# Outdated medicines: anyone remember these? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [May 31, 2011, 8:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/outdated-medicines-anyone-remember-these/583831 "2011-05-31T08:39:17Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![yabob](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yabob/32/2821_2.png) [@yabob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yabob)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2011, 10:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/outdated-medicines-anyone-remember-these/583831/21 "2011-05-31T22:07:12Z")
Castor oil. Yet another laxative. Fortunately, I was never made to take the stuff, but its horrors are legendary: > **[Castor oil](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Castor_oil)** > > Castor oil is a vegetable oil pressed from castor beans. > It is a colourless or pale yellow liquid with a distinct taste and odor. Its boiling point is 313 °C (595 °F) and its density is 0.961 g/cm3. It includes a mixture of triglycerides in which about 90% of fatty acids are ricinoleates. Oleic acid and linoleic acid are the other significant components. > Castor oil and its derivatives are used in the manufacturing of soaps, lubricants, hydraulic and brake fluids, paints, dyes, coatings, inks, co... Curiously, the “Fletcher’s Castoria” mentioned above seems not to have anything to do with castor oil. It’s active ingredient is senna. ---
**Author:** ![Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spectre_of_pithecanthropus/32/12343_2.png) [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spectre_of_Pithecanthropus)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2011, 10:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/outdated-medicines-anyone-remember-these/583831/22 "2011-05-31T22:33:50Z")
I wish I could find out more about the old Contac formula. Googling for it or searching for it on Wikipedia just takes me to information about pseudoephedrine, but back in the day Contac also contained a small amount of belladonna[sup]1[/sup]. Additionally, IIRC it contained some other kind of decongestant as well, possibly PPA. Contac used to be one of those things kids took to get high; at least I remember hearing it talked about. This would have been around 1971. I’d be interested to know (a) what the purpose of the belladonna was, therapeutically, and (b) whether it was that ingredient or something else for which the kids abused it? [sup]1[/sup]Or it may have been refined atropine sulfate–not sure. ---
**Author:** ![california\_jobcase](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9d8465/32.png) [@california\_jobcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/california_jobcase)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2011, 11:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/outdated-medicines-anyone-remember-these/583831/23 "2011-05-31T23:09:01Z")
Contac? Tiny time pills? The old formula had phenylpropanolamine, chlorphenaramine maleate, and a bit of atropine and belladonna alkaloids. Phenylpropanolamine is a decongestant that reduces mucosal swelling, chlorphenaramine maleate is an antihistamine for runny nose and sneezing, and the belladonna parts also have a drying effect on the nasal mucosa. Taking that stuff for hay fever an hour before bed back when I weighed 98 pounds made it very hard to go to sleep, and caused some really creepy sensations. ---
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2011, 11:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/outdated-medicines-anyone-remember-these/583831/24 "2011-05-31T23:56:55Z")
My parents always kept a jar of [Brioschi](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brioschi_%28company%29) in the fridge. Apparently it’s still sold, but I haven’t seen it in years. ---
**Author:** ![LouisB](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/dfb087/32.png) [@LouisB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LouisB)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2011, 1:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/outdated-medicines-anyone-remember-these/583831/25 "2011-06-01T01:09:42Z")
A friend’s family believed in a strange, black, tar-like substance dispensed from a tube. As best I remember it was called Ictyol (I know the spelling is butchered). They used if for cuts, burns, rashes, etc. For all I know, it’s still available. ---
**Author:** ![longPath](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/bb73d2/32.png) [@longPath](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/longPath)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2011, 1:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/outdated-medicines-anyone-remember-these/583831/26 "2011-06-01T01:36:37Z")
I had an uncle who worked for Burroughs and Wellcome. He was a pharmacist and I assume worked in sales. He would periodically drop off jars of something called “Avamol” (sp?). It was, as I seem to recall, a vitamin supplement in a thick, sweet malt syrup. We got fed spoonfuls of the stuff and quite liked it. I haven’t really thought about it until I read the OP. This was back in the '50s. Google is not helping me with details. ---
**Author:** ![Musicat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/musicat/32/20189_2.png) [@Musicat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Musicat)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2011, 1:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/outdated-medicines-anyone-remember-these/583831/27 "2011-06-01T01:43:06Z")
Damitall is still around. ---
**Author:** ![BaneSidhe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/c5a1d2/32.png) [@BaneSidhe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BaneSidhe)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2011, 2:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/outdated-medicines-anyone-remember-these/583831/28 "2011-06-01T02:12:24Z")
> [@LouisB](#): > > A friend’s family believed in a strange, black, tar-like substance dispensed from a tube. As best I remember it was called Ictyol (I know the spelling is butchered). They used if for cuts, burns, rashes, etc. For all I know, it’s still available. Yup, it still is: [Ammonium bituminosulfonate - Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ichthammol) It’s one of the medicines in our equine medicine chest too, works great. ---
**Author:** ![jasg](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f0a364/32.png) [@jasg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jasg)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2011, 2:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/outdated-medicines-anyone-remember-these/583831/29 "2011-06-01T02:30:49Z")
> [@chaoticbear](#): > > Mercurochrome has been reformulated to Mercuroclear. Old people don’t trust it. 😛 For good reason; It has neither of the active ingredients once found in Merthiolate or Mercurochrome as this [PDF](http://www.humco.com/assets/pdf/1637-Mercuroclear.pdf) explains… ---
