be suppressed by them and I hate the idea of taking meds we don't need. Plus, pretty much all liquid meds are made up mostly of corn syrup or some such stuff, and in reading labels, they (cold meds in general) are all made up of the same active drug ingredients (decongestant (phenylephrine) - expectorant (guaifenasin) - pain reliever/fever reducer (acetamenaphin or ibuprofen) - and occasionally antihistamine like diphenhydramine).

My constant go-tos for my allergy/sinus probs are Sudafed 12 hour (generic is cheapest) caps (behind pharm counter) and generic mucinex tabs (in addition to my allergy meds). If I really need a cough supressant, I suck it up and go with the 12 hour dosage of the generic version of Delsym. still syrupy, but 2 tsp once a day is better than every 4 hours?? Doesn't sound like you have a cough, so you can probably skip any meds that have the cough suppressant dextromethor-something or other.

Good luck and I hope you feel better soon!

LowCarbInScotland

I tend to treat specific ailments individually at my drs recommendation, as a diabetic with high bp, he's always recommended I avoid the standard otc cold meds. I'll often just take pain relievers and will use a netty pot for my sinuses and if I have chest congestion, I take mucinex pills. And I hydrate with lots of broth, tea and water, which also help sooth throat pain.

RalfLott

_tierachanel wrote: »

Okay, so I have a cold and had to go to work today. My head is pounding, I have earaches in both ears, nose is stuffed up, and on top of that I have to stare at a computer all day. I thought I would be okay so I didn't take any meds. It got so bad that I needed something to control the symptoms asap so I raided the company medicine cabinet. In all its glory I find liquid DayQuil. I poured 2 TBS and downed it as fast as I could not thinking to scan it first. I go back to my desk to log it into MFP... 2 TBS had 19.5 CARBS!!! I stick to 20 g of carbs a day and that one drink of cough medicine had my whole days intake of carbohydrates. *face palm*

Any recommendations of cold meds that wont kill your total daily carb intake??

@tierachanel - Thanks for bringing up this great topic. [@Dragonwolf @baconslave - Launch Pad item?]

Your experience explains the need for diabetic cough syrups, which you can find - assuming you know you need to look for them.

(Personally, I avoid all the chest cold relief stuff due to jitters and triglyceride & BG spikes; I tend to reach for zyrtec, aspirin, steam.... and hard liquor instead. But that's probably not very helpful in your situation.)

Thanks again.

aSearch4Me

If you're tied to using the multi-med formulations of Dayquil/Nyquil, then you might want to use the "capsules." They are the made-to-swallow variety & don't have the added sugars.

ALTHOUGH, you might want to check your bottle of Dayquil, some of these types of meds have started switching to artificial sweeteners, so the MFP data for the medicine might be out of date. (I found this out a few months ago with Robitussin. They've switched to part sucralose to sweeten, which I have an intolerance/allergy to... Nothing like coughing & massive GI Pain on top of it...).

Ditto'ing suggestions above--I tend to treat for individual symptoms. I.e. Sudafed for congestion, Tylenol for fever, Mucinex as an expectorant, etc...all in pill form. Less carbs & you aren't taking meds for symptoms you don't have.

I hope you feel better soon!

Riche120

A few drops of eucalyptus and rosemary essential oils in steam can do wonders for clearing sinuses. There are some combinations of oils that work well on coughs and pain relief too.