Are drugstore medications bad for you?

[Tristan12]

Is there any harm in taking drugstore medications for sicknesses, things like cough syrup, tylenol, ibuprofen, things like that? Are there any chemicals in them that could potentially be harmful?

[flowboy]

Yes.

Ibuprofen kills your stomach lining and paracetamol poisons the liver and gives your child adhd if you take it during pregnancy.

I'm not an expert on this but I do remember this anecdote from a friend who sees a lot of suicidal patients:

When a patient is brought into the ER with an overdose of pills (from a suicide attempt, under the influence or not), the question is always:

Did they take a bunch of psychiatric medications, like sleeping pills or antidepressants?

If that's all they took, they can pump the stomach, give IV fluids and have good hopes of the patient waking up.

Or did they swallow a pack of OTC cough medicine, or pain relievers that have paracetamol in them?

Well, fuck, then they're dead.

[flowboy]

@Judy2  No I personally don't, but I'm sure there's people here that do!

I personally never really get the sniffles, only when I'm really in pain do I take paracetamol (when I had covid)

And even then I just suffer through it on many days instead of taking it.

I'm actually unfamiliar with what "cold medication" is ... in the Netherlands we don't take medication when we have a cold

But a fever can really hurt.

I still take paracetamol for that when it gets bad, I'd love an alternative for that too... but I don't know.

Perhaps @Michael569 knows something?

[Yarco]

It's all about the dosage. If you take cough medicine or advil a couple of times per year when you're sick, it's probably fine. If you're taking the maximum amount of advil every day to deal with ongoing tooth pain or something for months, it's going to start putting a toll on your stomach and liver.

The risk of side-effects from taking these medications a few dozen times in your life, vs the comfort they provide when you're so congested and constantly coughing that you can't sleep, is worth it for me. I'll take it without question.

Lots of herbs and other natural stuff, if you take too much, it'll mess your body up just as much.

For most people their diet is way more likely to kill them or severely impact their health than taking cold medicine occasionally.

Especially if you have a young kid, don't fuck around and try to make them tough it out without medication. Without fever-reducing medication like Tylenol, if a kid has a fever and their temp gets too high they can have seizures and suffer brain damage. Way worse than taking the meds and potentially irritating their stomach.

3 hours ago, flowboy said:

Or did they swallow a pack of OTC cough medicine, or pain relievers that have paracetamol in them?

Well, fuck, then they're dead.

I've seen multiple people in the ER and ICU that have tried to overdose on paracetamol/acetaminophen. All the ones I saw survived. Depends how quick they find you and get you there.

One of them was my ex and she's fine. But now she can't take Tylenol again for the rest of her life, because there's a chance it'll kill her liver if she does. 

[Michael569]

Short term usage is safe but long term can cause issues. 

Obviously for a fever that is extremely high (above 39 degrees) they may help but for milder colds and flus, usually not needed. They may even slow down the healing.

There are herbs that have comparable efficacy for mild to moderate colds such as elderflower and echinacea.

 Short periods of sickeness are totally normal and usually don't require meds. Just take it easy, drink a lot of liquids, rest and it'll go away.

As already said above by Eric and others, chronic overuse of this stuff can be extremely toxic and problematic. If you are having to use painkillers daily make every attempt to identify and eliminate the root cause driving the pain/inflammation rather than use this stuff to mask it up 

Edited September 29, 2022 by Michael569

[Tristan12]

@flowboy @Yarco @Michael569 okay thanks guys. I'm currently sick for the first time in years. I'm still living with my mum and she's trying to get me to take all this medicine and that made me wonder if it was really safe or not. So far all I've really had is a cough candy, otherwise I've just been doing what I can to take care of myself like resting and all that and I'm recovering fine. I think in the future I will take medication only if I feel like I really need it.

[Leo Gura]

Best to avoid it. Only use it if you really can't cope without it.

Tylenol cold is good if you get a fever.

Pretty much all such medicines contain toxic chemicals.

You can find organic herbs, teas, and supplements for colds, soar throats, fevers, immune boosts, etc.

Never take medicine just because some gives it to you, not even a doctor. All of it needs to be researched and double-checked whether its truly needed. People will give you all sorts of bad and useless drugs as part of medical group-think.

Edited September 30, 2022 by Leo Gura

[Tristan12]

1 hour ago, Leo Gura said:

Best to avoid it. Only use it if you really can't cope without it.

Tylenol cold is good if you get a fever.

Pretty much all such medicines contain toxic chemicals.

You can find organic herbs, teas, and supplements for colds, soar throats, fevers, immune boosts, etc.

Never take medicine just because some gives it to you, not even a doctor. All of it needs to be researched and double-checked whether its truly needed. People will give you all sorts of bad and useless drugs as part of medical group-think.

I suspected that these medications may have harmful chemicals in them which is why I asked this question here and why I refrained from using them this time when I got sick.

I did some research and I got similar answers to what the people provided here - that they are okay in moderation but frequent use isn't recommended. 

I'm curious how you research these types of topics, I feel like you get more out of it than I do. How do you know there are toxic chemicals in these medications? I didn't hear anything about that when I researched them. Are you researching the quality of the ingredients in them and that's how you know? What kind of questions are you looking up if you were researching something like this? What about if you find mixed opinions in your research, how do you know which to go with?

[Leo Gura]

Just look at the ingredient list.

[undeather]

6 hours ago, Tristan12 said:

I suspected that these medications may have harmful chemicals in them which is why I asked this question here and why I refrained from using them this time when I got sick.

I did some research and I got similar answers to what the people provided here - that they are okay in moderation but frequent use isn't recommended. 

I'm curious how you research these types of topics, I feel like you get more out of it than I do. How do you know there are toxic chemicals in these medications? I didn't hear anything about that when I researched them. Are you researching the quality of the ingredients in them and that's how you know? What kind of questions are you looking up if you were researching something like this? What about if you find mixed opinions in your research, how do you know which to go with?

Pharmaceuticals are one of the chemically most clean substances commercially available while also heavily regulated & controlled. You know exactly what you get and in general dont need to worry about contaminations or toxins. 
That said, most drugs contain a complex matrix of excipients, some of them are proven to be biologically active and maybe even harmful in larger quantities. If you look at mouse studies, most of those fillers only start causing trouble at insanely high dosages, so I personally dont really worry about it at all. From an integral/complexity medicine perspective, it's not really an issue either. If you suffer from headache, popping an Ibuprofen is perfectly fine if there are no other contraindications. Even if you need to go on a long-term medication, it's propably not a thing to worry about. People love to give themselves a nocebo-effect with stuff like that. 

Any chemical can be harmful if overused or not indicated. 

I have seen other members mentioning herbal remidies/ supplements.
Please notice that those are not nearly as regulated as pharmaceuticals. I have done a pretty deep dive into the supplement world and I am kinda shocked how much contamination there is on average. There are many good ones but they they getting dwarfed by the sheer amount of bullshit companies selling cheap, highly concentrated snake oils made from substandard substrate. Even if its labled "organic" - exponentiation of certain agents will always cause a certain accumulation of toxins in the end product. Good companies go out of their way to test their product. 

 

Edited September 30, 2022 by undeather

[Clabber Girl]

I hate taking prescription strength ibuprofen... but I have debilitating menstrual cramps to the point I can barely walk when they are at their peak. Also - This is a reason that I dont take birth control for years on end. I dont think long term its best for your hormonal balance or body. A few years here and there ok, I dont know the science but I feel less "natural" on them, if that makes sense. LOL