# I took the decongestant phenylpropanolamine for my cold! Plus, a prison anecdote **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [March 3, 2007, 9:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-took-the-decongestant-phenylpropanolamine-for-my-cold-plus-a-prison-anecdote/394468 "2007-03-03T21:59:35Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![AskNott](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asknott/32/5790_2.png) [@AskNott](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AskNott)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2007, 9:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-took-the-decongestant-phenylpropanolamine-for-my-cold-plus-a-prison-anecdote/394468/41 "2007-03-05T21:40:05Z")
PPA was a popular diet pill ingredient, usually paired with lots of caffeine. It required no prescription. In the back of magazines, you could buy it by the bottle of 1000. A whole lot of it was sold falsely as amphetamine pills on the street. Between the weight-loss customers and the recreational users, some people took large doses. Some users had serious health problems, and it was taken off the market as a diet pill. It was more or less replaced by ephedrine (ma huang,) a natural stimulant. That, too, caused health problems, and it, too, was taken off the market. ---
**Author:** ![Muffin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/muffin/32/4341_2.png) [@Muffin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Muffin)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2007, 10:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-took-the-decongestant-phenylpropanolamine-for-my-cold-plus-a-prison-anecdote/394468/42 "2007-03-05T22:11:21Z")
The sauna was great, but was not even necessary. On Sunday morning, I bent down to put on my skis. The gentle exhaling must have moved something, for a long band of congealed green and black sinus crap extruded from my nose and formed a ribbon to the ground. I stood up, although still hunched forward to avoid any blowback, and the goo extended, staying in contact with the ground. After a few snorts, it broke off, and formed a gelatenous lump in the snow between my feet. I quickly covered it over with snow, considered saying a prayer for it’s soul, and departed the scene before being found out. A few minutes later, on the ski lift, another elastic blob crawled its way out of my sinuses. This one yo-yoed a while, several feel long at full extension, and finally let go. It helecoptered a few times, then broke into two distinct masses as it fell about thirty feet to the outrun. Unlike the earlier emission, this one was green and red. It was not in a skied-in area, so I did not try to reach it to give it a proper burial. All would have been well and fine, however, later in the day, while riding up the lift with a mother and child, I overheard the mother say to the child, “Look, a hawk probably dropped something.” ---
**Author:** ![Anaptyxis](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/anaptyxis/32/3171_2.png) [@Anaptyxis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anaptyxis)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2007, 10:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-took-the-decongestant-phenylpropanolamine-for-my-cold-plus-a-prison-anecdote/394468/43 "2007-03-05T22:30:27Z")
That was beautiful : wipes eyes, blows nose : ---
**Author:** ![Duckster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/duckster/32/1244_2.png) [@Duckster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duckster)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2007, 12:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-took-the-decongestant-phenylpropanolamine-for-my-cold-plus-a-prison-anecdote/394468/44 "2007-03-06T00:11:35Z")
[QUOTE=Qadgop the Mercotan] Really? I’d heard that even vets couldn’t get it. Huh. Meat-flavored, too! That would be icing on the cake! Or Marmite on the muffin! [/QUOTE] So you’ve switch from vegemite to that artificial crap? 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qadgop_the_mercotan/32/83_2.png) [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2007, 2:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-took-the-decongestant-phenylpropanolamine-for-my-cold-plus-a-prison-anecdote/394468/45 "2007-03-06T02:02:49Z")
[QUOTE=Duckster] So you’ve switch from vegemite to that artificial crap? [/QUOTE] I’ve currently got a stock of vegemite, marmite, and even some promite. In the past I’ve also had Mighty Mite, Aussie Mite, and Bovril. But until last week, I’d not mixed any of 'em with PPA. ---
**Author:** ![Annie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/858c86/32.png) [@Annie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2007, 3:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-took-the-decongestant-phenylpropanolamine-for-my-cold-plus-a-prison-anecdote/394468/46 "2007-03-06T03:20:25Z")
[QUOTE=Muffin] Waaay too much about some mucus [/QUOTE] Thanks for sharing dude. Really. Is this the interim heave smiley? (:~ ---
**Author:** ![Cheez\_Whia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/d26b3c/32.png) [@Cheez\_Whia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cheez_Whia)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2007, 11:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-took-the-decongestant-phenylpropanolamine-for-my-cold-plus-a-prison-anecdote/394468/47 "2007-03-07T23:26:48Z")
I just moved. And while packing, I _threw out_ the almost FULL bottle of Proin that we got from the vet for FREE, because it was expired. :smack: It didn’t help the dog, and I didn’t know it had PPA in it. Damn, damn, damn. :smack: :mad: ---
**Author:** ![Jelymag](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/d2c977/32.png) [@Jelymag](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jelymag)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2007, 11:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-took-the-decongestant-phenylpropanolamine-for-my-cold-plus-a-prison-anecdote/394468/48 "2007-03-07T23:38:30Z")
I have terrible allergies and the allergist prescribed me time-released PPA to take one every morning (plus an antihistamine at night) which I dutifully did pretty much every day between ages 13 and 20. I was wrapping up college around the time it was banned and I remember reading the news and thinking “Phenylpropanolamine… isn’t that the chemical name for my Entex?” Real glad the allergist was on top of his shit. Didn’t suffer any strokes that I can recall, though! 😃 [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-took-the-decongestant-phenylpropanolamine-for-my-cold-plus-a-prison-anecdote/394468.md?page=2)