Simple Q for anyone who happens to have a bit of random medical knowledge: Lately I’ve been taking daytime cold medicine containing ephidrine, following the dosage chart. At night I sometimes can’t sleep (somewhat related to the ephedrine, somewhat just my weird sleeping patterns) and occasionally take benadryl (sorry i forget the active ingrediant but its an antihistamine as well as sedative) at night a few hours after taking the sudafed (ephedrine cold pill) to get to sleep: I know that as a general rule mixing drugs that speed up the heart/lungs with drugs that sedate you is to be avoided, but is this combination safe?
For the purpose of this thread it will be assumed IANAD unless otherwise started explicity.
Many OTC cold medicines are a combination of Decongestants (Psuedoephedrine) and Antihistimines, so yeah, the combination should be safe. If you are on other medications such as antidepressants or high blood pressure medications, or you are a diabetic, you shouldn’t be taking Psuedoephedrine, but otherwise you are ok.
Since there are decogestants/cold medicines/allergy medicine preparations that are sold containing both pseudoephedrine and diphenhydramine (that’s the alternative word for “Benadryl” you were looking for) that particular combination is reasonably safe provided you stay within normal dosing and don’t have contraindications to either active ingredient. (Pseudoephedrine has a list of things you shouldn’t take and conditions you shouldn’t have in order to take it safely)
Pseudoephedrine can definitely keep you awake or mess up your sleep patterns. You may want to take the “night time” cold medicine at night, rather than the daytime variety.
Also, if you’ve been taking this stuff for longer than 4 or 5 days it might be time to see a doctor. None of that stuff is intended for long term use without consultation with a professional.
Don’t mix with alcohol or other substances. And read the ingredient labels carefully - much cold medicine comes mixed with Tylenol (aceteminophen, paracetamol). You do not want to add more on top of that, as it can have extremely serious consequences for your liver. Colds are bad – liver failure is much worse.