Nightmares...straight out of HELL!!

Just Toni · MIP Old Timer

Nightmares...straight out of HELL!!

newcomer · Senior Member

Toni, I used to get a lot of sinus infections and I always had problems with the medication. It usually made me very drousy and not quite lucid. I discovered sea water spray due to the advice of a colleague, you get it at the chemist, or pharmacists. Inexpensive and while it does not cure sinus infections, it certainly alleviates symptoms for me.

Just Toni · MIP Old Timer

Hi Lorna,

I do use those, the one I use is called Ocean, very popular here.

Now I am really laughing, so all is well, I had to go back to my Post and change the month to March, I had put February in for the date...yikes, but funny....

Lorna, I think this is only the second sinus problem I have ever had....even today can remember back to some weird feelings then too.....

Thanks for the imput.

Toni

pinkchip · MIP Old Timer

Cough syrup is messed up...sorry you went through that Toni. I have avoided it thus far in sobriety cuz I know I used to abuse it when I was drinking...I got a cold and would just switch from alcohol to downing whole bottle of nyquil a night for a period of days until I could drink again.

Tessa · Senior Member

I'm not allowed to take anything like Robitussin DM. The dextramathoraphine (sp) shows up in a drug screen which I have to take regularily. Any type of syrup that has any letters after the name isn't allowed. I can't even take a tylenol PM but can take the regular robitussin & regular tylenol. I picked uo some mucinex last night & it had a nasal decongestant. Realized after I got home that the ingredient was Pseudoephedrine which is a methephetamine. The name brand mucinex with the nasal decongestant is listed as Mucinex D. This was a walmart generiic & didn't have the D after the name. So, I was able to take it back & just get the regular plain generic mucinex. Ibuprophen used to make me have really wierd dreams. Not nightmares just stupid stuff & my mind would go 90 mph so I only take ibuprophen during the day. I've learned a lot about the use of OTC meds since I've been in the rehab that I'm not allowed to take. If it shows in a drug screen it can't bee good!!

-- Edited by Tessa on Saturday 6th of March 2010 05:37:50 PM

mikef · MIP Old Timer

Peace be with you Toni! Thanks for sharing your feelings..... smile

bikerbill · MIP Old Timer

I read in another post about Sailors using Robitussin as a substitute for booze - sounds dangerous to me

Just Toni · MIP Old Timer

Hi Bill,

I would never use anything with alcohol in it. On this Bottle and Box in big letters it says Alcohol Free, but you know what, that long word "dextramathoraphine" and he other one that starts with a Guif....., my thinking on these two drugs, yes they are over the counter drugs, but a drug is a drug is a drug.....

Think I will cover my head with a towel tonight and do some steaming, and good ole steam wont give me any more nightmares from hell.

I'm a fanatic about never using anything with alcohol in it, always have been, well of course in Recovery..

How is life over across the Pond, good I hope.

toni

-- Edited by Just Toni on Saturday 6th of March 2010 07:22:46 PM

Tessa · Senior Member

The guafanesion (sp) is fine. I'm using plain mucinex with 400mg of the guafenesion. It's the Dextromethorphan that isn't good to take. I had to look the word up to get the correct spelling. Here's a link speaking on the uses & abuse of this drug.

http://www.deadiversion.usdoj.gov/drugs_concern/dextro_m/dextro_m.htm

-- Edited by Tessa on Saturday 6th of March 2010 07:44:18 PM

Just Toni · MIP Old Timer

Thanks Tessa for sending that link. I thought it was the other one guafanesion, (haha, I just cut and pasted your version)

I am so anti drug that I dont think I want to do any of this again, like getting the musinex plain. I am going to try and use the steam tonight, if the cough wont stop.

And holy cow, that other drug, no wonder I had those strange, weirdest dreamstate I have experienced ever.... put that link on my desktop so I can really study it.

THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR TAKING THE TIME TO DO THAT.
You're the best!
Toni

-- Edited by Just Toni on Saturday 6th of March 2010 08:00:24 PM

SoberSteve · MIP Old Timer

I too have to start taking drug tests at my new job, hope the benadril or melatonin is nothing to worry about...?

Tessa · Senior Member

Can't take the Benadryl. It has Diphenhydramine hydrochloride a known sedative. It will definately show up on a drug screen. I had an allergic reaction to shrimp & my counselor advised against even using the topical cream.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diphenhydramine

As far as I know the melatonin is a natural hormone in the brain & if your body isn't producing enough of it then sometimes it is reccomended as a dietary supplement & won't cause any harm. You may want to ask someone in the field to be 100 percent sure.

http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/melatonin/NS_patient-melatonin

Even if you are an alcoholic only & have never abused drugs these types of medicines can trigger a reaction to wanting to drink or worse using them in place as a substitute for alcohol. If you're being screened for alcohol use you don't want a OTC drug showing up in your screen either. I'll look around for some information & see if I can come up with an OTC do's & don'ts on drug screening. Did you know eating a Honey Bun minutes before a breathalizer can show a low alcohol reading? The effects of a honey bun only last about 10 minutes. It's the yeast that it's made from.

-- Edited by Tessa on Saturday 6th of March 2010 09:35:07 PM

SoberSteve · MIP Old Timer

So I can get fired from my job for taking a benadryl? Will it say what drug it is in the test? how long is it in the system?

