General Discussion
Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsNow this is a COUGH SYRUP:
@Historical_Pics
Well, you wouldn't care if you did cough.
99th_Monkey
(19,326 posts)graywarrior
(59,440 posts)Arkansas Granny
(31,543 posts)That way, if I don't kill the germs, I show them a good time and I don't give a flip either way.
ETA: I remember hearing women of my mother's generation talk about giving babies paregoric for colic. It's pretty obvious that they didn't have an FDA back then.
Paregoric, or camphorated tincture of opium, also known as tinctura opii camphorata, is a medication known for its antidiarrheal, antitussive, and analgesic properties.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paregoric
The Velveteen Ocelot
(116,003 posts)It was a common remedy back then (the Truman Administration!). Paregoric was an over-the-counter drug until about 1970. I don't think it did me any harm, and maybe it helped my parents get some sleep.
laundry_queen
(8,646 posts)although it was by prescription at the time (1975-76).
My mom said she rarely gave it to me though and always only a half-dose, as it worked 'too good' in her opinion and she didn't like how it knocked me out (as a tiny baby). She only learned later what the ingredients were and she was glad that she didn't give me very much.
Hestia
(3,818 posts)in a small glass water. You had to be really sick (gastro) to take the stuff, because I will never forget how BAD it tasted. O.M.G. It was an actual punishment to use that little bitty amount. Holding your nose wouldn't even work on this stuff.
One bottle would last an entire families life-time, maybe into the grand kids lives. When the FDA pulled it from the market, there ain't nothing that even touches a gastrointestinal flu - nothing. They used to make a buffered milky product that worked wonders.
I remember being really shocked when around age 10 went to the Hall of Industry and the cops had display and paregoric was there.
Warpy
(111,467 posts)When the connection got busted, this was what they used to keep from going into withdrawal.
That's why it was banned.
It was the best stuff in the world for pediatric diarrhea, stopped it dead.
Damned moralists, they want all of us to wring every last bit of misery out of life.
pinboy3niner
(53,339 posts)Hassin Bin Sober
(26,366 posts)The boyfriend dragged me kicking and screaming to the Urgent Care doctor because of my on again off again month long cough.
Chest X-ray negative for pneumonia. Maybe bronchitis.
Doc says she is giving me a script for cough syrup with codeine. Oh goody! I say, I'll get some relief. Maybe this trip won't be a total $400 dollar (my guess , no bill yet)bust.
I pick up the prescription and it's this little tiny airplane bottle of cough syrup. 5 milliliters dose it says. 3 hours later I'm still coughing up a lung.
Fucking 5 milliliters. I took another 7.
I shoulda told the doc I have the constitution of Elvis.
The Velveteen Ocelot
(116,003 posts)I found that good old Nyquil worked even better. That stuff could stop an elephant in its tracks.
Brigid
(17,621 posts)I once ran my best PFT (Physical Fitness Test) while high on NyQuil I was taking for a cold.
Hassin Bin Sober
(26,366 posts)I don't think the stuff the Doc prescribed contained any other goodies like headache relief medicine.
I had a splitting headache but was reticent about taking anything with the prescribed syrup. I couldn't read the bottle at 2 am and was feeling too much like shit to go hunting for my readers.
At 4am I said fuck it and took some advil.
So a double dose of the prescribed cough syrup and three advil and a night without sleep. Yep, better off with Nyquil.
kestrel91316
(51,666 posts)Billy Love
(117 posts)Should have helped. 5 day treatment, and I was fine after 3 days.
Hassin Bin Sober
(26,366 posts)I feel pretty good right now after sleeping all afternoon. But this thing gets me later in the day and tires me out. No fever now but I had 100 degrees last night.
I wouldn't have either bothered with the doc but I had back-to-back bad coughs. Two weeks on, one week off, and then really bad cough. I never really got better then went down hill. That lead me to believe it was something worse.
Billy Love
(117 posts)I get bronchitis every year, and we keep a supply of ZPak handy - our doc knows our history and usually gives us a few scrips on-hand to keep them handy.
it's the only thing that works for me, so I take them like a trooper, and it did stop one bronchitis from getting worse (headed it off last year)
WCLinolVir
(951 posts)What the macrolide antibiotics like Zithromax might do is change the electric conduction of the heart, said Dr. Susanne Steinbaum of Lenox Hill Hospital. And what those changes might cause is an abnormality in the heart rhythm that can actually lead to sudden cardiac death.
kestrel91316
(51,666 posts)I get with every single cold or flu these days, I use cephalexin and it works fine.
Warpy
(111,467 posts)My favorite stuff was Tussionex. I think they still make it, it's a combination of chlor trimeton and an opiate. I think the stuff would stop an active volcano and it knocks me out for a good six hours, blessed relief when I've had bad bronchitis or pneumonia.
bobGandolf
(871 posts)I think that would cure any cough!
bvar22
(39,909 posts)Don't ya think?
gopiscrap
(23,768 posts)Brigid
(17,621 posts)Back then, you could get syringes and even heroin and cocaine in the Sears catalog.
Brigid
(17,621 posts)Where Balki made Larry a potion to cure his cold. Balki said it contained herbs and fish parts. By mistake, Larry drank the whole container when he was only supposed to take a spoonful. "Balki, I can see through you," he said, and fell back onto the couch. He was out for three days!
Donald Ian Rankin
(13,598 posts)I knew all of those were used individually as medication.
I was not aware that people mixed up all four of them, and then sold it as cough syrup...
I wonder what it was like?
Brigid
(17,621 posts)It was probably a lot like that.
dionysus
(26,467 posts)iamthebandfanman
(8,127 posts)hold the morphine , booze, and pure death chemical :p
DisgustipatedinCA
(12,530 posts)WCLinolVir
(951 posts)That is some mix. I'm just surprised it doesn't have cocaine so you won't feel tired.
kestrel91316
(51,666 posts)I go into my pantry and pull out my little jar of tincture. 1 or 2 teaspoons in a glass with a couple tablespoons of water and a teaspoon of sugar, mixed well. Works like a charm, 6 hours of completely sound sleep.
And it doesn't even have chloroform or morphine.
ETA: I can't wait to see how it works when I have the flu and have so much trouble getting good sleep. Problem is, since I started using it nightly, I can't seem to catch even a cold, let alone the flu.
Scuba
(53,475 posts)You won't dare cough!