It’s going to be a coffee morning, and an herbal tea afternoon. Thanks to last night.
Now, now. Nothing exciting, though I do feel hungover. In fact, last evening I took an over-the-counter cold medicine and called it a night, early. The hours that followed?
Miserable.
Best I can tell, I had a bit of dead-to-the-world sleep, followed by five hours of wild, weird dreams (murder mystery meets conspiratorial costume epic), waking and thrashing, and I finally yielded to whatever was going on in my body.
I gave up, got up, and waited for it all to wear off.
Rufi anyone?
Since I wasn’t out partying (no one slipped me a Rufi), I can only assume it was the OTC med. This morning, my body is aching and my fingers are swollen, as are my eyelids and my lips. Lon Chaney look-alike?
Oh, I’m not quite as disfigured as Quasimodo, and I won’t be scaling the spires of Notre Dame. But I certainly didn’t get the good night’s sleep that I hoped would ward off a cold.
It’s a new bottle of medication, a product I’ve used previously without incident, and I checked the expiration date. So why do I feel drugged?
Drugs are Drugs
I am reminded of an OTC analgesic I took once, that caused me to disassociate. (Terrifying.) Needless to say, I’ve never taken it again.
I am reminded of a prescription medication that I took for a number years – all very routine. Then my pharmacy ceased carrying that particular brand, and switched to a different manufacturer. Side effects? I had all of them.
With another prescription med several years back, I wandered around the house for a week, miserable. It was my older son who pointed out that something was wrong, and it had to be the drug.
I looked up possible side effects, and he was right. I noted the lot number on the packaging, and called the company’s help line. It was a “bad batch” or some such thing, and I was told “Yes, that happens from time to time.”
Nice.
They overnighted a packet from another lot, and after that, I was completely fine.
Dates and Interactions
As for last night?
I may not know what caused this particular unpleasant night, but it’s worth checking drug interactions when possible. Maybe it was the Motrin I had two hours before. Maybe it was a bad lot.
In the meantime, I need to talk to both of my sons about not throwing out the documents that specify side effects, that caution against mixing medications, and that recommend food or an empty stomach, not to mention no driving and no alcohol. And of course, I need to remind them to read warning labels, expiration dates, and check that bottles haven’t been tampered with.
Why Clean Out the Medicine Cabinet?
I don’t know what caused the reaction to the cold medicine I took, but you can bet I’m tossing it. And going through my medicine cabinet.
I know the shelves contain doctor’s samples (long unused), old bottles of both prescription and OTC pills, and there’s a reason that expiration dates are to be checked. I generally look, but do my kids, when they’re scavenging to fight the flu or a headache?
Do yours?
It’s also important to discard drugs safely. And the key word is drugs, which we seem to forget – until our bodies remind us.
© D A Wolf
More people overdose from these types of drugs than your standard run of the mill street drugs as it is now.
Important.
We forget to read. We forget to think. And sometimes, it isn’t any slip-up on our parts. Important to pay attention, yes.
I don’t know what you took, but I did read yesterday that the Feds have taken control of three Tylenol factories because of quality control issues. Perhaps you did get a bad batch of pills. Hope you feel better soon.
Thank you, Sewing Librarian (and welcome). I hadn’t read about that. Scary.
An important reminder. I’m so cognizant of the expiration dates on food, but don’t pay enough attention to the dates on medication. Thanks for calling this issue out. And I hope you feel better soon.
Thanks, Gale. And it’s not just medication. In going through my medicine cabinet, I found moisturizer, mouthwash, suntan lotion, contact lens solutions, cough drops, OTC vitamin supplements… and more… all expired by 1, 2, 3 years and then some. We forget that these items have a shelf life, and they need to go.
A good reminder, thanks. I assume your local pharmacies will accept the expired meds? Flushing them has resulted in pollution in locales since dissolved medicines affect users human and otherwise that are downstream.
I can’t handle cold medicines. They make me feel funny in the head. And, even the so-called “nighttime” ones make me have an unrestfull sleep. Hoping you feel better soon though!
“Who are you?” said the caterpillar.
Who are you? It’s so confusing changing sizes every day… (Pass the hookah. On second thought, don’t.)
I’m another one who stays away from OTC cold medicines. I do have a love for the Theraflu, but that’s as close as I get.
I did clean out our medicine shelf (in the kitchen high up where the kids can’t reach on their own) the other day. I couldn’t believe some of the expiration dates on that stuff! Thankfully the out dated ones were medicines we hadn’t taken in a long while.
Hated updating the med kits on all vehicles in my Army unit. Took so much time. You’d think there’d be an easier way to do it, the medicine bottle turns a different color, maybe red, as an alert.
I hope you at least got an idea for a novel (or a handful of blog posts) out of those dreams. Scary stuff! In fact, it scares me so much, I hate to take medication at all, for anything. And I clean out my medicine/toiletries cabinet every spring. Got to put that on my to-do list, come to think of it …
It’s not just outdated or bad drugs – it’s also an individual’s reaction to them. We have learned, the hard way, that my husband is inordinately susceptible to narcotics, opiates, those things that are in painkillers. One day I’ll post about the hell going through a withdrawal after developing a dependency on them.
I hope you do write about this, Carol. It’s so important to pay attention to individual susceptibility, or even varying doses and their impacts. So often, we don’t.
Hope you are feeling better Wolf. I clean out my medicines every six months. I think everyone should, especially those with little children. Medicine interactions are something that everyone who takes multiple pills should be aware of. I don’ t think it is emphasized enough.