recoverysoul247

Hello,

I was having trouble sleeping when I had a horrible flu a few months ago so I was taking cough syrups which didn't work. Back when I was using I had taken NyQuil while living in the USA that really worked, and I knew that Night Nurse to be the UK equivalent (although I had never taken it)

When I was purchasing it in store with my family my auntie warned me off it and said her alcoholic friend had used it to get drunk secretly and I should avoid it. I said I didn't care at the time as I was desperate to get some sleep.I knew it had alcohol in it, I thought only a small amount, but when I looked it up prior to taking it, it said 18%!

So when home that night I debated over whether to take it or not I messaged some recovery pals who said I was over thinking it, so I finally decided it didn't bother me, as alcohol was never really my primary addiction, and as I needed it for medical purposes I overlooked it (I'm the kind of sober person who isn't particularly anal about things like white wine sauce, or Kombucha, which is a mildly alcoholic health drink of fermented tea)

Anyway - when I swallowed some It struck me how much it tasted/felt like alcohol but I was relived that it helped my flu symptoms and I got a restful sleep. I felt a bit groggy the next day, but I still took it again to sleep the next night. Then about a week or so later, when I no longer had the flu but was still having trouble sleeping, I took a small amount around 3am out of desperation, as I knew it would help me sleep. Because of the strength of the alcohol I took way under the recommended dose on each occasion. But feel a bit guilty knowing I took it when no longer ill. That was about two months ago and I haven't touched it since.

Anyway I'm coming up to my year sober and I can't seem to shake this whole Night Nurse thing as it plays in the back of my mind that I took it when I was fully aware of it being alcoholic. I didn't take it to get drunk or feel high but I did take it to sleep and I can't help but feel a little disappointed knowing I should be a year sober but I have knowingly ingested something that was similar to alcohol in that year and it feels tainted in some way. I really wish it didn't have alcohol in it it seems so unnecessary, I wish it was just the sleep aid medicine in there as thats all I wanted. I mentioned it to my sponsor in a voicemail at the time, and she didn't bat an eye lid over it.

Am I being overly sensitive over this whole issue and just having trouble accepting my year of sobriety, or should I count it and recount my sobriety?

Thanks so much in advance ...

columbus

18%!

Man, that's 36 proof!

But it sounds like you weren't chugging half a bottle at a time, so...

For the record I "relapsed" on Sleepytime tea (Celestial Seasonings), an herbal tea sleep aid that actually works.

Would use 4 teabags instead of one. Dreadful "hangover" the next day.

Was a real eye-opener to the reality of my own addictive personality.

RuneStone

RS-You can get a pill form of the sleep medicine that is in NyQuil. That might ease your mind.

awuh1

I think it's important for you to look at your motivations. You were not taking it to get "high" or for the mood altering effects. You were taking it to sleep. The third instance of this (when you were not sick) also involved a need for sleep. Although this was also a case of needing sleep, there was much less of a reason to take it.

That being said.... you were, to some extent, playing with fire. Not everyone has the same reaction (no subsequent drinking) that you were fortunate enough to have. I was one who took NyQuil and it started me drinking again after a period of sobriety.

In other words, it's not a safe thing to do, not even for you to attempt in the future. I'm pleased you are reflecting on these events with the seriousness that they deserve.

As for sober time... I'd suggest that you play it safe and reset your sobriety date. This might seem a little extreme, but as someone once said to me, "it's not a program of seniority".

All the best to you.

Chilledice

PERSONALLY speaking for ME I would have zero problem using Nyquil or the other brands for medication.....but we are two different people and what might trigger you might not trigger me and vice versa.

Hevyn

Welcome Recoverysoul! I'm glad you wanted to discuss what happened.

I agree that it's all about what your intentions were. I have personally downed a bottle or two of NyQuil for the effect - before I got sober. Speaking for myself alone, I wouldn't call it a relapse or slip.

Dee74

Hi and welcome recoverysoul247

How you or anyone else counts their days is none of my business. To thine own self be true

I'm more concerned that you took this stuff knowing there was alcohol in it. For me, that's a door ajar I'd need to shut?

D

Olderandwiser78

Dee74

Welcome Olderandwiser

I like to keep it simple.
If I took something knowing there was alcohol in it - no matter what rationale I could muster at the time - I believe I'd be risking my recovery.

That's not something I'd suggest anyone else here do.

D

DriGuy

I had some concerns about that at one time, but I put the concerns aside in emergency situations. This may not be recommended for everyone, however. As you point out, not "chugging half a bottle," creates a significant change in the way your body reacts to a substance, even a poisonous one. I haven't thought about it, but what would happen if every two months or so, you took a teaspoon of 100 proof whisky? I'm guessing not much, but don't run out and do it on my account. I don't have any actual knowledge of what would happen, and besides, what would be the point of such a silly thing?

When I was a little kid back in the Dark Ages, there was an off the shelf medical product called Hadacol (even sounds like "Alcohol"). I actually remember it, although it was taken off the shelves, by the time I was in my teens. I'm not sure what it was for. I recall it being a cure-all elixir, reminiscent of the stuff sold by charlatans off of horse drawn "medicine wagons" of the old west. Historically, it's been cleverly referred to as the "last medicine show."

And true to form, just like the old miracle cures for lumbago and general discomforts hawked by the old west medicine men, it's main ingredient was alcohol. Pharmacists started noting that old ladies were coming in regularly and buying up the stuff shelves at a time, so some government agency checked it out and identified it.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hadacol

From Wiki: "Hadacol was a patent medicine marketed as a vitamin supplement. Its principal attraction, however, was that it contained 12 percent alcohol (listed on the tonic bottle's label as a "preservative"), which made it quite popular in the dry counties of the southern United States. It was the product of four-term Louisiana State Senator Dudley J. LeBlanc, a Democrat from Erath in Vermilion Parish in southwestern Louisiana. He was not a medical doctor, nor a registered pharmacist, but had a strong talent for self-promotion. Time magazine once described him as "a stem-winding salesman who knows every razzle-dazzle switch in the pitchman's trade"."

Dee74

Maybe it's different in the States but here in Oz there are a number of equally or even more effective medications that don't contain alcohol at all.

D

DriGuy

Those would be my first choices if readily available and effective. I've taken cough syrup when I get a really bad cold without noticing unwanted side effects. There's a certain type of Robertussin that gets rid of your cough by loosening sticky phlegm and allowing you to cough it up, thereby getting rid of the cough. It doesn't do the sleepy night time thing or the other fancy cold remedy stuff. Just gets rid of the **** caught in your lungs. It's very effective. I don't actually know what's in it. I've probably read the label at one time, but I don't remember what it said.

Edit: In place of the above ****, I had written book, but with the b changed to a g. It gets censored. Is this a naughty word that I don't know about, or just a word not recognized by the cyber cleaner thingy?

Anna

I've never used Nyquil but I think it's up to you to decide whether this upsets your recovery date.

I agree with Dee that there are many cold medications on the market that don't contain alcohol, and I'd go for one of those.

Marissa41

I remember when it was bedtime for me and my step brother and sisters my stepfather would dose us all with Nyquil to knock us out. Maybe harboring on child abuse there! It worked!

Highercall