# I just took the red pill AND the blue pill **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [June 21, 2025, 4:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-just-took-the-red-pill-and-the-blue-pill/1019925 "2025-06-21T04:27:45Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2025, 4:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-just-took-the-red-pill-and-the-blue-pill/1019925/1 "2025-06-21T04:27:45Z")
I’ve got a bad head cold, so I just took a robitussin pill and a naproxen pill. Robitussin for throat and coughing, naproxen for headache. Robitussin was red, naproxen was blue. We’ll see how my take on reality is when I wake up. ---
**Author:** ![wolfpup](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolfpup/32/10618_2.png) [@wolfpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfpup)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2025, 4:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-just-took-the-red-pill-and-the-blue-pill/1019925/2 "2025-06-21T04:54:45Z")
If you happen to see a white rabbit going down into a hole, you may want to consider your options before pursuing the rodent. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2025, 4:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-just-took-the-red-pill-and-the-blue-pill/1019925/3 "2025-06-21T04:57:38Z")
After all, you could wind up being marooned. ---
**Author:** ![Beckdawrek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beckdawrek/32/3647_2.png) [@Beckdawrek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beckdawrek)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2025, 5:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-just-took-the-red-pill-and-the-blue-pill/1019925/4 "2025-06-21T05:28:40Z")
I hate to inform you, but… Later, I got a phone call. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![markn\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f9ae1b/32.png) [@markn\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/markn_1)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2025, 5:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-just-took-the-red-pill-and-the-blue-pill/1019925/5 "2025-06-21T05:51:34Z")
> [@wolfpup](#): > > If you happen to see a white rabbit going down into a hole, you may want to consider your options before pursuing the rodent. Now that’s just silly. Because rabbits are not rodents. ---
**Author:** ![Whack-a-Mole](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/whack-a-mole/32/141_2.png) [@Whack-a-Mole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Whack-a-Mole)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2025, 5:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-just-took-the-red-pill-and-the-blue-pill/1019925/6 "2025-06-21T05:55:52Z")
Naproxen for a headache? That doesn’t seem the best choice or even a good choice. It seems it can help some, especially for migraines (and maybe not even best there) but this does not sound like a migraine. IANADoctor but you might want to ask your doctor about this. I’d think Tylenol or Ibuprofen or Aspirin would be a better choice for a headache (assuming no reasons you can’t take those…as always follow your doctor’s advice). ---
**Author:** ![ParallelLines](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/parallellines/32/3575_2.png) [@ParallelLines](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ParallelLines)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2025, 6:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-just-took-the-red-pill-and-the-blue-pill/1019925/7 "2025-06-21T06:17:05Z")
Lots of reasons (as you mentioned) to not take one of the big three, but there’s another reason to consider naproxen, in that it’s reported effective time is twelve hours, though everyone I know who uses it including myself, find it closer to 8. Even so, that’s twice as long as I get out of any of the other three. So sometimes, if my pain is moderate but lingering, I’ll take naproxen before bed, because it’ll keep the pain down for the full night, while otherwise I might have to wake up and take _more_ and risk waking up fully. Still, I agree that if _any_ of the other three mentioned aren’t forbidden for medical reasons, they all do a much better job at pain control for me at least. ---
**Author:** ![Whack-a-Mole](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/whack-a-mole/32/141_2.png) [@Whack-a-Mole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Whack-a-Mole)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2025, 6:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-just-took-the-red-pill-and-the-blue-pill/1019925/8 "2025-06-21T06:29:46Z")
> [@ParallelLines](#): > > …it’ll keep the pain down for the full night, while otherwise I might have to wake up and take _more_ and risk waking up fully. Now that I am getting older a late-night pee is pretty common. I wish I could still sleep an uninterrupted eight hours but (mostly) I don’t. So, waking and taking a pill then is not really much of an extra burden. YMMV of course. Sorry if TMI. ---
**Author:** ![ParallelLines](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/parallellines/32/3575_2.png) [@ParallelLines](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ParallelLines)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2025, 6:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-just-took-the-red-pill-and-the-blue-pill/1019925/9 "2025-06-21T06:47:46Z")
I’m 51 this month, so yeah, tending to the younger end of the board. Though when I’m behind on hydration and drink too much, too late, it can happen. I have a lot of sleep issues nearly needing treatment per my last sleep study, so I do a number of avoidance strategies, this being one of them. Oh, and since I forgot to mention this in my last post, @Northern_Piper, sorry you’re feeling so poorly, and hope you recover fully and quickly from this! There, now I feel _less_ like a jerk! ---
