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The Uselessness of Phenylephrine

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Re: The Uselessness of Phenylephrine

#91

Post by sva_ »

joezydeco wrote: post #76
munificent wrote: post #43

My drug of choice for colds is NyQuil. It's always been great for opening up my nasal passages enough to let me breathe easily and then knocking me the fuck out so I could sleep off most of the cold. I remember several years ago when all of a sudden NyQuil stopped doing anything useful. I had no idea why but I directly observed that it was like it had been replaced with a non-functioning placebo. Only a couple years…

Original NyQuil also had a healthy shot of ethyl alcohol in it. Exactly the thing you weren't supposed to mix with pseudoephedrine.

I believe you're just not supposed to drink alcohol on Pseudoephedrine because you'd be combining an upper with a downer, and it's very easy to go overboard with the downers when you're on an upper (tolerance to alcohol increases dramatically and increases overdose risk along with all the other side effects and risks.)

So a small amount of alcohol won't really have much of an effect, I'd claim.

Re: The Uselessness of Phenylephrine

#92

Post by zaroth »

By the way, if you want something that works, that you can buy without a prescription, I cannot recommend “BronkAid” aka ephedrine sulfate 25mg highly enough.

It’s sold “behind the counter” in the US at major pharmacy chains, which means you have to ask for it by name, they won’t even have the cards in the aisles that you then bring up and redeem.

You have to show ID — not sure if that’s a Federal or a State thing, and you’re limited in the quantity you can buy at once, but the limits are not overly restrictive.

It’s sold mainly as an anti-asthmatic. I personally have borderline asthma, meaning I’ve never had an asthma attack but in a test chamber my total lung volume increases 20% after puffing albuterol.

It opens up my breathing tremendously, very useful as a pre-workout, has a nice nootropic effect, and for me personally does not cause any increased heart rate, although for many people that is an undesirable effect. Perhaps best not to stack with caffeine.

And when I have a cold, I like it better than suppressants, expectorants, or even pseudoephedrine because I get clearing without turning into a leaky faucet.

Just my anecdata…

Re: The Uselessness of Phenylephrine

#93

Post by cardiffspaceman »

Zak wrote: post #42
baggy_trough wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Very difficult. Regulations live on regardless of their negative effects because there's very little incentive to get rid of them.

For a long time, I've had the idea in the back of my mind that all laws should have expiration dates, and the maximum duration shouldn't be very long (12 or 18 years would be two or three senate terms in the US). Ideally, it would be combined with something to keep the scope of each bill narrow.

Sunset provisions are popular actually. Jimmy Carter put that idea on his platform in '76, and it was carried out to some extent, and his own state was the example that sold people on it. I sense that they have waned since.

I believe there are restrictions on the breadth of laws but they are not honored very effectively.

Re: The Uselessness of Phenylephrine

#95

Post by mh- »

tcherasaro wrote: post #58
jfengel wrote: post #2

I've certainly found it useless, and when I need a decongestant I make certain I'm getting actual pseudoephedrine. The 12 and 24 hour slow-release versions are fantastic. I've never done a proper blind trial on myself, but I feel quite certain that I could tell the difference. I suppose people must be buying it, and given how strong placebo effects are in general I guess it's doing something for them.

Same, Sudafed is a silver bullet for me. The 12 hour release absolutely works to clear my sinuses and relieves the sinus pressure headache (almost completely when combined with ibuprofen). My wife insists Phenylephrine works for her and thats all she will take. She has offered it to me a couple times when we didn’t have any Sudafed and Phenylephrine had 0 noticeable effects for me. Edit: I forgot to add that Alavert-…

One of many such studies: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/19230461/

Keep in mind this doesn't say that it's not effective. It's just not more so than the placebo effect, which is quite real even on physiological matters.

Re: The Uselessness of Phenylephrine

#98

Post by bcrescimanno »

hammock wrote: post #57
munificent wrote: post #43

My drug of choice for colds is NyQuil. It's always been great for opening up my nasal passages enough to let me breathe easily and then knocking me the fuck out so I could sleep off most of the cold. I remember several years ago when all of a sudden NyQuil stopped doing anything useful. I had no idea why but I directly observed that it was like it had been replaced with a non-functioning placebo. Only a couple years…

NyQuil is a combination medicine. The cough, cold and flu formula contains Tylenol (fever/pain reliever), DXM (stops cough) and an antihistamine (dries out your runny nose/postnasal drip). NyQuil can be a great all-in-one product when it's what you need. It's useful to know what it is composed of and why. All of the medicines in it treat symptoms, not the underlying cause, which will be fought off by your immune syst…

Prior to the regulation of pseudoephedrine, NyQuil also contained pseudoephedrine and since the nasal congestion from a a virus can often be the most disruptive factor for sleep (at least, in my personal experience, that's the case) it's considered by some to the be most important component.

NyQuil with pseudoephedrine included is now marketed as "NyQuil D" and is available behind many pharmacy counters with the same restrictions as other pseudoephedrine products. However, it could also rightly be called "NyQuil Classic" (to borrow branding from Coca-Cola).

Re: The Uselessness of Phenylephrine

#99

Post by [deleted] »

techsupporter wrote: post #69
ericbarrett wrote: post #55

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why not get a non-motorist ID card? Every US state has these; here's Washington's: https://www.dol.wa.gov/driverslicense/gettingidcard.html

We are aware of these. The reason is: Because unless you get the "enhanced" version, due to the ridiculous REAL ID situation you have to have another card anyway. For me in particular, where I work operates a medical clinic in a facility owned by the federal government so a non-enhanced card doesn't get me in the door, but a passport card does. For my wife, it's because she has even less tolerance for paperwork than…

[deleted]

Re: The Uselessness of Phenylephrine

#100

Post by sva_ »

Zak wrote: post #17

I wonder how difficult it would be to get the restrictions on pseudoephedrine rolled back now that it appears unlikely they're accomplishing their original goal of limiting the methamphetamine supply. Concern (legitimate and otherwise) over ability to breathe is a popular topic in politics lately.

It probably still makes it a lot more difficult to make meth in a "homelab", as alternative synthesis paths are probably a lot harder. So they're leaving it to the "clandestine pros", ironically ;).

Also, in legislation, it seems like making things illegal passes several orders of magnitudes more easily, than anything that gives normal citizens more rights.

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