I used to work with a woman who swore by Excedrin. Nothing else worked on her headaches. One day she was out and asked if I had any. I said “no, but I have aspirin and acetaminophen; chase them with a cup of coffee and you’re set.”
She looked bewildered.
“That’s what’s in it: aspirin, acetaminophen, and caffeine. Just copy the doses of each, and chemically, you’ve taken Excedrin.”
Nope. Had to be Excedrin. I think she left to buy some, actually.
The ones I really don’t understand are the brand-name products that have a single active ingredient. Do you want 100 Bayer aspirin for $3.99, or 200 store-brand aspirin for $1.89? Yet down plunk the millions every year for the Bayer, the Tylenol, the Motrin…when they’re shelved right next to the same medicine for a quarter of the price.
My favorite homemade replacement of an OTC cocktail is assembling NyQuil from store brands, except substituting generic Benadryl (diphenhydramine) for the doxylamine in it, because doxylamine gives me a head full of wet sand that lasts for 12 or 14 hours. (Not a big deal if I’m sick enough to be home, but inconvenient if I’m trying to go to work the next morning.)
Doubtless my Excedrin-worshiping former colleague would scold me for mixing so many different drugs and risking a dangerous interaction.
You might also like:
- Caffeine redux
Nearing the end of day five with no caffeine. You know, if you want a drink with no calories and no … - 1. Cut caffeine 75%. 2. Pass out.
I have consumed at least 700 mg of caffeine daily nearly all of my adult life, with occasional excur… - Talk to her. Don’t write her a silly Craigslist lament later.
In the spring of 1989, at UAH in my Introduction to Philosophy class, there was a girl named Carol w… - A missive to my server
Dear Sir/Ma’am, You don’t have a great job. It’s hard work, and it doesn’t pay much. Doubtless you a… - Women, marriage, and sex: six refreshers for men
My work is never done here, it seems. Guys, set just a spell with me and let’s go over some things a…
Ha ha ha! I do the same thing. I chase my tylenol down with coffee. Tastier that way. I can’t have aspirin though.
I usually by the drugstore house brand equivalent of excedrin. It is much more convenient to take when one of my epic headaches arrive than two separate pills (I may or may not have handy) washed down by coffee (which I certainly don’t feel like brewing up). And it,s cheaper than excedrin. Reasonably effective, but when I say those headaches are “epic,” I ain’t kidding.
I still remember those tv ads Bayer used to run. You know, where they say the did a study of aspirin and found theirs was the best. One good outcome from those ads, I became a lifetime cynic about advertising.
I agree that most folks that are devoted name-brand drug users are that way out of habit. They’re probably the same folks that insist on wearing a real Izod or Polo shirt rather than a knockoff brand version of the same shirt. *grin*
I generally try the generic form of an OTC drug at least once … What most people don’t think about is that the inert ingredients in the OTCs are different from the name brand drugs. For some people, that results in allergic reactions that they don’t have to the name brand. And sometimes the generic just doesn’t work as well … them ingredients may be “inert” but everyone’s system is different.
I miss being able to take Excedrin (or the generic thereof) when I have a headache. I’m allowed only Tylenol (or the generic thereof)and no caffeine these days … and that don’t do squat for a headache. Give me aspirin and caffeine to kill a headache!! Aspirin kills the pain and the caffeine reduces the dilation of the blood vessels … it’s the dilation that causes the headache … according to a neurologist I had to see once.
At least I don’t have to worry about caffeine-withdrawal headaches or rebounders anymore. =)
I’m familiar with the epic headache problem. For a long time I would get these headaches that didn’t qualify as migraines but were killers. I’d just have to go to bed. I finally had to get a ‘script medicine for them. Then when I was pregnant with my second child I started getting aura migraines and the doctor told me I’d probably end up having classic migraine headaches. Sure enough, three years after the aura migraines I started with the classic migraines. I haven’t had them long enough or frequently enough to figure out what meds work best on them. It’s frustrating, though. I never know for sure what type of headache it is when they first start coming on. So then, if I take an over the counter medicine or have guessed incorrectly on the perscription stuff I’m supposed to wait until it’s out of my system to take the correct one. If you take the wrong thing it doesn’t touch the pain, either. You’d think it would help at least a little but I might as well be taking M&M’s.
I read somewhere once that if you stood on your head and opened your eyes and mouth real wide it would let more oxygenated blood into your head and make the headache go away faster. I’m not sure about the veracity of the source but I have been desperate enough to try it a couple of times. I’ve begged Bo to just shoot me a couple of times, too.
For OTC, I buy generic most of the time. Sometimes I’ll get picky because the taste or texture of a product, like TUMS or Pepto Bismol.
I hear you on the taste – the junior strength chewable generic iburprofin tasted so bad, I could not force myself to get one down, much less do that to a little kid.
Sorry to hear you have migraines. I’ve had some killer headaches, but not migraine.