[babs92]

I have bipolar II and am on Depakote 1000mg a day and Zoloft 100mg daily. I am also on valium for anxiety as and when needed at 2mg up to 6 times a day. I have taken up to 4 of these per day over the last few weeks or so to get me over bad anxiety of late.

What is worrying me is that I have been taking Nurofen 200mg up to 4 times a day for several years, it kind of takes away my chest pain (doc says chest pain is due to long term stress - my lungs are clear and am a smoker). I haven't told my psychiatrist or my own GP about Nurofen, but feel I may be addicted to it.

Anyhow, have tried to come off it in the last 3 days and have been getting tremours, shaking hands and head and feel very depressed. I don't know what the withdrawal would be from taking nurofen for so long, or could it be that I have had a hard time of late and that depression has hit me anyway?

Thanks

[darkeyes]

Pseudoephedrine, can be addictive, it's an ingrediant that has been used in making illegal methamphetimines in the US and has been taken off the market and replaced with a substitute.
It has many effects similar to amphtemine, which has made if popular but sadly, addictive for many.
It's ashame it has gotten to this point because of the "meth labs", many, including myself, found the decongestant OTC meds with this ingrediant seemed to be the most effective sinus aid and didn't make one drowsy like other OTC meds can do. It's always good to clear things with your pdoc or doc before taking OTC meds, some can react with your prescription meds and/or existing physical conditions.
Take care,
DE

[psisci]

Which nurofen is it, they have 11 kinds? nurofen plus has codeine, some forms have pseudofed as mentioned above.....

[okiedokie]

Pseudoephedrine is not off the market in the US. It is behind the pharmacy counter and requires driver's license and signature to purchase it.
Thanks,
Okie

[psisci]

Correct, I just bought some for my stuffy nose. It is not addictive as it really only acts on the peripheral nervouse system due to it not being able to cross the BBB. It is being controlled because it is used to make meth only.

[drunksunflower]

It's such a pain in the *** to buy sometimes (same stipulations here re licence / sig).

Fifteen boxes can however make a reasonably nice amount of product. I used to have friends who would go shopping for it and get paid a bounty per box or just in product afterwards.

The flip side of restricting pseudoephedrine is that the little backyard chemists are forced to substitute anything else they can get their hands on that will make the product give people a high. This makes for some interesting concoctions and IMO even more dangerous street drugs. Not that I'm saying it shouldn't be restricted - just making a point

People don't use the ones with paracetemol in them (because it is too hard to seperate from the pseudoephedrine) so at the very least they should keep those unrestricted...

[drunksunflower]

Heh yea

unfortunately, Oklahoma was the first state to put it behind the counter. we had a State Trooper killed by a meth lab owner. i lived there when that happened.

as for being addicted to it, sounds as if you are. i seriously believe that you should sit down and come completely clean with your personal doctor. this is too heavy duty to figure out online. your health is too important to guess with. ask your own doctor what's going on and then follow his advice.

[babs92]

Thanks everyone. I was so bad with headaches on Saturday I ended up taking 2 x 200mg of the Nurofen to get rid of the headache, so am back on them. Took one yesterday and nothing today. Am going to my doc very soon to sort this out. Thanks again.

[darkeyes]

They aren't even doing that anymore,they just discontinued it and was replaced with it's new substitutes that are back on the shelf, maybe the pharmacies needed the behind the counter space? Yes, they would keep it behind the counter, and yes you had to show your license, but I have yet to find that practiced any longer where I live. Maybe things are still not being affected or different states can enforce their own laws? I do not know. I can no longer use that stuff anyway, I developed mid/high blood pressure and now take meds for that. Damn, I use to like the little pick me up along with clear sinuses. My favourite was "Sinutab" non-drowsy.
I think it works so much more effeciently than it's new replacement.
Just my opinion.

[Juliana]

My favourite sinus med used to be Entex LA. It was the only thing that cleared out my sinuses and unblocked my eustachian tubes and it didn't make me drowsy. It had phenylpropanolamine in it, though, and apparently it's dangerous (associated with hemorrhagic stroke) so they took it off the market in Canada. It's a banned substance here now. There's a revised version of Entex available in drugstores now (with phenylephrine in place of phenylpropanolamine), but it doesn't work as well.

Why does the stuff that works always turn out to be bad for us?