What's in Your Medicine Cabinet?

[Grand Design]

Ok, this was not my idea.  Whoever came up with it was certainly a voyeur.

The Drugs.

Dextromethorphan - the only thing to make you feel better with the flu.  You will go from deathly lows to heavenly highs.
Alka Seltzer.
Claritin.
BC Aspirin.
Some sort of anti-microbial eye drop for conjunctivitis.  It works.
An anti inflammatory for the eye.  Also works.
Zicam.  The Dextro works better.  Or makes you not feel things, which is better.

[apocrypha]

Okay, I'll bite 



I'd guess a fairly typical middle-aged couple's cabinet. Contraceptive pills, migraine tablets, lots of useless things for colds/flu cos my girlfriend thinks they help, standard stuff. Plus fucked-back pills, tramadol, cocodamol, diazepam.

[FatuousTwat]

Is everyone here on Zoloft?  I swear I've seen nearly everyone post something about Zoloft! 

Maybe we should start a "what's in your medicine cabinet thread"?

I was on it for a while, but it just made me even more crazy, like every drug I've taken in that category.

Acetaminophen, couple bottles of vicodin, toothpaste, barbasol, mouthwash, pomade, 7 year old contacts and solution, antibiotic cream, bandages, allergy tabs, vitamins, tweezers, nose hair trimmer, steri-strips, cough medicine.

[DraconianOne]

Everything I need for pain management:

[Cyrrex]

 

I don't have a medicine cabinet.  Not trying to be judgemental, but I don't get this prescripton drug craze that people in the US have gotten into.  Everyone seems to be on something.

Oh, I may have some bandaids and cough drops, if that counts.

[schild]

I have one tiny bottle of tension headache aspirin. I have issues with caffeine.

Other than that, Nothing. I try not to take drugs whenever possible. Except after surgery or fucking up my back, then I have a very high want and need for incredibly strong painkillers. Also, if I get a bad enough cold, I'll robotrip. I don't really get sick very often though. I can probably count the times on my fingers that I've gotten sick in the last decade.

[Oban]

Everything I need for pain management:

Fuck, you beat me to it.

Alcohol + Aspirin for the win.

Also, Mount Gay rum is amazing.

[stray]

i tend to use other people's medicine cabinets...seems like i'm always fucked up enough to need medicine when i'm elsewhere. don't have much of my own. an electric shaver and a bar of soap.

[apocrypha]

Not trying to be judgemental, but I don't get this prescripton drug craze that people in the US have gotten into.  Everyone seems to be on something.

It's not just the US, it's similar here in the UK. I think there's a few factors behind this -  mostly the drug and beauty industries have spent (and still do spend) a lot of time and effort medicalising everyday things that just don't need medicalising. The recent (i.e. last few years) hyping of fish oils to improve children's IQs & behavior is a good example of this - it's total nonsense and proven things such as parenting programs don't get a thousandth of the coverage that these pills do. There's a great article about it here.

This has the knock-on effect of making people expect medical solutions to all their problems. And of course doctors often comply with this, sometimes just for an easy life but also sometimes because their aware of the power of the placebo effect. This leads to huge problems like rapid development of community antibiotic resistant bacteria because of overuse of antibiotics and the insane over-prescription of antidepressants, despite plenty of research showing they're not nearly as effective as previously thought.

I try not to take drugs whenever possible. Except after surgery or fucking up my back, then I have a very high want and need for incredibly strong painkillers.

Same here, medication should only be for when there's a proven need for it, it's just pointless otherwise. I hate the quantity of painkillers I've been taking for 3 months now because of my back. Over 300g of paracetamol in 100 days, ugh, sorry liver  

[Signe]

I did not intend for this thread to happen!  My sarcasm was hijacked and turned in to a real thing.  I was, in fact, just about to start a thread of my own called, "What's in Your Sock Drawer".   However, after looking in my sock drawer and Righ's sock drawer and seeing only socks, I decided it wasn't intrusive enough.

[Bunk]

Don't have an actual cabinet to take a picture of. You'd see generic cold/alergy pills, Nyquil, ibuprofen, Pepto, some bandaids, Hydrogen Peroxide, an old bottle of those little yellow muscle relaxants, a really old bottle of Tylenol 3, and that's about it.

I am shocked at the lack of Pepto in the pictures above.

[Signe]

Someone had Maalox.  That's about the same thing as Pepto, no?  (not as pretty, though)

[Nevermore]

I did not intend for this thread to happen!  My sarcasm was hijacked and turned in to a real thing.  I was, in fact, just about to start a thread of my own called, "What's in Your Sock Drawer".   However, after looking in my sock drawer and Righ's sock drawer and seeing only socks, I decided it wasn't intrusive enough.

You could start a 'What's in your colon' thread, wherein people get a colonoscopy and post the pictures.  That might be intrusive enough.

[Signe]

That is an awesome idea!  GD goes first, as usual?

[Cyrrex]

I don't even want to see the words describing what you people have in your colons, let alone pics.

[Sky]

It's where Signe keeps her loaf of bread, I think.

[Nebu]

You could start a 'What's in your colon' thread, wherein people get a colonoscopy and post the pictures.  That might be intrusive enough.

Brings back memories of our "Best X-ray" competitions in Med School.

[Lantyssa]

Brings back memories of our "Best X-ray" competitions in Med School.

The x-ray of my toe was pretty cool.  It also made me wince to see how bad I broke it.  I impressed a 30-year ortho surgeon though, so well done?

My medicine cabinet is boring because all my drugs are spread about the house depending on where and when I tend to take them. 

[Bunk]

One of my best friends is an X-Ray tech. We cut him off or run from the room when he starts in on "happened at work today" stories. They usually involves objects that are not supposed to be internal, or the word compacted.

