# Are there other drugs that affect people differently? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [January 16, 2007, 6:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-other-drugs-that-affect-people-differently/388223 "2007-01-16T18:45:26Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Anise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/anise/32/21721_2.png) [@Anise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anise)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2007, 6:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-other-drugs-that-affect-people-differently/388223/1 "2007-01-16T18:45:26Z")
Well, I already KNOW that amphetamines do. (Normal people are up for 3 days; we special people get very relaxed and take a nice nap. 🙂 ) But what about other drugs, prescription and otherwise? Or are psychostimulants the only drugs who have such a drastically different effect on different people? ---
**Author:** ![Joey\_P](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/919ad9/32.png) [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2007, 7:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-other-drugs-that-affect-people-differently/388223/2 "2007-01-16T19:15:43Z")
Opiods (sp?) tend to get me pretty wired. Alcohol can have drastically different results from one person to the next. Benzos can also put some people to sleep while others just get happy and giddy. Of course with all of these I think there’s a lot of reasons for different outcomes. -Reason for taking them (recreation or otherwise) -Expectations of the drug -Mood/feeling before taking them (someone taking Klonapin that’s already giddy, make get drunklike, whereas someone who has’t slept in three days will probably crash soon after ingesting it.) ---
**Author:** ![Geek\_Mecha](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/ecae2f/32.png) [@Geek\_Mecha](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Geek_Mecha)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2007, 7:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-other-drugs-that-affect-people-differently/388223/3 "2007-01-16T19:51:48Z")
Birth control pills and other hormonal contraceptives have varying effects on women. Some experience negative side effects from one pill, while others find the same prescription pure bliss. ---
**Author:** ![Harmonious\_Discord](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/74df32/32.png) [@Harmonious\_Discord](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Harmonious_Discord)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2007, 7:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-other-drugs-that-affect-people-differently/388223/4 "2007-01-16T19:58:57Z")
Other than strong poisons, any drug works differently in different people. ---
**Author:** ![Shagnasty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9dc877/32.png) [@Shagnasty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shagnasty)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2007, 8:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-other-drugs-that-affect-people-differently/388223/5 "2007-01-16T20:02:31Z")
There are a great number of them. Drugs to treat mental illness tend to be wildly inconsistent from one person to another. Antidepressants can make some people suicidal for example. Dramamine can make some kids pass out and others to become agitated and restless the list is nearly endless. I have had two paradoxical reactions to medication and it is rather disconcerting. ---
**Author:** ![lieu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c2a13f/32.png) [@lieu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lieu)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2007, 8:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-other-drugs-that-affect-people-differently/388223/6 "2007-01-16T20:19:43Z")
I think the sleep aid Ambien can have drastically different effects on a person’s behavior. Wait… make that an “I know from mind blowing personal experience…” ---
**Author:** ![WhyNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c77e96/32.png) [@WhyNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WhyNot)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2007, 8:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-other-drugs-that-affect-people-differently/388223/7 "2007-01-16T20:32:05Z")
[QUOTE=Harmonious Discord] Other than strong poisons, any drug works differently in different people. [/QUOTE] I agree, and I’d cast the net a little wider and add herbs to this, as well. Chamomile tea, which to most people is just strong enough to maybe make them a little sleepy, will knock me out, unresponsive, for 6-8 hours. I used it in the hospital to get some sleep after my c-section - I warned the nurses I was a heavy sleeper first, and they did the hourly blood pressure and temperature checks without me ever waking up. Even more oddly, it makes my son jittery and unable to sleep! Chemicals have a way they work much of the time in most people, but statistics are notoriously horrible at predicting your specific reaction to something. ---
**Author:** ![MLS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/919ad9/32.png) [@MLS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MLS)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2007, 9:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-other-drugs-that-affect-people-differently/388223/8 "2007-01-16T21:02:17Z")
[QUOTE=lieu] I think the sleep aid Ambien can have drastically different effects on a person’s behavior. Wait… make that an “I know from mind blowing personal experience…” [/QUOTE] Yeah, Ambien knocks me out cold in 5 minutes, and I wake up 8 hours later feeling like I slept but gained no ease. Another member of my family will sleepwalk if she takes it. (She stopped taking it after one episode in which she found a partially-smoked cigarette by her bedside that she had NOT lit before retiring.) Yet another family member is completely and absolutely unaffected by the stuff. Go figure. I find that Tylenol has zero effect on me, yet many folks find it useful. ---
**Author:** ![lieu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c2a13f/32.png) [@lieu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lieu)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2007, 9:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-other-drugs-that-affect-people-differently/388223/9 "2007-01-16T21:38:12Z")
Yeah, 10 minutes after taking it I abruptly cut off my beard, got fully dressed for work, asked my wife why the well dressed and polite Chuck Berry lookin’ barber shaved me and then fell asleep so hard my wife monitored me for a couple of hours lest I expire. Errr… once was enough. ---
**Author:** ![jjimm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2007, 9:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-other-drugs-that-affect-people-differently/388223/10 "2007-01-16T21:42:40Z")
THC (marijuana/hash) - most people: mellow, relaxed, reduces symptoms of headache, induces sleepiness; me: agitated, paranoid, exacerbates any pain I may have, gives me insomia. ---
**Author:** ![bordelond](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bordelond/32/150_2.png) [@bordelond](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bordelond)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2007, 9:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-other-drugs-that-affect-people-differently/388223/11 "2007-01-16T21:50:07Z")
[QUOTE=jjimm] THC (marijuana/hash) - most people: mellow, relaxed, reduces symptoms of headache, induces sleepiness; me: agitated, paranoid, exacerbates any pain I may have, gives me insomia. [/QUOTE] Anecdote: a high-school acquaintance of mine claimed absolutely no effect from smoking a joint. ---
**Author:** ![Leaffan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leaffan/32/299_2.png) [@Leaffan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaffan)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2007, 9:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-other-drugs-that-affect-people-differently/388223/12 "2007-01-16T21:53:01Z")
[QUOTE=jjimm] THC (marijuana/hash) - most people: mellow, relaxed, reduces symptoms of headache, induces sleepiness; me: agitated, paranoid, exacerbates any pain I may have, gives me insomia. [/QUOTE] And this is the reason I stopped experimenting with it a looooong time ago. ---
**Author:** ![Will\_Repair](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/a698b9/32.png) [@Will\_Repair](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Will_Repair)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2007, 10:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-other-drugs-that-affect-people-differently/388223/13 "2007-01-16T22:25:59Z")
Yes, considering that humans are chemical machines with different blueprints anything more complicated than water would bring a different reaction. Do you like broccoli? ---
**Author:** ![Finagle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/b19c9b/32.png) [@Finagle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Finagle)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2007, 11:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-other-drugs-that-affect-people-differently/388223/14 "2007-01-16T23:10:39Z")
Alcohol. Some people get happy, others get belligerent. Me, I just get sleepy.