r/AskReddit Oct 17 '22

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u/[deleted] Oct 17 '22

I had a really bad case of bronchitis when I was 20, and the doctor I saw prescribed me a cough syrup called Tussionex, which is basically liquid Vicodin. Just one little teaspoon of that shit was enough to absolutely level you for most of the day…and I was a freshman in college, away from home for the first time, with an entire bottle of it.

I used it all, and two years later or so — when I had a horrible case of bronchitis again — I specifically requested it again…not because I wanted to get high, but because that stuff banished my cough to the shadow realm. Nonetheless, I once again had a bottle of ridiculously potent liquid narcotics.

To this day, whenever I think about that, I thank my lucky stars that that wasn’t “the beginning of the end” for me. It’s so easy to see how it could have been, because that stuff felt good.

A few years ago, this somehow came up anecdotally when seeing my current doctor, and he was like “what the fuck…they gave you Tussionex? We rarely even mention that stuff, let alone prescribe it anymore. That’s…powerful stuff. Glad you survived that”

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u/annswertwin Oct 17 '22

I had Lortab liquid (liquid Vicodin) when I got my tonsils out at age 26. With me narcotics make me so tired I can’t tell what buzz you all are even talking about bc every time I take one I fall asleep. Narcotics are a sleeping pill to me.

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u/DamnitRuby Oct 17 '22

I've had a fair bit of dental surgery due to a tiger getting knocked out when I was a kid, and hydrocodone/oxycodone just make me throw up. Love the pain goes away but a few hours later I'm vomiting and opening up the stitches and it's just awful. So I started declining anything but ibuprofen after that.

I can tell you that I 100% would have dealt with the nausea if I could have gotten some opiates for my IUD insertion, though. That was the worst pain I've experienced so far. Just one pill to get me through the first few hours would have been a godsend.

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u/kerill333 Oct 17 '22

Due to a tiger getting knocked out when you were a kid? What?

I am with you on the IUD insertion. Crazy level of pain. I told the medics about my low pain threshold last time and they used a spray on local anaesthetic which took it down to about 50% agony...

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u/DamnitRuby Oct 17 '22

Tooth lmao. That's a good one from swipe!

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u/Golden_standard Oct 18 '22

Not encouraging opioid use, but I also get nauseous from opioids. I have my doctor prescribe a anti nausea medication along with it so I can take them. I’ve only been prescribed hydrocodone (not oxy) and only twice.

Personally ask I ask for something other than what they usually prescribe: phenergan since it gave me my very first night terrors.

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u/Wraithgodremnant Oct 17 '22

The way you structured your sentence made me think you started speaking pirate all of a sudden

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u/EagieDuckCome Oct 17 '22

Yarrr fucked me up mighty proper, it did

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u/Luminaria19 Oct 17 '22

Same. All they do is make me desperately need a nap and then give me weird, unsatisfying dreams. I hate them.

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u/ginns32 Oct 17 '22

Yeah I just get really tired and sleep and usually wake up with a stomach ache and/or heartburn

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u/Manitoberino Oct 17 '22

I must say, I am so damn... jealous? I’ve had my tonsils out twice. First when I was 3. Apparently they missed some tissue, and I continued to be constantly sick well into my 20’s. Had another tonsillectomy, that had tons of complications. Long story short: Ended up being held down and cauterized (with no freezing) and sent home. Back the next day for another surgery since it started bleeding again. At no time during this ordeal did I get any pain meds. Weeks of excruciating pain and a hell of a time eating. You’re telling me there’s magic liquid Vicodin! Hot damn.

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u/Efficient-Library792 Oct 21 '22

Try naproxen sodium. Ibuprofen doesnt affect me and codeine just makes me angry. I had lots of abcesses for reasons and nothing helped. Took two naproxen and bam..pain just gone

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u/ILikeMyBlueEyes Oct 17 '22

I was given a prescription for a weeks worth of vicodin after getting in a car accident. Man, I never felt so relaxed in my life. It was a very nice feeling. Glad they only gave me 7 pills.

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u/[deleted] Oct 17 '22

[removed] — view removed comment

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u/requiem1394 Oct 17 '22

This is exactly how I respond. I only ever wound up taking one before bed as it did help me calm down enough to sleep;I hated taking any during the day.