**Author:** ![Vashbul](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Vashbul](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Vashbul)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2011, 2:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/outdated-medicines-anyone-remember-these/583831/30 "2011-06-01T02:44:57Z")
Paregoric (tincture of opium) could be got in the US without prescription before 1970. It was magical stuff. When I was a kid, if I had a cramp or other intestinal distress, a dose of this would just melt it away. ---
**Author:** ![Doug\_Bowe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/df788c/32.png) [@Doug\_Bowe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doug_Bowe)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2011, 2:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/outdated-medicines-anyone-remember-these/583831/31 "2011-06-01T02:45:47Z")
Tripelennamine. Better known as PBZ. ---
**Author:** ![chaoticbear](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f07891/32.png) [@chaoticbear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chaoticbear)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2011, 2:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/outdated-medicines-anyone-remember-these/583831/32 "2011-06-01T02:58:20Z")
> [@Vashbul](#): > > Paregoric (tincture of opium) could be got in the US without prescription before 1970. It was magical stuff. When I was a kid, if I had a cramp or other intestinal distress, a dose of this would just melt it away. We still had a bottle of that at work as late as last year, but a cursory google search says that they’re pulling it off the market like so many of the older drugs that haven’t hurt anyone for decades but don’t meet their current regulatory standards. :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2011, 3:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/outdated-medicines-anyone-remember-these/583831/33 "2011-06-01T03:45:18Z")
This is not really a GQ; moving to IMHO. Colibri General Questions Moderator ---
**Author:** ![hellpaso](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/ecae2f/32.png) [@hellpaso](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hellpaso)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2011, 5:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/outdated-medicines-anyone-remember-these/583831/34 "2011-06-01T05:04:56Z")
> [@Vashbul](#): > > Paregoric (tincture of opium) could be got in the US without prescription before 1970. It was magical stuff. When I was a kid, if I had a cramp or other intestinal distress, a dose of this would just melt it away. Oh yes–that was what we got for stomach cramps in the sixties. My Mama always mixed it in coke–perhaps that explains my propensity for drinking lots of vodka and cokes for the past 25 years. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2011, 5:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/outdated-medicines-anyone-remember-these/583831/35 "2011-06-01T05:24:18Z")
The only thing I really remember taking is Dimetapp when I was a kid. It tasted like grape pop. ---
**Author:** ![Alice\_The\_Goon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ed8c4c/32.png) [@Alice\_The\_Goon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alice_The_Goon)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2011, 5:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/outdated-medicines-anyone-remember-these/583831/36 "2011-06-01T05:33:05Z")
My parents always had a [styptic pencil](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antihemorrhagic), to stop the bleeding of small cuts. They went through a castor oil stage, which isn’t as bad as it sounds, because a dose is only a spoonful, not half a bottle or anything. Although, I have drank half a bottle of it, to bring on labor- worked. [Linament](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linament). The southern part of my family always had this in the cabinet, and it smells really odd. ---
**Author:** ![horsetech](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/dec6dc/32.png) [@horsetech](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/horsetech)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2011, 5:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/outdated-medicines-anyone-remember-these/583831/37 "2011-06-01T05:33:40Z")
> [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](#): > > Rauwolfia extract for both psychosis and hypertension! I’m not sure about the other Rauwolfia compounds, but reserpine is still around. A low dose can help an injured horse who’s on stall rest decide to keep all 4 feet on the ground. There are a couple pharmacists on another board who claim to have seen/dispensed it once. ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2011, 6:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/outdated-medicines-anyone-remember-these/583831/38 "2011-06-01T06:18:54Z")
> [@Alice\_The\_Goon](#): > > My parents always had a [styptic pencil](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antihemorrhagic), to stop the bleeding of small cuts. That’s not outdated at all. I still use it occasionally. When I was a kid, our cough medicine was cherry-flavored Cheracol. If we needed something stronger, it was Turpin Hydrate and Codeine. I also remember mercurochrome and merthialate . . . and even iodine. And we got vitamins in a blue bottle with an eye dropper; a few drops were added to our orange juice. ---
**Author:** ![Spoons](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spoons/32/3141_2.png) [@Spoons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoons)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2011, 6:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/outdated-medicines-anyone-remember-these/583831/39 "2011-06-01T06:31:49Z")
> [@Alice\_The\_Goon](#): > > [Linament](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linament). The southern part of my family always had this in the cabinet, and it smells really odd. Linament is still available, though not always labelled as such. Nowadays, you may know it as [Absorbine Jr.](http://www.absorbinejr.com/), which (in a stronger version) was known as “Absorbine Veterinary Linament.” ---
**Author:** ![elfkin477](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a9a28c/32.png) [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2011, 7:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/outdated-medicines-anyone-remember-these/583831/40 "2011-06-01T07:42:09Z")
> [@yabob](#): > > Castor oil. Yet another laxative. Fortunately, I was never made to take the stuff, but its horrors are legendary: > > [Castor oil - Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Castor_oil). Which begs the question: why were Baby Boomer kids so full of crap? 😃 Seriously, though, why _did_ people dose their kids with laxitives so often back in the day? **Spectre of Pithecanthropus** , in the 80s my mom used to take these weird little pills for migraines that looked like someone barfed up a rainbow, and they contained belladonna too. She said that whatever they replaced it with didn’t work nearly as well. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/outdated-medicines-anyone-remember-these/583831.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/outdated-medicines-anyone-remember-these/583831.md?page=3)