**Author:** ![Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/q.q.switcheroo/32/5713_2.png) [@Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.Q.Switcheroo)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2025, 9:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-just-took-the-red-pill-and-the-blue-pill/1019925/10 "2025-06-21T09:13:24Z")
[“_Now_ look what you’ve done.”](https://xkcd.com/566/) ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2025, 10:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-just-took-the-red-pill-and-the-blue-pill/1019925/11 "2025-06-21T10:43:47Z")
Re blue pill: on doctor’s advice. Let’s leave it at that. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2025, 11:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-just-took-the-red-pill-and-the-blue-pill/1019925/12 "2025-06-21T11:36:55Z")
Purple haze all in my brain Lately, things just don’t seem the same Actin’ funny but I don’t know why 'Scuse me while I kiss the sky ---
**Author:** ![Si\_Amigo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/si_amigo/32/2877_2.png) [@Si\_Amigo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Si_Amigo)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2025, 11:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-just-took-the-red-pill-and-the-blue-pill/1019925/13 "2025-06-21T11:45:01Z")
So this your take on reality this morning? I am deeply disappointed to find you being so . . . realistic. ---
**Author:** ![Wesley\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wesley_clark/32/20581_2.png) [@Wesley\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wesley_Clark)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2025, 11:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-just-took-the-red-pill-and-the-blue-pill/1019925/14 "2025-06-21T11:47:00Z")
> [@Whack-a-Mole](#): > > Now that I am getting older a late-night pee is pretty common. I wish I could still sleep an uninterrupted eight hours but (mostly) I don’t. So, waking and taking a pill then is not really much of an extra burden. YMMV of course. > > Sorry if TMI. You might want to get tested for sleep apnea if you snore, needing to urinate at night can be a symptom of sleep apnea. ---
**Author:** ![Babale](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/babale/32/15666_2.png) [@Babale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Babale)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2025, 12:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-just-took-the-red-pill-and-the-blue-pill/1019925/15 "2025-06-21T12:06:23Z")
> [@wolfpup](#): > > If you happen to see a white rabbit going down into a hole, you may want to consider your options before pursuing the rodent. Lagomorph. ---
**Author:** ![wolfpup](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolfpup/32/10618_2.png) [@wolfpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfpup)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2025, 12:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-just-took-the-red-pill-and-the-blue-pill/1019925/16 "2025-06-21T12:08:33Z")
> [@markn\_1](#): > > > [@wolfpup](#): > > > > If you happen to see a white rabbit going down into a hole, you may want to consider your options before pursuing the rodent. > > Now that’s just silly. > > Because rabbits are not rodents. They are, however, long-eared varmints! 😉 [![](https://yosemitesamquotes.com/wp-content/uploads/Yosemite-Sam-Bugs-Bunny.jpg) ](https://yosemitesamquotes.com/wp-content/uploads/Yosemite-Sam-Bugs-Bunny.jpg) ---
**Author:** ![Kropotkin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kropotkin/32/18045_2.png) [@Kropotkin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kropotkin)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2025, 12:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-just-took-the-red-pill-and-the-blue-pill/1019925/17 "2025-06-21T12:18:55Z")
I believe the correct line is “Scuse me while I kiss this guy.” At least, that’s what Lady Mondegreen told me. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2025, 12:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-just-took-the-red-pill-and-the-blue-pill/1019925/18 "2025-06-21T12:30:27Z")
> [@wolfpup](#): > > They are, however, long-eared varmints! Are they varmints or galoots? This is science, people! ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2025, 12:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-just-took-the-red-pill-and-the-blue-pill/1019925/19 "2025-06-21T12:52:44Z")
Flop-eared or floppy-eared sometimes too. Hope you’re feeling better as a new day dawns. ---
**Author:** ![Spiderman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spiderman/32/230_2.png) [@Spiderman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spiderman)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2025, 1:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-just-took-the-red-pill-and-the-blue-pill/1019925/20 "2025-06-21T13:03:50Z")
My advice to you is to take a white pill RIGHT NOW; how can you be appropriately patriotic with _just_ red & blue pills? [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-just-took-the-red-pill-and-the-blue-pill/1019925.md?page=2)