# Until the 1970s, Contac (an OTC cold remedy) contained a small amount of atropine (belladonna). What was its purpose? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [August 3, 2023, 9:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/until-the-1970s-contac-an-otc-cold-remedy-contained-a-small-amount-of-atropine-belladonna-what-was-its-purpose/988022 "2023-08-03T21:02:24Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Dr\_Paprika](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dr_paprika/32/3042_2.png) [@Dr\_Paprika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr_Paprika)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2023, 11:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/until-the-1970s-contac-an-otc-cold-remedy-contained-a-small-amount-of-atropine-belladonna-what-was-its-purpose/988022/21 "2023-08-06T23:11:23Z")
Belladonna suppositories are still useful for certain things. Urethral spasm, irritable bladder, certain distal GI conditions…. Doctors are more knowledgeable about strong medicines and more hesitant to use them casually. Drug companies are sensitive to legal issues. Especially when much safer and more effective antisialogogues exist, which don’t cause fast heart rates or affect heart contraction strength. Belladonna was once used in makeup IIRC to make the pupils all wide and sexy. Like when the eye doctor wants to examine your retina. A small price to pay for not being able to see very well for several hours, surely… ---
**Author:** ![RivkahChaya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rivkahchaya/32/8919_2.png) [@RivkahChaya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RivkahChaya)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2023, 11:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/until-the-1970s-contac-an-otc-cold-remedy-contained-a-small-amount-of-atropine-belladonna-what-was-its-purpose/988022/22 "2023-08-06T23:39:45Z")
> [@Dr\_Paprika](#): > > Belladonna was once used in makeup IIRC to make the pupils all wide and sexy. That’s sexy? Isn’t that what happens when you die? :shudder: ---
**Author:** ![Dr\_Paprika](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dr_paprika/32/3042_2.png) [@Dr\_Paprika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr_Paprika)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2023, 11:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/until-the-1970s-contac-an-otc-cold-remedy-contained-a-small-amount-of-atropine-belladonna-what-was-its-purpose/988022/23 "2023-08-06T23:43:39Z")
Takes all kinds. Most people get stiff. ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2023, 11:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/until-the-1970s-contac-an-otc-cold-remedy-contained-a-small-amount-of-atropine-belladonna-what-was-its-purpose/988022/24 "2023-08-06T23:54:51Z")
> [@RivkahChaya](#): > > > [@Dr\_Paprika](#): > > > > Belladonna was once used in makeup IIRC to make the pupils all wide and sexy. > > That’s sexy? > > Isn’t that what happens when you die? - > > :shudder: I’ve read that dilated pupils indicate interest. Or it’s dark. ---
**Author:** ![SuntanLotion](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/suntanlotion/32/16165_2.png) [@SuntanLotion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SuntanLotion)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2023, 12:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/until-the-1970s-contac-an-otc-cold-remedy-contained-a-small-amount-of-atropine-belladonna-what-was-its-purpose/988022/25 "2023-08-07T00:13:41Z")
Contac used to make me sleep. ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2023, 1:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/until-the-1970s-contac-an-otc-cold-remedy-contained-a-small-amount-of-atropine-belladonna-what-was-its-purpose/988022/26 "2023-08-07T01:25:30Z")
> [@RivkahChaya](#): > > > [@Dr\_Paprika](#): > > > > Belladonna was once used in makeup IIRC to make the pupils all wide and sexy. ⁢ > > That’s sexy? > > Isn’t that what happens when you die? That reminds me of a video I watched by John Green about the romanticization of tuberculosis (or consumption, as it was previously called). It was thought to make male artists better at their craft. And it was thought that the sick, delicate young women with it were beautiful, to the point that healthy women would use white powder to mimick the pallor and irritants in their eyes to make them more dilated. That said, I do note that your eyes dilate when you look at someone you are strongly attracted to. So that might be the origin of seeing dilated eyes as attractive. ---
**Author:** ![Dr\_Paprika](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dr_paprika/32/3042_2.png) [@Dr\_Paprika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr_Paprika)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2023, 12:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/until-the-1970s-contac-an-otc-cold-remedy-contained-a-small-amount-of-atropine-belladonna-what-was-its-purpose/988022/27 "2023-08-08T00:40:19Z")
Yes, the eye dilation is said to make one look more interested, which people find attractive. ---