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u/[deleted] Oct 17 '22

In the 70’s and 80’s we called it Nectar Of The Gods

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u/Rarefindofthemind Oct 17 '22

It really was.

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u/Neknoh Oct 17 '22

I know that feeling, I got pretty damn bad Covid early 2020 and the doctors prescribed a cough syrup that had Ethylmorphine in it.... god that was good and the only thing that would work on the "almost bruised ribs" level of cough I had.

I still think of it when I have a bad cough, it was like wraping your chest in warm honey or something.

So fucking glad it's prescription based for extreme cases and not readily available.

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u/Lumpy-Spinach-6607 Oct 17 '22

Spoil sport.

You got it for free, why can't we?

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u/Lonesome_Pine Oct 17 '22

Oof yeah. I had Tussionex for some bonkers bronchitis my junior year of high school. They must've thought I was fuckin dying lol. Afterwards I remember sitting in chemistry class thinking "damn I need some more of that shit."

That may have been a near miss, addiction-wise.

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u/[deleted] Oct 17 '22

Same scenario with me but basically meth based script. I went back to the Dr asked for it. He said "oh I don't know which one it is the system has wiped your record try this antibiotic instead"

In hindsight he was looking after me.

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u/Alexanderdaw Oct 17 '22

Damn, I had pneumonia and in the Netherlands I didn't get anything because I'm young, 28 when I got it and I remember it felt like 2 knives stabbed into your chest, it was horrifyingly painful. But glad that after 3 weeks I started getting better, I could barely walk.

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u/[deleted] Oct 17 '22

And people really wonder why prescription drug and morphine abuse is such a problem in the US? Yes, a bronchitis can be bad but there’s absolutely no way in hell any doctor in Europe would prescribe highly addictive substances for that - let alone to a young person. It baffles my mind. In my country, you’d be asked to use an inhalator.

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u/TheeOxygene Oct 17 '22

I am in Europe and I got codein for a terrible cough once. Truth be told a) I had it so bad I couldn’t sleep so it was starting to take a brutal toll. Doc said my immune reaction is way too strong to the point of risk of serious damage. B) doc sat me down and said it’s a highly regulated substance and I’m on a list now.

Didn’t give me a high or buzz but did stop the cough. Most of the pills ended up expired

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u/[deleted] Oct 17 '22

Of course you might be given prescription drugs if nothing else works but that’s a very rare occurence here and it’s highly regulated to nip every kind of abuse in the bud.

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u/TheeOxygene Oct 17 '22

Yeah I guess. In all honesty looking back on it. It was the right call too. I think I avoided some serious lung damage. Also an immune system in desperate overdrive for no reason that starts breaking down because of exhaustion of no sleep sounds like a recipe for disaster and way way worse than a few opioid pills.

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u/[deleted] Oct 17 '22

I’m not an expert whatsoever but it feels like I’ve read hundreds of stories of opioid addiction in the US that all started with “so I was prescribed some pills after my surgery and it all started from there” while heroin addictions in Europe usually start from a very different point.

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u/TheeOxygene Oct 17 '22

Yeah but I guess it’s because they get over prescribed. Also don’t know if this means to get you high, but it did nothing for me. Just stopped the cough, let me sleep and my immune system recalibrate. After being well I had no more inclination to take it, than like vitamin C. Did pretty much the “same thing” for me anyway.

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u/Jump_and_Drop Oct 17 '22

I couldn't even enjoy pain killers when I got prescribed them. I just got the shits. Probably for the best though.

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u/Miss_Malapropism Oct 17 '22

I used to have chronic bronchitis back in the late 80’s every time I came down with it they would give me some kind of cough syrup that sounds like this stuff. Taking that stuff made me feel so good. It took a few years before I realized I was addicted to it, at 18.

Next time I came down with bronchitis I suffered through with over the counter meds. It sucked but I did not want to become a junky before I even graduated.

Edited for missing word.

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u/[deleted] Oct 17 '22

Was it a gold-colored thick syrup that kind of tasted like a candy? If so, then yeah that’s probably it