I knew a guy nicknamed ‘Dexter McThorphan’ for his habit of robo-tripping (chugging robitussin). Dextromethorphan is a potent dissociative at higher doses, as it binds with the same receptors that PCP does. DM reportedly gives some folks the same kind of long, loud buzz one can get from smoking a handful of couch stuffing material. Definitely don’t recommend for recreational use.
Glad it worked for you for cough suppression though. Most folks find it pretty ineffective compared to codeine, it’s nice to know it works for some.
Yeah, one must chug a bottle or six of that stuff to get those effects. Which are usually accompanied by diarrhea, walking into walls, and chewing on fingernails (one’s own or other people’s) in those dose ranges. Along with potential arrhythmias and just a TON of other nasty stuff. But safe when taken as directed in nice lower doses.
It’s a shame people can’t get the cough relief and help with pain they need due to others.
It’s also a shame you have to be nervous a doctor thinks you are drug seeking.
I know why it is. I know there are addicts and bad docs who have not helped. It’s still a shame.
I’ve never had codeine cough syrup.
I’ve had plenty of pain meds.
I would have the tendency to over use. Especially when I’m not at my best(which ain’t exactly perfect).
I always second guess before I take a pain med.
I don’t need impairment to cause another problem I do not need.
I’ve mentioned before about being discharged from the hospital after a complicated cholecystectomy (JP drain, a week in hospital).
I asked my surgeon about pain control. He suggested Tylenol, which made me laugh, which hurt. He said that opiates were tightly controlled. I told him I knew a corner two blocks from the hospital where I can purchase effective medication, and if the police caught me doing this I’d make sure the newspaper spelled his name correctly.
He wrote me a script for way more than I needed/expected.
I have a horrible reaction to dextromethorphan. I call it “concentrated flu.” Body aches, cold sweats, splitting headache, twisting muscular pain, disassociation, too restless to sleep and just general misery. It lasts for, oh, about 4-6 hours.
So I don’t take that.
ETA - this is at the dosage prescribed, or even less.
My Daddy had a bad neck from years in the Military and hard work.
He did all the standard X-rays, Mri’s, tried physical therapy. A couple Ortho docs told him live with it.
He even went down Woo alley, chiropractors and the hanging upside down thing.
He got a doctor who prescribed a mild opiate. Omg. Help, finally!
He goes thru the rigamarole about how much to take and not to overuse and how much he was given every month. He said it was so tiring dealing with the noise.
He finally told the doc, either prescribe it or not, but shut the noise down or “guess what? You ain’t the only game in town”
He got his pills.
Some people can be aware enough to use a helpful drug, responsibly.
I have asked doctors about the common mix of acetaminophen and opiates. I wondered why they couldn’t give me something safer for my liver like opiate + ibuprofen or opiate + aspirin.
I was told that APAP (acetaminophen) and opiates like hydrocodone work together to relieve pain to an extent greater than the component parts. (I couldn’t word this the way I wanted to. I’m sorry it’s a bit confused. Perhaps the word I’m looking for is they’re synergistic or something like that.)
In any event, perhaps adding a bit of the opiate to the APAP (like the drug mentioned in the OP) simply makes the APAP more effective than it would otherwise be.
You do get synergy from opioids and acetaminophen together (you nailed the term!), but NOT with opioids and NSAIDs like ibu or aspirin and the rest, hence the pairing. BUT one can also just take a 325 or 500 mg acetaminophen tab with one’s opioid tab, rather than having them in a combination product that’s so likely to be abused.
“Opiate” means derived from opium, and can be interpreted either as 1) limited to the active drugs in opium (morphine, codeine, thebaine) or can be interpreted as 2) any drug that is synthesized out of the ingredients in opium (and thus includes heroin, hydrocodone, oxycodone and others).
“Opioid” means a molecule that’s active at the opioid receptors in the human body, including the ones which are completely synthetic and hence not made from opium. This includes stuff like methadone, fentanyl, sufentanyl, carfentanyl, and a host of others.
But those are pretty much academic distinctions and I don’t think it makes much difference whether one says ‘opiate’ or ‘opioid’ unless they’re getting deep into the weeds about details.
My mom had pain from a broken hip. They gave her morphine, which totally knocked her out, she was completely non-functional. For various reasons, it wasn’t safe for her to take nsaids. Tramadol was a lifesaver, as it blunted her pain and left her functional.
One way to remember is that opiate has a “t” in it, as in “top” and opium has a “m” in it, as in “mountain” in case you’re ever stuck in a cave and have a lot of pain.
