Candy or medicine?: Shoddy Goods 047
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There’s plenty of medicine that tastes just terrible. And, I know, I know, you’re not supposed to take medicine just because it tastes good. But…was there medicine that you took as a kid that did taste good? Something you kind of looked forward to, even if you only had it when you otherwise felt bad?
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Emetrol. That was the only good thing about having nausea. Though trying to choke down something that tasted awful probably would not be possible if you are already nauseous.
I ate Luden’s and Smith Bros as candy. The only other medicine that I thought tasted good was Triaminic cough syrup. It tasted just like sugary orange syrup. And you may find me a bit strange, but I also liked Fletcher’s Castoria if you’re old enough to remember that. It tasted like liquid black licorice.
@DemonChild Oh yeah, that orange Triaminic was my favorite.
@DemonChild @Imposter I still keep Pine Brothers around for coughing fits at the movies. I’m pretty sure they’re even safe.
@DemonChild @Imposter @sammydog01 in the 1970’s my mother got a cough medicine with Codeine. Must have been prescription, not sure for whom. She would give it to me if I had a cough. Or maybe she was on verge of being an opioid junkie?
@DemonChild @Imposter @pmarin @sammydog01 I once had a codeine cough syrup prescribed for me (in the 90s maybe?) and it was pineapple flavored and tasted really good! Worked well, and helped me go right to sleep. I don’t think they prescribe it anymore.
It’s not that it tasted good exactly, but Dymetapp, before they changed the formula, the old stuff when I was a kid, was as a child the only thing that made me feel better when I had severe seasonal allergies. (Options were few back then.) So its artificial grape flavor became associated to me with “feeling better.” The chewable Tylenol I very occasionally got for a fever were also grape flavored, reinforcing that. And I hate that this works, but even when I’m like really, really upset or miserable, a grape soda or lollipop with that same fake grape flavoring still makes me feel better.
@ketchupqueen I think it’s great that the placebo effect works for you!
@Kyeh
Oh I’m EXTREMELY suggestible. Hypnotherapy and self-hypnosis work great for me too! I had a completely painless 27 hour labor with my last child thanks to self-hypnosis (it didn’t feel long, either.) (Would have been shorter but my friend had suggested it would be great if he was born on a particular day, so labor lasted to midnight on that day. I still blame her, 6 years later.)
@ketchupqueen Well, I think that’s enviable! I suppose it could cause some problems, sometimes? But painless labor sounds pretty fantastic!
@Kyeh yeah it’s usually pretty cool, I just have to be careful about what suggestions I give myself! I can usually use self hypnosis with autosuggestion to get rid of a migraine if I catch it coming on quick enough (if I don’t, the altered mental state brought on by the migraine prevents it.) I have also successfully used it to prevent vertigo on amusement park rides so I can enjoy them without getting sick.
@ketchupqueen Have you just had this ability naturally all your life? Or did you develop it?
@Kyeh
My dad is a family practice doctor. While doing his peds rotation, he encountered a peds psychiatrist who taught the children self hypnosis to numb themselves during bone marrow biopsy and other extremely painful procedures. He was so impressed he went and found that doctor and got him to proctor a self-study elective on self-hypnosis for him. Later that year my dad had a root canal with only self-hypnosis, no local anesthetic, to save money.
When I was a toddler, my dad started using guided relaxation techniques to help me fall asleep. By the time I was three he had taught me breathing and meditation techniques for relaxation and some self-hypnosis for sleep; in grade school he taught me to use it to aid recall on tests and such.
So when I was pregnant with my fourth and due to scarring and complications could no longer have epidurals, it made sense to learn self-hypnosis instead as it had always worked well for me. I used it for my 3 remaining labors and in between pregnancies, I learned to use the same induction techniques (finger drop and “light switch off” for full hypnosis, “light switch in the middle” for anesthesia but able to move and talk) and autosuggestion to control other things.
It’s been very useful.
So yeah, probably a combination of naturally prone to suggestion, it being fostered in me from a young age, and formal training.
@ketchupqueen That’s fantastic. There should be more of this done for patients, especially children!
My very favorite cough remedy was whiskey and honey. A bottle of Four Roses was kept in the closet specifically for this purpose.
@madjohn48
@madjohn48 @user16556933
Speechless?
These were the only thing we bought these when we went to the movies!
The Rivoli theater had them with the candy bars.
Never used them for a sore throat, they were candy!
Children’s aspirin. Those little pink chalky things. Are those still around?
@Penina Me too, hopefully they took out the flavoring since then.
@sammydog01 Eek! No kidding. Guess I’m lucky those weren’t on a reachable shelf when I was too young to get my head around dosage limits.
@Penina Yes, they’re still around. I accidentally bought chewable low-dose (“children’s”) aspirin a few months ago at Walgreens when I just wanted to get the usual aspirin. The ones I got are orange and orange flavored too.
@Penina I liked the orange flavor.
@ItalianScallion Didn’t return them, then?
@Penina No. I couldn’t imagine a pharmacy accepting returns on meds even if they were over-the-counter and still sealed.
@ItalianScallion What about candy…?
@Penina But there might be razor blades in returned candy!!
@Penina Children’s aspirin are yummy!
VICKS!! Your didn’t mention Vicks! I was completely addicted to Vick’s Cherry Cough Drops for the entire duration of my Middle School experience. Now, having matured, it’s Ricola . . .
Flintstones vitamins , and children’s chewable aspirin… before we knew better than to give aspirin to children!
Nothing tasted better to me as a kid as grape Dimetapp. It was delicious. I’d almost want to get sick back in the day just to get some of that.
Cola syrup.
I see a couple of comments similar to the delicious but questionable remedies my parents would give me.
1 - Coke syrup which was in a prescription bottle. A doctor actually prescribed it.
2 - A Hot Toddy (hot water, whiskey, honey, and lemon).
Good times.
@scottkuhl My grandfather tried the toddy remedy once. I was maybe 6. It came right back out and it was never tried again. I never forgot the experience.
@Penina @scottkuhl probably most upset that you wasted his good whiskey.