Tessa · Senior Member

If I'm not mistaken they can't refuse a drug screen for employeement as long as you tell them you are taking the Benydryl. When I went to work at walmart in 2001 they just asked me if I were taking any medications, etc. In my case I'm on probation & if I were to show any drug use I could end up in the pen. So, I'm very carefull what I take. Plus, I've had enough drug use to last me a lifetime & regardless whether I have to screen I don't want it in my system...period.

bikerbill · MIP Old Timer

Just Toni wrote:

Hi Bill,

I would never use anything with alcohol in it. On this Bottle and Box in big letters it says Alcohol Free, but you know what, that long word "dextramathoraphine" and he other one that starts with a Guif....., my thinking on these two drugs, yes they are over the counter drugs, but a drug is a drug is a drug.....

How is life over across the Pond, good I hope.

toni

-- Edited by Just Toni on Saturday 6th of March 2010 07:22:46 PM

No, I wasn't suggesting that it might have alcohol in it, just it struck me that in the space of a few days I read of the intoxicating effects of the same over the counter medicine.

There's a product over here called buttercup syrup, which I thought was worth getting a cough for. I haven't touched the stuff since I stoppped drinking, I don't know why, I've had plenty of coughs, just 'intuitively' know it wouldn't be good for me.

How's life over the pond? well since you ask, we're taxed to the max, the transport system is dying on it's feet, employers are taking advantage of employees fears, the economy stinks, the politicians are liars, the country seems to be waking up to dangerous alcohol consumption as a national epidemic, but are still fiddling round the edges (controlled drinking - might work for some). We have speed cameras, traffic light cameras, town centre surveillance cameras, more and more police are armed, recruitment to the armed forces has gone up by over 10% in the North (might this have something to do with crippling regional unemployment?) and our sons and daughters are dying in their handfuls in fly blown, forgotten lands.

But.......the sun is shining, the birds are singing, I wouldn't want to live anywhere else in the world.

soberdrunk · MIP Old Timer

Hi Toni,
I'm going through the same thing, with the sinus infection.
You know the funny part, I got a script for Amoxicillin filled a while back and I keep telling myself that I can fight this cold off myself and save the antibiotics for a worse one. This has been going on for a week. How sick is that? One more day, and I might break down and take 'em. Might as well suffer a bit more. doh

SoberSteve · MIP Old Timer

Funny I read this thread yesterday then have a nightmare about smoking a lot of pot and drinking a 5th of vodka, no lie.....The mind is a strange thing!

Tessa · Senior Member

Steve, from what I can tell having using dreams are normal. I've been told this is our disease still telling us it's active. I had almost 2 years before I had a using dream. Just a couple months ago & it was really a very mild dream compared to the way I drank. Since Toni had taken medication it's most likely they had something to do with the dreams in this case.

Avril G · Senior Member

Toni, aside from the robitussin, you're not by any chance working on step four are you? Reason I ask is that I started getting nightmares when doing step four (I had never had nightmares in my life before) My sponsor assured me this is normal, and on sharing it in a meeting, I heard of many others who had experienced this.

barisax · Senior Member

Dextromethorphan is nasty stuff. It's not narcotic but it has some weird side effects... including sexual. I will take it but only when I'm desperate and can't sleep because I'm coughing my branis out. Unlike alcohol and some other drugs, I truly despise the effects of DM. The only thing worse is pseudoeffedrine - I tried taking it as a decongestant and it's horrible, makes my face feel prickly and hot. Ick. Fortunately most of the cough syrup out there is available in non-alcohol form.

I take your basic middle aged fat guy stuff, my Dr. has me on stuff for BP, cholesterol, and diabetes. I have to take some kind of antihistamine or I'll get perpetual sinus and sore throat. Generic claratin is the ticket.

None of this stuff bothers me. What scares me is having to ever go through surgery and they put you on a morphine pump or oxycontin or whatever. I've never even spent the night in a hospital before, but I'm scared to death of these drugs. I've seen friends with long term sobriety go through surgery and the pain pills, and they're unable to get off of them or they end up relapsing to alcohol. I guess like anything else, I'll cross that bridge when I come to it and try to be sprititually fit... as I hope I'd be anyway before going under the knife!
Barisax

Just Toni · MIP Old Timer

Hi Avril,

Very interesting question, someone on this board and I were talking in PM about our stories, we were speaking of some really intense stuff, all dark for sure, So perhaps in my head I was working on another 4th step, or birthing one.....

And the tiny dose of that medication brought it out in my dream, hell that was no dream, had nothing to do with 4th Step making stuff. It felt in this nightmare like I was trapped and could not excape......that's what I thought at first.

But now that you brought that up...... our subconscious is always active, and it makes a lot of sense that it would have sounded like a 4th Step. Great time in fact, to actively and formally do the steps again.......

Did you see my question to Bill about asking you if you would like to share some of those recipes in a thread, I cook really healthy food too, and would join you and love to swap recipes.

Toodles and thank you for bringing that to the surface......about the bad night.

Toni

cooncatbob · Senior Member

A lot of OTC meds even the alcohol free ones have side effect worse then the illness you're taking them for.
I had a lingering head cold and the meds gave me weird lucid dreams, the kind where you wake up and when you go back to sleep you have a continuation of the same dream.
My Dr. recently put me on prednisone which is some truly vile stuff, you have to taper off slowly or you get horrendous head aches.