[Grand Design]

That is an awesome idea!  GD goes first, as usual?

I considered doing a "What's in Your Toilet Bowl?" thread - with no picture - just to see how many of you would actually click the link.

The only interesting thing this thread has produced so far is that large box of Diazepam in apoc's cabinet.  Gimme, I'm on edge.   

[Signe]

He also has Zamadol.  I'd say he's calm and feeling no pain.  My meds are in a kitchen cupboard.  They'd scare you.  I take an
Ambien CR every night but other than Aleve, I have nothing for pain or my many obvious mental disorders.  Well, nothing legal.  I only use prescribed pain meds when something icky happens to me, like that time I nearly lost my thumb in a tragic nearly losing a thumb accident.

[apocrypha]

He also has Zamadol.  I'd say he's calm and feeling no pain.

I am a weaf on the lind! No wait, I am a lead on the winf!    Hang on.    I am a leaf on the zzzZZZzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

[Sky]

I don't have meds, mine would be boring. I do love my glow-in-the-dark spongebob bandages.

Electric shavers are teh sux. I used to use a bare dry razor and follow with rubbing alcohol for after-shave.

[Tebonas]

For migraine attacks.

Thats it. I don't believe in overmedication.

[Nebu]

For migraine attacks.

Thats it. I don't believe in overmedication.

No offense, but if ibuprofen helps, then it's a bad headache and not a migraine. The etiology of a migraine is VERY VERY different than that of a headache.  Proper pharmacological treatment of a migraine headache is not about overmedication.  It's about treating the physiological condition with the proper biochemical agent. 

[Signe]

My nephew used to get terrible terrible migraines.  They would get so bad that they would even affect his vision and he would slur his words and act weird.  It would scare me.  I thought he must have some sort of horrible brain disease or something.  He was able to get more control when he started restricting nitrates in his diet, which is more difficult than you'd think.  He gets them much more rarely now and less severe.  I don't know what he takes for them.

[Tebonas]

No offense taken, I could have written "For bad headache days", but thats my shorthand for "Dim the lights and turn the volume down you insensitive fuck, half my brain is on fire!". Medically incorrect, but whatever works, I'm not in an explaining mood those days.

[Nebu]

My nephew used to get terrible terrible migraines.  They would get so bad that they would even affect his vision and he would slur his words and act weird.  It would scare me.  I thought he must have some sort of horrible brain disease or something.  He was able to get more control when he started restricting nitrates in his diet, which is more difficult than you'd think.  He gets them much more rarely now and less severe.  I don't know what he takes for them.

I'm going to guess Imitrex (sumatriptan succinate).  Does the job acutely, but is pretty damn expensive. 

[apocrypha]

I'm going to guess Imitrex (sumatriptan succinate).  Does the job acutely, but is pretty damn expensive. 

Is rizatriptan the same thing? That's what my gf takes for hers. Stops the migraine but makes her feel crappy all day. That's what the blue Maxalt box is in our cabinet - the most over-packaged medicine I've ever seen (they were the only ones the pharmacy had when she went in with her prescription last time)... some kind of dissolving wafer inside a foil-backed paper packet, in a plastic box which itself came in another cardboard box, like wtf is wrong with just pills in a blisterpack?! 

[Nebu]

Is rizatriptan the same thing? That's what my gf takes for hers. Stops the migraine but makes her feel crappy all day. That's what the blue Maxalt box is in our cabinet - the most over-packaged medicine I've ever seen (they were the only ones the pharmacy had when she went in with her prescription last time)... some kind of dissolving wafer inside a foil-backed paper packet, in a plastic box which itself came in another cardboard box, like wtf is wrong with just pills in a blisterpack?! 

Yes, it's another 5-HT1 agonist.  The wafer is a dosage form to aid in the speed of dissolution and uptake, making it much better to treat a migraine immediately after onset than pill form (which can take up to 20 mins or more to reach plasma levels).  I'm going to bet that the "crappy feeling" is due to the non-specific effects of serotonin agonism at other receptor types and isn't really that surprising.  Serotonin is a neurotransmitter that does a number of things and sleep management is among them.  Rizatriptan is supposed to be one of the more selective agents of this type, so the side effects, while possible, are usually less common.  Sounds like she's one of the unlucky few. 

[Yegolev]

This is a weird pair of threads.  I don't actually have a medicine cabinet, it's actually a linen closet with bins of meds in amongst the linens, to-be-dry-cleaned clothes, hair-rollers, toilet-paper, and guns.  Would be hard to get a pic, so use your imaginations.

[apocrypha]

Yes, it's another 5-HT1 agonist.  The wafer is a dosage form to aid in the speed of dissolution and uptake, making it much better to treat a migraine immediately after onset than pill form (which can take up to 20 mins or more to reach plasma levels).  I'm going to bet that the "crappy feeling" is due to the non-specific effects of serotonin agonism at other receptor types and isn't really that surprising.  Serotonin is a neurotransmitter that does a number of things and sleep management is among them.  Rizatriptan is supposed to be one of the more selective agents of this type, so the side effects, while possible, are usually less common.  Sounds like she's one of the unlucky few. 

Yeah, from her descriptions it sounds very like an E comedown, and that's 5-HT related isn't it. Good to know there's a reason for the wafer form rather than it just being overpackaging... although they are definitely that :p

bins of meds in amongst the linens, to-be-dry-cleaned clothes, hair-rollers, toilet-paper, and guns.

 

[Yegolev]

Where do you keep your guns, smart guy?

[Nevermore]

Gun cabinet?

[apocrypha]

I don't have any (nor would I ever) but I don't think the laundry basket would be my first choice