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Now this is a COUGH SYRUP: (Original Post) Are_grits_groceries Aug 2013 OP
Please hold the chloroform in mine. thanx. ~nt 99th_Monkey Aug 2013 #1
. graywarrior Aug 2013 #22
When I'm really sick with a cold or flu, I like to make myself a nice strong, hot toddy. Arkansas Granny Aug 2013 #2
I was given paregoric for colic as a baby by my mother, a registered nurse. The Velveteen Ocelot Aug 2013 #6
I was given it also for severe colic laundry_queen Aug 2013 #16
My dad was a pharmacist and we always had paregoric around. We would use 1-2 drops Hestia Aug 2013 #23
Drug addicts would soak cigarettes in it and then dry them Warpy Aug 2013 #30
"It's so tasty, too! Just like candy!" pinboy3niner Aug 2013 #3
I coulda used that last night. Hassin Bin Sober Aug 2013 #4
I got a hellacious case of bronchitis last winter. The codeine cough syrup helped, but The Velveteen Ocelot Aug 2013 #7
Back in my Marine Corps days, Brigid Aug 2013 #9
You are right. I would have been better off with Nyquil. Hassin Bin Sober Aug 2013 #14
Sometimes I think the part of Nyquil that does the trick is the alcohol, lol. kestrel91316 Aug 2013 #28
I used Zpak for the bronchitis Billy Love Aug 2013 #17
That's what the doc prescribed. Hassin Bin Sober Aug 2013 #19
I hope you get better. Billy Love Aug 2013 #20
Be careful of azythromycin-known to cause heart anomalies. WCLinolVir Aug 2013 #26
I only use it if I think I might have strep throat. For my ordinary bronchitis that kestrel91316 Aug 2013 #29
I do have the constitution of Elvis Warpy Aug 2013 #31
Those were the days! bobGandolf Aug 2013 #5
Needs a touch more ETOH. bvar22 Aug 2013 #8
wow where was that sold? gopiscrap Aug 2013 #10
Probably in every pharmacy in the country at the time. Brigid Aug 2013 #12
There was a episode of "Perfect Strangers" . . . Brigid Aug 2013 #11
What, no nicotine or cocaine? Donald Ian Rankin Aug 2013 #13
See my post above about the "Perfect Strangers" episode. Brigid Aug 2013 #15
sounds like super-laudanum! dionysus Aug 2013 #18
Ill just take the cannabis iamthebandfanman Aug 2013 #21
What, did the factory run out of ibogaine when it came time to bottle this? n/t DisgustipatedinCA Aug 2013 #24
Wow. Imagine the list of precautions. WCLinolVir Aug 2013 #25
When I run out of brownies or the special oil I make for them, kestrel91316 Aug 2013 #27
The best cough remedy is ExLax ... Scuba Aug 2013 #32

Arkansas Granny

(31,484 posts)
2. When I'm really sick with a cold or flu, I like to make myself a nice strong, hot toddy.
Fri Aug 30, 2013, 02:05 PM
Aug 2013

That way, if I don't kill the germs, I show them a good time and I don't give a flip either way.

ETA: I remember hearing women of my mother's generation talk about giving babies paregoric for colic. It's pretty obvious that they didn't have an FDA back then.

Paregoric, or camphorated tincture of opium, also known as tinctura opii camphorata, is a medication known for its antidiarrheal, antitussive, and analgesic properties.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paregoric

The Velveteen Ocelot

(115,281 posts)
6. I was given paregoric for colic as a baby by my mother, a registered nurse.
Fri Aug 30, 2013, 02:23 PM
Aug 2013

It was a common remedy back then (the Truman Administration!). Paregoric was an over-the-counter drug until about 1970. I don't think it did me any harm, and maybe it helped my parents get some sleep.

laundry_queen

(8,646 posts)
16. I was given it also for severe colic
Fri Aug 30, 2013, 03:05 PM
Aug 2013

although it was by prescription at the time (1975-76).

My mom said she rarely gave it to me though and always only a half-dose, as it worked 'too good' in her opinion and she didn't like how it knocked me out (as a tiny baby). She only learned later what the ingredients were and she was glad that she didn't give me very much.

 

Hestia

(3,818 posts)
23. My dad was a pharmacist and we always had paregoric around. We would use 1-2 drops
Fri Aug 30, 2013, 04:50 PM
Aug 2013

in a small glass water. You had to be really sick (gastro) to take the stuff, because I will never forget how BAD it tasted. O.M.G. It was an actual punishment to use that little bitty amount. Holding your nose wouldn't even work on this stuff.

One bottle would last an entire families life-time, maybe into the grand kids lives. When the FDA pulled it from the market, there ain't nothing that even touches a gastrointestinal flu - nothing. They used to make a buffered milky product that worked wonders.

I remember being really shocked when around age 10 went to the Hall of Industry and the cops had display and paregoric was there.

Warpy

(110,913 posts)
30. Drug addicts would soak cigarettes in it and then dry them
Fri Aug 30, 2013, 08:58 PM
Aug 2013

When the connection got busted, this was what they used to keep from going into withdrawal.

That's why it was banned.

It was the best stuff in the world for pediatric diarrhea, stopped it dead.

Damned moralists, they want all of us to wring every last bit of misery out of life.

Hassin Bin Sober

(26,273 posts)
4. I coulda used that last night.
Fri Aug 30, 2013, 02:10 PM
Aug 2013

The boyfriend dragged me kicking and screaming to the Urgent Care doctor because of my on again off again month long cough.