**Author:** ![JohnGalt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johngalt/32/184_2.png) [@JohnGalt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnGalt)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2023, 1:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/until-the-1970s-contac-an-otc-cold-remedy-contained-a-small-amount-of-atropine-belladonna-what-was-its-purpose/988022/28 "2023-08-08T01:57:37Z")
My mother had sleepy side effects too, so she would pull the capsule apart and dump out half. At least she didn’t have to use a knife or a pill splitter. When the Tylenol poisoning started, one of my first thoughts was how easy it would have been to open a capsule and tinker with it. ---
**Author:** ![aruvqan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aruvqan/32/2891_2.png) [@aruvqan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aruvqan)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2023, 2:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/until-the-1970s-contac-an-otc-cold-remedy-contained-a-small-amount-of-atropine-belladonna-what-was-its-purpose/988022/29 "2023-08-08T02:30:14Z")
> [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](#): > > But not as risky as the older diarrhea medicine, paregoric. That was opium dissolved in ethanol. Quite the cocktail. Medication used to be quite the crapshoot! What I wished was still available was the original kaopectate. Kaolin and pectin, worked by sopping up excess liquid from the waste stream. Now it is to stop peristalsis. When ones guts are a 36 foot road rash, you don’t need to halt peristalsis, you need to soak up the excess liquid. I was so freaking tempted to grab a gallon of porcelain slip [kaolin clay =)] and some pectin from my pantry and a blender. Sigh. ---
**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:** [August 8, 2023, 6:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/until-the-1970s-contac-an-otc-cold-remedy-contained-a-small-amount-of-atropine-belladonna-what-was-its-purpose/988022/30 "2023-08-08T18:34:09Z")
> [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](#): > > If it was homeopathic, then there was not any actual belladonna present in the ‘medication’. Or anything else of significance besides water. But if she had bought some but didn’t give it to the baby, the baby might have died of a homeopathic OD. 😃 I think you can still get belladonna tablets anywhere they sell homeopathic “medicine”. ---
**Author:** ![RivkahChaya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rivkahchaya/32/8919_2.png) [@RivkahChaya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RivkahChaya)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2023, 12:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/until-the-1970s-contac-an-otc-cold-remedy-contained-a-small-amount-of-atropine-belladonna-what-was-its-purpose/988022/31 "2023-08-09T00:00:47Z")
> [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](#): > > But if she had bought some but didn’t give it to the baby, the baby might have died of a homeopathic OD. 😃 Hah! This one mother I once knew (nevermind how) wouldn’t let her daughter have a mint Milano cookie, because she might “OD” on her homeopathic medicine she was taking, that I guess at one time was in the same room with mint, before the horsehair stick. ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2023, 2:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/until-the-1970s-contac-an-otc-cold-remedy-contained-a-small-amount-of-atropine-belladonna-what-was-its-purpose/988022/32 "2023-08-12T02:24:37Z")
The reason Lomotil contains atropine is because enough diphenoxylate to create a buzz, were one to take Lomotil, would also cause very unpleasant side effects from the atropine. ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2023, 3:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/until-the-1970s-contac-an-otc-cold-remedy-contained-a-small-amount-of-atropine-belladonna-what-was-its-purpose/988022/33 "2023-08-12T03:04:02Z")
I’ve definitely heard of people using attapulgite orally, for this very reason. ---
**Author:** ![Tamerlane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tamerlane/32/7602_2.png) [@Tamerlane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tamerlane)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2023, 3:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/until-the-1970s-contac-an-otc-cold-remedy-contained-a-small-amount-of-atropine-belladonna-what-was-its-purpose/988022/34 "2023-08-12T03:35:51Z")
> [@nearwildheaven](#): > > would also cause very unpleasant side effects from the atropine. ‘Hot as a hare, red as a beet, dry as a bone, blind as a bat and mad as a hatter.’ ---
