I’m currently fighting a nasty head cold with a sore throat, earache and stuffy nose. I have purchased the CVS generic copy of Nyquil Day and Night Versions, Robitussin CF cough suppressant/expectorant, and Vicks Vaporub. The only medicine that doesn’t make me gag and want to upchuck right after taking it, is the Vicks Vaporub that I apply topically. Do any of you healthcare professional Dopers or interested bystanders have any suggestions to help the medicine go down? Can I mix the dose with food or drink to mask the taste? Or are there other brands which are not as nauseating? I don’t think I’ve got real picky taste buds, so I’m open to suggestions. Please help me.
One could take a tylenol or advil tablet for the fever and aches and pains, a pseudo-ephedrine tablet for the congestion, and a tablet containing dextromethorphan for the cough.
I never did like those shotgun medications with lots of extra ingredients that one didn’t necessarily need.
If one must drink that slop, dilute it anyway you like (excepting in alcohol, which will alter the meds and complicate everything). Be warned that it might taste worse this way, but you will have to drink more of it.
If I have to take something that nasty (and I do what QtM suggested; as a recovering person, I generally dislike taking more meds than I have to), I generally wash it down with something that’ll either wash the taste out of my mouth (like water) or something that tastes stronger than the medicine (like orange juice or Coke).
Just a suggestion. YMMV.
Robin
Thanks for your suggestions. I had thought of mixing the doses in orange juice but I thought there might be a chance that food interactions would cause strange things to happen and I was too lazy to search on the web. I will dilute the dose with orange juice and see what happens.
Don’t mix… chase. If you mix, you’ll have Nyquil flavored OJ. If you chase, it’ll taste more like OJ.
Robin
Pharamicists can add flavorings to prescription medicines…why not ask the pharmacist at CVS what can be done? Wouldn’t hurt to call and ask,
MsRobyn, I wish I hadn’t misunderstood you. This morning I mixed my medicine in the orange juice and immediately knew I made a mistake. Okay, NEXT time I will toss down the medicine and then CHASE it with a glass of orange juice.
kittenblue, the medicine is already flavored with a kind of sickeningly sweet cherry flavor that doesn’t fool anyone. I’d rather eat my mom’s dried out liver than that stuff.
I guess I should take the geltabs instead of the liquid medicine. That would sidestep the problem quite nicely.
Thanks for your suggestions.