Chest X-ray negative for pneumonia. Maybe bronchitis.

Doc says she is giving me a script for cough syrup with codeine. Oh goody! I say, I'll get some relief. Maybe this trip won't be a total $400 dollar (my guess , no bill yet)bust.

I pick up the prescription and it's this little tiny airplane bottle of cough syrup. 5 milliliters dose it says. 3 hours later I'm still coughing up a lung.

Fucking 5 milliliters. I took another 7.

I shoulda told the doc I have the constitution of Elvis.

The Velveteen Ocelot

(115,281 posts)
7. I got a hellacious case of bronchitis last winter. The codeine cough syrup helped, but
Fri Aug 30, 2013, 02:24 PM
Aug 2013

I found that good old Nyquil worked even better. That stuff could stop an elephant in its tracks.

Brigid

(17,621 posts)
9. Back in my Marine Corps days,
Fri Aug 30, 2013, 02:38 PM
Aug 2013

I once ran my best PFT (Physical Fitness Test) while high on NyQuil I was taking for a cold.

Hassin Bin Sober

(26,273 posts)
14. You are right. I would have been better off with Nyquil.
Fri Aug 30, 2013, 02:53 PM
Aug 2013

I don't think the stuff the Doc prescribed contained any other goodies like headache relief medicine.

I had a splitting headache but was reticent about taking anything with the prescribed syrup. I couldn't read the bottle at 2 am and was feeling too much like shit to go hunting for my readers.

At 4am I said fuck it and took some advil.

So a double dose of the prescribed cough syrup and three advil and a night without sleep. Yep, better off with Nyquil.

Hassin Bin Sober

(26,273 posts)
19. That's what the doc prescribed.
Fri Aug 30, 2013, 04:22 PM
Aug 2013

I feel pretty good right now after sleeping all afternoon. But this thing gets me later in the day and tires me out. No fever now but I had 100 degrees last night.

I wouldn't have either bothered with the doc but I had back-to-back bad coughs. Two weeks on, one week off, and then really bad cough. I never really got better then went down hill. That lead me to believe it was something worse.

 

Billy Love

(117 posts)
20. I hope you get better.
Fri Aug 30, 2013, 04:37 PM
Aug 2013

I get bronchitis every year, and we keep a supply of ZPak handy - our doc knows our history and usually gives us a few scrips on-hand to keep them handy.

it's the only thing that works for me, so I take them like a trooper, and it did stop one bronchitis from getting worse (headed it off last year)

WCLinolVir

(951 posts)
26. Be careful of azythromycin-known to cause heart anomalies.
Fri Aug 30, 2013, 05:18 PM
Aug 2013

“What the macrolide antibiotics like Zithromax might do is change the electric conduction of the heart,” said Dr. Susanne Steinbaum of Lenox Hill Hospital. “And what those changes might cause is an abnormality in the heart rhythm that can actually lead to sudden cardiac death.”

 

kestrel91316

(51,666 posts)
29. I only use it if I think I might have strep throat. For my ordinary bronchitis that
Fri Aug 30, 2013, 05:58 PM
Aug 2013

I get with every single cold or flu these days, I use cephalexin and it works fine.

Warpy

(110,913 posts)
31. I do have the constitution of Elvis
Fri Aug 30, 2013, 09:00 PM
Aug 2013

My favorite stuff was Tussionex. I think they still make it, it's a combination of chlor trimeton and an opiate. I think the stuff would stop an active volcano and it knocks me out for a good six hours, blessed relief when I've had bad bronchitis or pneumonia.

Brigid

(17,621 posts)
12. Probably in every pharmacy in the country at the time.
Fri Aug 30, 2013, 02:48 PM
Aug 2013

Back then, you could get syringes and even heroin and cocaine in the Sears catalog.

Brigid

(17,621 posts)
11. There was a episode of "Perfect Strangers" . . .
Fri Aug 30, 2013, 02:45 PM
Aug 2013

Where Balki made Larry a potion to cure his cold. Balki said it contained herbs and fish parts. By mistake, Larry drank the whole container when he was only supposed to take a spoonful. "Balki, I can see through you," he said, and fell back onto the couch. He was out for three days!

Donald Ian Rankin

(13,598 posts)
13. What, no nicotine or cocaine?
Fri Aug 30, 2013, 02:49 PM
Aug 2013

I knew all of those were used individually as medication.

I was not aware that people mixed up all four of them, and then sold it as cough syrup...

I wonder what it was like?

WCLinolVir

(951 posts)
25. Wow. Imagine the list of precautions.
Fri Aug 30, 2013, 05:04 PM
Aug 2013

That is some mix. I'm just surprised it doesn't have cocaine so you won't feel tired.

 

kestrel91316

(51,666 posts)
27. When I run out of brownies or the special oil I make for them,
Fri Aug 30, 2013, 05:52 PM
Aug 2013

I go into my pantry and pull out my little jar of tincture. 1 or 2 teaspoons in a glass with a couple tablespoons of water and a teaspoon of sugar, mixed well. Works like a charm, 6 hours of completely sound sleep.

And it doesn't even have chloroform or morphine.

ETA: I can't wait to see how it works when I have the flu and have so much trouble getting good sleep. Problem is, since I started using it nightly, I can't seem to catch even a cold, let alone the flu.

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