F355

So I'm nearing 50 days of sobriety now, which is awesome, feeling better every day.

I came down with a cold yesterday. It wasn't a terrible cold, just really annoying, so I headed to the store to buy some cough syrup.

Now, I know what you're probably thinking, but NO, I did NOT buy the kind with either alcohol or acetimenophin (sp?).

I bought the kind that only has dextromethorphan in it.

I remember hearing stories about how you can trip off of cough syrup, but I had assumed that the stuff they were talking about was the cough syrup with all the other ingredients. I had no intention of tripping on the stuff, but the cold was annoying me so i started to sip on the bottle...

I only realize now that I drank nearly the entire bottle. And folks, it is NOT something I would recommend. I have just come through a horrific experience. Something along the lines of being drunk or high on mushrooms that does NOT feel good and at times even makes you feel like you are detached from your body or about to die. Scary stuff. I did this accidentally, but still... just a reminder that abusing substances is a bad idea.

Has anyone else made this stupid mistake before?

F355

Me too. I never realized just how powerful the medication in cough syrup really is. I am actually astonished that some people claim to use that stuff for recreation. No. %$#%#$. WAY! I have only felt so terrible maybe once or twice in my entire life. NOT a good idea. Please don't attempt this yourself, if you haven't already!!!!

Dee74

I've never had DXM but I hear it's bad news.

It's bad news to sip on any cough mixture tho - best to stick to the recommended dose.

Still, I'm glad you're ok F355 - and thanks for the warning.

D

F355

Thanks,Dee.

It's easy to forget that a lot of the things you can buy in a drugstore without a prescription can still be dangerous. I was doing some reading on cough syrup today, and it turns out that some cough syrup (not the kind I bought, thankfully) actually has enough acetaminophen in it to kill you. Now, I knew that acetaminophin could be lethally toxic at high doses, but I had no idea that there was that much in some brands of cough syrup.

Wow, talk about stupid mistakes you'll never make again....

Hevyn

That stuff is horrible, F355. I took too much of it once & was up all night, felt like I was jumping out of my skin. Even had a hangover-like feeling the next day. Very happy to hear you're ok now! Lesson learned.

blackoutgirl

Glad that you are alright ...it's easy to have the mind set that over-the-counter meds are safe. Especially the way that they are marketed on TV, some without disclaimers at all....and the ones that do, the person is talking 100 mph!

instant

I used abuse the stuff as part of previous drug substitution programs to ease me of alcohol.

It never worked.

LOL.

TheJungianThing

We called it "Roboing" for Robotussin DM back in the day and I've been told that some folks called it "Vortexing", a way to get a trip or a high without failing drug tests and such.

And yeah, wild experience, but not worth the freak out of feeling like you're going to die. Sweat feels really wierd, my skin - my finger tips felt - "leathery" and thick. I think I remember my heart racing, but I don't know if that was from anxiety and panic.

PaperDolls

I did that once ..... trying to get drunk. Not a good experience.

Now ..... when I need to take a medicine like that because I'm sick. I take it AS PRESCRIBED. Which means, no sipping out the bottle. Meds like that come with little cups and tell you exactly how much to take.

Things like drinking the cough syrup right out of the bottle and chewing pills, in my personal opinion, are old addictive behavior.

mcbb79

I did the same this past December after coming down with the flu. I found myself taking some sips then more and more. I drank about the entire small size bottle of Ny quil. I was definitely high and feeling detached from myself for most of the next day. really bad idea. Bad experience. I cant drink, I abuse anything with alcohol

mwstylee

Yeah, I've done this many times in college. We called it robotripping. It's a strong dissociative which makes your mind detach from your physical body. I remember those times I've tripped on cough syrup, it was reeeeeally intense. It feels like PCP/mushrooms on another level, no joke. It's nothing to mess around with - the feeling that you're about to die is incredibly common among users (or at least it was with me and my group of friends). It's extremely scary being 110% convinced that you're going to die and come to terms with it.

It's truly like nothing I've felt before, having your semi-conscious mind float around in a completely different universe and experience all those visuals/thoughts. I find it really horrifying and don't know why I kept doing it all those times.

mwstylee

PS- dextromethorphan is THE ingredient that makes you trip. In school, we used to specifically look for cough syrups with ONLY dex as the main ingredient. Anything else and you'd be throwing up (decongestants - guaifenesin) or kill your liver (acetominiphen). If I need to buy cold meds these days, I look for labels without dextromethorphan on it.

TheEnd

I've done that quite a few times, it's actually quite fun if you know what you are doing.

Anyway, why would you sip on cough syrup instead of just taking it like you supposed to take it? It doesn't make much sense, but I guess you learned your lesson.

sugarbear1

What is acetaminophen? Acetaminophen is a pain reliever and a fever reducer. "tylenol"
Nothing wrong with this chemical. It can produce ulcers if taken with alcohol. Most likely ANYTHING at high doses is potentially lethal.

DXM is dangerous: https://www.google.com/search?q=dext...ient=firefox-a

Why would you drink a WHOLE bottle of cough syrup if you didn't want a bad reaction? It doesn't make sense to a sober person.

BP44

Some call it robotripping. I've always considered Robitussin DM pretty safe, and it is if used as directed. I never knew people would drink large quantities of it until I saw a middle aged man robotripping in a meeting. Come to find out it makes you dissociate in toxic dosages. And this guy was out of it, all over the place, for days on end. A number of folks had to help get him admitted to one of the local nut wards for awhile. It was something to witness.

Ghostly

This is kind of a timely thread for me as I am battling my second round of a cold / flu thing in as many weeks. This round included a horrible cough. Horrible. I don't get a cough too often, really maybe every other year or so (maybe that is often to some). It was so bad a couple nights ago I started sucking down some cough syrup. I checked to make sure there was no alcohol in it and I can tell you there was NOT one part of me that was drinking this stuff for any addictive reasons. I would have preferred to of had none of it, but the cough was so bad.

Point is, I too drank a lot of the bottle and the next day was dizzy when I woke up, kind of like detached from things. It was a horrible feeling. Didn't know if it was connected to the syrup, or if it was just part of what I was sick with, but reading this Thread...thinking syrup. That was better than the cough though, and I don't think I took too much more than the recommended dose either.

TwelveSteps

Acetaminophen can cause very serious liver damage at doses that would not even seem "that" high -- personally I don't take it at all. If you are a heavy drinker or may have liver damage from past abuses, that's definitely something to be aware of -- I find Advil/ibuprofen is more effective for me anyway.

GG

SSIL75

I fear you're not being honest to yourself about your intentions. 'accidentally' drinking an entire bottle of cough syrup just don't happen.

Fandy

I was sick this past fall...the cought lingered for 2 months...i tried dlysum and nyquil but they didn't help....I did 2 rounds of anti-biotics for bronchitis. finally i found success with musinex. the tast of cough medicine and nyquil is awful, i can barely get it down my throat.

Phmdyw

There are many things to take for colds. Some people take vitamin C, sudafed, or other things.
This illness begins in the mind. Our own minds trick us into doing things that are detrimental to ourselves. Be watchful of this. If you think your mind is about to trick you, call your sponsor or another friend with some time in sobriety.
We don't beat ourselves up for anything. We just try to do better next time.