Cold medicine now a controlled substance

Evo

I don't even want the psuedoephedrine, the ingredient that works for me is triprolidine.

hypnagogue

I was surprised to read that they intend to control for distribution of pseudoephedrine rather than dextromethorphan. The latter does not need to be processed at all in order to have potent psychoactive effects, is a growing drug of abuse, and worst of all, can be deadly when taken with some other active ingredients commonly found in cold medicines.

In general, the US's policy on controlled psychoactive substances does not seem to be principled or consistent at all-- there are several other potent substances on the order of LSD that are legal to use and readily available. Worse yet, the existing policies exacerbate deleterious drug use and surrounding criminal activities while simultaneously hindering or outright restricting the positive and therapeutic potentials of psychoactive drugs. In short, the US drug policies have been a poorly thought out sham for quite some time, so perhaps this latest development is not quite so surprising after all.

Evo

The decision on psuedoephedrine may stop kids from "making their own", or at least cut the amount down, so now they will be forced to buy it from dealers. I don't see how this is a push in the right direction. When you make one drug hard to get another source is ready to fill the void, and sometimes it's a worse problem. Methadone was suppose to cure heroin addicts, now it's an even wider spread problem.

Hypnagogue, have you ever used ambien to help sleep. This stuff causes the wildest hallucinations I've seen in ages. Big purple worms flying across the room the first night I took one. You're supposed to take one and go right to sleep, but if you stay up, bizarre things happen. Quite often when I'm typing after it starts to kick in the computer screen turns brownish, with vines and vegetation and the words move around. I know, take it and lay down is what you're supposed to do. I've spoken to others that take it and they experience similar visions, sometimes designs appear with music. It's great stuff for knocking you out quick. It's legal. It does also help clear your head of thoughts. You may want to try some to see if they help.

cronxeh

Its amazing and at the same time hilarious to see this unravel. In under a dozen years, we will be able to manipulate a cell using restriction enzymes and selective genetic engineering to produce any drug we want - LSD, MDMA, what-ever.

I'd like to see the laws evolve to actually BAN!! restriction enzymes

Oh this country is going to need evening courses for lawyers very soon

hypnagogue

That sounds wild. Particularly the part about vines and vegetation-- how vivid are these hallucinations? As far as I know the vast majority of visual hallucinations involve deformations in shape, changes in perceived color, 'wavy' perceptions, etc., rather than actually seeing objects that aren't really there or don't already resemble the object being looked at in some way. Also, 'designs appear with music' sounds reminiscent of the very interesting subjective experiences of synaesthetes. I have always thought that I'd like to be a synaesthete for a day just to know what it's like.

I'd be careful using ambien if I were you, though. You may be aware of this already, but see here: http://www.drugs.com/ambien.html . According to this information, it's only meant for short term use, and if you experience hallucinations you should stop taking it.

Are you implying I have a sleeping disorder? I'm a night owl by design. I think more clearly and have more energy in the late hours, and plus it gives me more time for myself while everyone else is sleeping. It's kind of a vicious cycle where the things I can do at night keep me up later, which in turn pushes my natural sleeping cycle back a bit, and so forth. It definitely catches up with me sometimes, which can be problematic, but if I need to I can revert to a normal schedule fairly easily (I have mastered the art of staying up 24+ hours to go to sleep at a reasonable time of night).

Even if I had a sleeping disorder, I'm not sure I'd like to take medication, unless it was seriously hindering me. In general, I don't like to take medications with mental side effects. For example, I usually have major allergy symptoms in spring, but I can't tolerate how most cold medications leave me feeling groggy and out of it.

Evo

it's more like the designs tend to morph and give the impression of vines and vegetation

Yes, that's how I always saw them.

My older daughter is a synaesthete.

I try not to take it everyday. There's a new sleeping medicine that they've just come out with that I might try.

You're a night owl like I used to be. You have an active, creative mind. I never used to take anything for sleep, but due to stress and having to wake up early, I have to now.

hypnagogue

Wow!! That's incredible. I don't know how she feels about it of course, but I think she's very lucky. What kind of synaesthesia does she have?

Thanks. Yeah, I'm definitely not a morning person. Back in high school I had to wake up at 6am everyday to have enough time to get to school, and I went through a period where I had some kind of terrible, recurring illness where I'd feel so sick and out of it that I'd have trouble keeping my food down and sometimes even had to go home. I'd usually feel much better if I got in an hour or so nap, and I wasn't terribly sleep deprived at the time either, as I'd still usually get about 5 or 6 hours in.

Evo

She sees letters and numbers as colors. She's a talented artist.

I was the same way and still am. If I wake up too early, I will vomit, the child of evo does too.

chief

Sorry to dig up an old thread...

Evo, how long have you been taking ambien? What dosage are you taking... 10mg?

I don't really have insomnia, but I do have trouble sleeping a lot of times. Its like my mind stays too busy to let me fall asleep. And when I do sleep I wake up 5-6 times a night and have trouble getting back to sleep. My doctor gave me ambien and it works pretty well when I take it (I usually only take a couple of nights per week). I am scared to take it more often than that because I don't want to become 100% dependant on it to be able to sleep. I have read that it is only supposed to be used for a short period of time, but my odctor gave me a large prescription (30 10mg pills refillable 3 times). Does that sound like too long for me to be taking it?

I have never experienced the hallucinations, but I do get dizzy and start seeing double if I don't go directly to bed.

Also, have you tried the new pill yet (I assume you are talking about Lunesta)? I was wondering if it works as well as ambien and if it has similar side effects. I know it has been approved for long term use. I think its effects last longer than ambien though (8-10 hours).


I just realized I asked about 15 questions. You don't have to answer all of those.

Evo

I've always had trouble sleeping since I was a small child, my mind is also too active. I've been taking it regularly for at least a year. I had a prescription for it several years ago, but stopped taking it because it wears off so quickly, it wasn't helping much.

I take the 10mg pills. Ambien wears off in about three hours for me. It puts me to sleep, but I will be wide awake again in about three hours. At least it puts me to sleep.

I haven't tried Lunestra yet, but I might. I don't take Ambien everynight. I'm not sure why they say not to take Ambien for long periods unless it's as you mentioned, to prevent it from keeping you from falling asleep naturally, but that why we take it isn't it, because we can't fall asleep?