**Author:** ![Pushkin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ee59a6/32.png) [@Pushkin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pushkin)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2023, 10:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/until-the-1970s-contac-an-otc-cold-remedy-contained-a-small-amount-of-atropine-belladonna-what-was-its-purpose/988022/35 "2023-08-18T10:50:56Z")
> [@RivkahChaya](#): > > This one mother I once knew (nevermind how) wouldn’t let her daughter have a mint Milano cookie, because she might “OD” on her homeopathic medicine she was taking, that I guess at one time was in the same room with mint, before the horsehair stick. When I spotted my own mother attempting to give my daughter a homeopathic “remedy” and objected, Mum said “oh it’s ok, they’re all safe”. I suggested I could prove that by consuming the entire bottle. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2023, 5:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/until-the-1970s-contac-an-otc-cold-remedy-contained-a-small-amount-of-atropine-belladonna-what-was-its-purpose/988022/36 "2023-08-18T17:19:43Z")
> [@running\_coach](#): > > TIL learned a new term that makes me look forward to getting a cold. “Rhinorrhea” sounds like an odd-toed one-horned ungulate with the trots. ---
**Author:** ![Slow\_Moving\_Vehicle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slow_moving_vehicle/32/291_2.png) [@Slow\_Moving\_Vehicle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slow_Moving_Vehicle)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2023, 6:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/until-the-1970s-contac-an-otc-cold-remedy-contained-a-small-amount-of-atropine-belladonna-what-was-its-purpose/988022/37 "2023-08-18T18:23:23Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > > [@running\_coach](#): > > > > TIL learned a new term that makes me look forward to getting a cold. > > “Rhinorrhea” sounds like an odd-toed one-horned ungulate with the trots AKA, “the zookeeper’s nightmare.” ---
**Author:** ![TookaDooka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ba9def/32.png) [@TookaDooka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TookaDooka)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2025, 3:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/until-the-1970s-contac-an-otc-cold-remedy-contained-a-small-amount-of-atropine-belladonna-what-was-its-purpose/988022/38 "2025-09-04T03:57:03Z")
I had brutal environmental allergies as a high schooler in the mid 1960s. I took Contac to alleviate the symptoms. It worked great, but was incredibly sedating I woukd practically pass out in chemistry class each afternoon. My teacher knew the cause, and was nice about it. He’d quietly tell me to wake up. My eyes would practically be rolling back in my head. Now I know why. ---
**Author:** ![pkbites](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pkbites/32/204_2.png) [@pkbites](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pkbites)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2025, 5:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/until-the-1970s-contac-an-otc-cold-remedy-contained-a-small-amount-of-atropine-belladonna-what-was-its-purpose/988022/39 "2025-09-04T05:16:07Z")
If I remember correctly pre-1990 Contacs active ingredient was **phenylpropanolamine.** That stuff would knock me completely out. ---
**Author:** ![Johanna](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johanna/32/8318_2.png) [@Johanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johanna)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2025, 5:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/until-the-1970s-contac-an-otc-cold-remedy-contained-a-small-amount-of-atropine-belladonna-what-was-its-purpose/988022/40 "2025-09-04T05:21:02Z")
Thanks for all the information. I’ve been wondering what Indigo Girls could have meant when they sang in “[Sugar](https://youtu.be/MfcUCEfcogo?si=N-Su-fLJHwORr3sp) [Tongue](https://www.lifeblood.net/songs/lyrics/sugartongue.html),” Bring me lullabies and morphine dreams Belladonna with her atropine It’s a song about the effects of colonialism exploiting the developing world versus the comfort of living in the developed world along with the privilege of being able to ignore the suffering that underlies that comfort. I guess it expresses a wish to be numbed out or put to sleep with drugs to avoid knowing about it. It’s just that “belladonna with her atropine” is such an odd reference in that context. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/until-the-1970s-contac-an-otc-cold-remedy-contained-a-small-amount-of-atropine-belladonna-what-was-its-purpose/988022.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/until-the-1970s-contac-an-otc-cold-remedy-contained-a-small-amount-of-atropine-belladonna-what-was-its-purpose/988022.md?page=3)