An interesting (scary?) fact about cough medicine

BrendaLee

I have never in my entire life taken a diet pill, because I knew that wasn't the route to take, and the idea was a pretty scary one. I've been sick for the past few days, and for a couple of those days I was taking cough medicine pretty regularly (with DM, Pseudoephedrine and Guaifenesin), and I was wondering why I had just about ZERO appetite. I knew that, even when sick, my appetite doesn't suffer much, so I figured something in the cough medicine was suppressing my appetite in a huge way. Come to find out it's the Pseudoephedrine (think...ephedrine). Not only does it suppress appetite, but interestingly enough, it's an ingredient used in making meth. I Googled, and I see it's a pretty common thing to use for appetite suppression. They're actually considering pulling it from the market in places, or at the very least making it harder to get. No wonder crystal meth addicts are so skinny...god knows what else it does to you. One more reason to hate cough medicine. :sick:

CrystalT

I have never in my entire life taken a diet pill, because I knew that wasn't the route to take, and the idea was a pretty scary one. I've been sick for the past few days, and for a couple of those days I was taking cough medicine pretty regularly (with DM, Pseudoephedrine and Guaifenesin), and I was wondering why I had just about ZERO appetite. I knew that, even when sick, my appetite doesn't suffer much, so I figured something in the cough medicine was suppressing my appetite in a huge way. Come to find out it's the Pseudoephedrine (think...ephedrine). Not only does it suppress appetite, but interestingly enough, it's an ingredient used in making meth. I Googled, and I see it's a pretty common thing to use for appetite suppression. They're actually considering pulling it from the market in places, or at the very least making it harder to get. No wonder crystal meth addicts are so skinny...god knows what else it does to you. One more reason to hate cough medicine. :sick:

Maybe it is just Arkansas, but here you have to go to the pharmacist to get it, you have to be over 18, and you have to provide your ID. They track the who bought it and how much. It is scary stuff. I can't take it because I have hypertension.

Nich0le

I'm surprised you were able to find products with that in it without having to go to the pharmacy counter and show ID. I don't know about everywhere else but in AZ just to buy sudafed for allergies you have to show your state id and there is a limit to how much anyone person can purchase in a 30 day period of time.

Although sudafed products are one of the ingredients used to make meth each person has different reactions to it. I have never had the jitters from it or heart palpitations or for the sake of this post, any appetite suppressing side effects. Unfortunately I have to use it along with a few other medicines to avoid severe allergies and the newer PE version of these OTC drugs does not have nearly the sinus clearing power of good old sudafed.

Psuephedrine (sorry for spelling) is the ingredient that most meth addicts like for it's hyper quality, however, meth uses way more than a normal dose of cold medicine or sinus relief that most of us would be happy with. Not to mention meth uses paint thinners, rubbing alcohol, ammonia, and pretty much any other chemical you would not put in your body to help with that high, I think minus the sudafed products meth users would still continue to get high and lose teeth and body function since they are putting all that other crap into their bodies.

In the future, since the psuephedrine seems to affect you look for products that have PE in it, also known as phenylephrine, it is not as strong and has less side effects from regular pseudoephedrine (that spelling is right )

Nikki143

yES, THEY ARE LIKE THAT IN mA, But i don't kow if they include cough medicne, but for allergy meds, you need to be 18+ w/ ID

BrendaLee

I guess it's a Canadian thing, because here they're available right on the shelves.

LittleSpy

I guess it's a Canadian thing, because here they're available right on the shelves.

Yep. The US passed some legislation a few years ago making it much harder to get products containing pseudoephedrine. Even the over-the-counter Sudafed doesn't contain pseudoephedrine anymore (and it doesn't work anymore, either...).
Pretty much, if you have a stuffy nose in America, you're just SOL. :laugh:

And guess what, the meth heads still make meth like rabbits make more rabbits, so what good did all that lawmaking do? (none)

MadWorld

Here, we have to sign for ANY cough medicine. Pseudoephedrine or not. Used to, we had to get anything with Pseudoephedrine in it from behind the Pharmacy counter, show our ID and sign for it. But, I went a couple months ago to Target and just got alka-selzer night/day cold tabs (no pseudo) in them and they STILL had me show my ID.

I thought that was weird.

It's a sad world out there when you have to show your ID for cough meds and sinus meds.

And, yeah... the meth heads are skinny... but they look OLD. I've been around some in my time and it's really sad.

lulabellewoowoo

For me, taking Advil Cold and Sinus, which I have had to take first thing in the morning just to be able to breath and function the past week since getting some type of virus, has the same effect as my antidepressant, Wellbutrin. So I make sure not to take them both at the same time, or I'd NEVER eat and would NEVER sleep. But as soon as one of them starts to wear off, I feel the munchies coming on. I've also found that my heart rate goes off the charts when exercising on the Advil. Today, towards the end, I had to walk through the rest of the step class because my heart rate was 190. I felt fine, but am smart enough to know that's not safe. It can be deceptive on your energy and heart rate. Thanks for sharing and giving the reminder to us during this "sick season".

ivykivy

They actually arrested a older lady b/c she bought like two w/in a certain time period. The law in my opinion is just stupid.

I started just having a peppermint for cough suppression. I found it was the same number of calories as a cough drop or medicine and it works just as well. Actually a drop of pure peppermint oil on the tongue will work wonders.

Here, we have to sign for ANY cough medicine. Pseudoephedrine or not. Used to, we had to get anything with Pseudoephedrine in it from behind the Pharmacy counter, show our ID and sign for it. But, I went a couple months ago to Target and just got alka-selzer night/day cold tabs (no pseudo) in them and they STILL had me show my ID.

I thought that was weird.

It's a sad world out there when you have to show your ID for cough meds and sinus meds.

MadWorld

Wow... they arrested her? Man, seems to me like they should do an investigation first. I know for my family, we share medications so we tend to run out sooner. She probably was doing the same thing-- if she was an older lady for sure. And, you know there's not that many servings in a small bottle when you're dividing it between 2 or 3 people.

CrystalT

I heard about that poor woman. She had bought the first stuff for her husband and then a few days later bought some more for her daughter. A friend from high school died of a meth overdose, so I understand the reasoning behind tracking the purchase of the stuff. They just need to rethink how they are enforcing it.