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Dr. Bob is Robert Hsiung, MD,
bob@dr-bob.orgShown: posts 1 to 4 of 4. This is the beginning of the thread.
Posted by Gracie2 on December 12, 2002, at 19:05:44
I was doing really well on my psych meds, just sailing right along, and then during the last 2
weeks I suddenly started to deteriorate fast.
Every day I was getting more and more confused,
I started to have trouble doing things that were easy before, and then I started to get agitated
and frightened. Being the paranoid that I am,
I thought maybe I had done permanent brain damage to myself with all my drinking and drugging.
I couldn't call my psychiatrist because he had bugged out on me, he had just quit without referring his patients or anything, and left us all hanging.So I was slouched in my chair, all bummed out because I couldn't think of anybody who would want to take care of me now after I got hopelessly senile. And then another small miracle
happened in my life. The news came on, and there
was a report about Coricidan HBP. It's a cold medicine with an ingredient that's substituted
for pseudoephedrine so it doesn't raise your blood pressure. Apparently, it's a new craze for kids because if you take enough, it's supposed to feel like the club drug Ecstasy or something. Consequently, these same kids are ending up in the hospital after overdosing on this ingredient, or with liver damage after overdosing on the acetaminophen in the medicine.Well, all the alarm bells went off in my head.
Because I have high blood pressure, this was the EXACT SAME DRUG I've been taking for the last two weeks to treat a vicious cold. I stopped taking the stuff immediately and drinking lots and lots
of water, and I've improved a lot in just 2 days.DOH!!
-Gracie
Posted by Aadika on December 13, 2002, at 19:37:31
In reply to OTC Medication Alert - Coricidan HBP, posted by Gracie2 on December 12, 2002, at 19:05:44
Doesn't Coricidin contain dextromethorphan HBr? I used to abuse OTC Robitussin Maximum Strength Cough syrup (the kind with DXM as its only active ingredient). It's actually a dissociative-anesthetic-- not at all like ecstasy (except at very low doses), and much more similar to PCP and ketamine. My low point was a time when I was drinking 16oz. of the stuff several times a week, which would cause vivid hallucinations, out-of-body experiences, and a trip that lasted upwards of 36 hours. DXM is an isomer of levorphanol, a very powerful opiate, by the way.
While I in NO WAY advocate the improper use of drugs (legal or illicit), my research has told me that "robo-tripping" is relatively safe if only done two, three times a year... and only with someone sober watching over you, of course. But you're very right-- there are many kids who go out and take large amounts of DXM-containing drugs which may also contain acetaminophen, phenylpropylamine, pseudoephedrine, or guaifenesin. And though I don't have the statistics on this, I'm sure there have been plenty of deaths attributable to it.
~ Aadika
Posted by Gracie2 on December 13, 2002, at 22:11:50
In reply to Re: OTC Medication Alert - Coricidan HBP, posted by Aadika on December 13, 2002, at 19:37:31
Aadika-
I couldn't think of the name of the ingredient because I threw away the medicine, but you named it.No way would I warn people away from drugs on any kind of moral basis because I was totally out of control myself for many years, although my drug of choice was tramadol because I had easy access
to it.The reason that I got so screwed up on the Coricidan so fast was due to some kind of polypharmacy reaction. I'm taking an antidepressant, an antipsychotic, and two hypertensive medications. My confusion got to the point of being really alarming. The wrong words would come out of my mouth when I was saying a simple sentence.
The main reason that the kids are messing themselves up so bad is because there is more than one formulation of Coricidan HBP. The stuff they want, the Cough & Cold medicine, has I believe 30 mg of Dextrowhatever and a fairly low
dose of acetiminophen. Another formulation has a low dose of the Dextro and a high dose of acetiminophen, so naturally they just keep taking more and more pills because they're not getting the desired effect.Damn, I somehow missed cough syrup when I was taking everything else on earth to get high. I must have the Clint Eastwood version of livers myself but probably I should get that checked out.
-Gracie
Posted by Shawn. T. on December 16, 2002, at 4:34:00
In reply to OTC Medication Alert - Coricidan HBP, posted by Gracie2 on December 12, 2002, at 19:05:44
The ingredient substituted for pseudoephedrine is chlorpheniramine, which is an antihistamine. It shouldn't cause you any long-term harm if you were taking normal dosages. In some people, it can been deadly when taken in high doses; taking coriciden for fun certainly isn't a wise idea. Some types of coriciden do have acetaminophen in them, but I doubt that that would cause you any problems. I found the following abstract while researching a different topic. Apparently, even small doses of chlorpheniramine can impair spatial cognition; driving on this drug probably isn't a good idea at all.
Shawn
This is the end of the thread.
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