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Medicine cabinet

Luciana

Skeptical Carioca
Luciana
Joined
Aug 5, 2001
Messages
10,984
Location
Rio de Janeiro - RJ
So, what do you have in your medicine cabinet? And what do you carry around with you at all times, in terms of drugs/pills?

I have the puniest medicine cabinet, perhaps, of the entire western civilization. There's Tylenol, which works for headaches, sprained feet, tooth ache, whatever. Pills for the liver, nothing fancy, just so when I eat too much fat, and Zantac. Since I had ulcers and gastritis, which was 10 years ago, I always have Zantac around. Rarely use it, though.

There's a spray for sore throats that I bought last week, I expect, and hope, that it will expire before I have to use it again.

No vitamins, supplements, anything. Unless a doctor specifically recommends it, I don't see why I should guess what I need. However, I seem to be in a minority. Everybody I know takes some kind of supplement. For those who do it: care to explain why? And do you think they have made any noticeable difference in your health?
 
My only supplement is coffee.

Med cabinet has my thyroid pills (better living through chemistry), without which I would pretty much die (Yay, science!), and generic ibuprofen.

If you want to talk supplements, my wife's medicine cabinet....it even includes a few homeopathic cold remedies, which she takes "because I get a placebo effect from them." I find that interesting.
 
Verapamil, Zestril, Elavil, Topamax, Prevacid, Imitrex, Midrin, Ultram...ah crap I think I'll just stop there. :(
 
I have three bathrooms in my house. I don't believe any of them has a medicine cabinet.

Instead, they have drawers, cupboards and counter space.
 
I appear to run out of the allergy relief pills I bought for the spring, so that means I have exactly zero drugs in my medicine supply.

Walt
 
No drugs or supplements.....just a jar of vaseline.

I have no drugs because I have no illnesses.
I have no supplements because I eat well.
I have vaseline just in case.
 
Luciana Nery said:
Pills for the liver, nothing fancy, just so when I eat too much fat...
Click to expand...

:eek:

Yikes! Please explain further (i.e., please get the pills and tell me exactly what they are).

Concerned,

-TT
 
I have about 10 asprins I borrowed a few weeks ago after one of my cats bit me.
I also have some Vitamin C pills.

That is it!
 
Oh, my! So who is buying all those vitamins at the supermarkets? :)

TT: it's boldo extract. Like the tea? But I don't like the tea so I take the pills. It contains nothing but boldo and sugar.

Now, what, you're going to tell me this is a placebo? :eek: :)
 
I have no medicines in my medicine cabinet. My routine is:

1. Get a headache.
2. Go buy aspirin, which don't come in a size less than about 100 tablets.
3. Take two aspirin for my headache and put the other 98 in my medicine cabinet.
4. Five years pass and I then get another headach.
5. Throw out the 98 aspirin from the bottle in my medicine cabinet because they're now too old and go out to buy a new bottle, which still doesn't come in a size less than about 100.

I guess that means that I probably do have medicine in my medicine cabinet now...old aspirin. I guess I should feel fortunate that I don't need a lot of medicines.
 
Five years between headaches? And aspirin works? :eek:

That is nice. I'm lucky if I can get five days without one. :(
 
Topical antibiotic, two kinds
Anti fungal liquid
Ibuprofen
Acetominophen
Vitamin C,B and E
Claratin(thank goodness for that!)
Lisnopril(wife's BP)
Zoloft
Theraflu
Pseudoepehdidrine
bandaids and bandages
tooth paste
then there is the hairspary and gel and all sorts of non medicinal stuff
 
FYI, a bathroom medicine cabinet is not a good place to keep medications. Too much heat and humidity from showers/baths, which can cause some drugs to deteriorate rapidly. A cool, dark and dry place such as the top of a hallway linen closet is best for storing medicines.
 
Luciana Nery said:
TT: it's boldo extract. Like the tea? But I don't like the tea so I take the pills. It contains nothing but boldo and sugar.

Now, what, you're going to tell me this is a placebo? :eek: :)
Click to expand...

I admit that I'd never heard of "boldo" before, but your original post struck me because you said...

Pills for the liver, nothing fancy, just so when I eat too much fat...
Click to expand...

Fat, in fact, mostly by-passes the liver after ingestion. It is broken down in the intestinal lumen, absorbed as free fatty acids, repackaged into triacylglycerol (triglyceride) in the intestinal cells, then packaged into chylomicrons and secreted into the intestinal lymphatic system. The lymphatic system drains, via the thoracic duct, into the subclavian vein, through the heart, and into the systemic circulation. Whereas, sugars and proteins get secreted into the portal circulation and pass through the liver immediately after being absorbed.

"Fat" does flow through the liver, but only after it has been processed by other cells in the body and only secondarily after circulating throughout the body. That's why I wondered what you meant when you said what you said.

Now, as far as "boldo" goes, I googled it. It appears to be a Chilean herb popular in South America as a form of liver tonic. This link is oneo of the better ones that discusses it. Most importantly, though, are these forewarnings about using it from the same link:

Contraindications:

Boldo has demonstrated abortive and teratogenic properties in vivo in animals and should therefore not be used during pregnancy.
Phytochemicals in boldo may thin the blood. Those taking blood-thinning medications (such as Warfarin) or those with disorders that have a tendency towards thin blood (such as thrombocytopenia or hemophilia) should not take boldo unless under the supervision of a qualified healthcare practitioner.
Boldo has been documented with diuretic effects and is contraindicated for long-term, chronic use.

Drug Interactions:

May potentiate the effects of blood thinning medications such as Warfarin.
One in vivo clinical study suggests that boldo and/or boldine can decrease metabolic activation and/or metabolism of toxins, drugs, and chemicals in the liver. As such, boldo may decrease the effect or reduce the half-life of certain drugs that should be metabolized in the liver.
Click to expand...

While it appears that there may be some interest in this as a potential anti-oxidant and free-radical scavenger, basically this is still a fully untested "herbal remedy". And, although the site references some studies, I will admit that my "b.s.-o-meter" is pinging a bit. If you are under the care of a licensed physician who's prescribed/recommended this to you, then of course you should defer to him. But, a quick PubMed search did not reveal any significant literature on human trials demonstrating that what is observed in the Erlenmyer flask actually happens in the human body, except for some potential use as a protective agent in carbon tetrachloride poisoning (which is defintitely a very bad - and very uncommon - thing). What the actual clinical application for this stuff is, as near as I can tell, remains to be seen.

-TT
 
I didn't know what "boldo" was either but now I reckon' I know more than anyone else alive.....

....except TT

Interesting too about fat bypassing the liver.....maybe that gives us a second chance to burn it off before it settles into our fat spores. :)

BJ.
 
Jeez Louis! You people could start your own drugstores. My cabinet has:

Razors
Toothpaste
Mouthwash
Floss
Toothbrush
 
I just moved house, and had to clean my medicine cabinet out.

It contained many out of date drugs from valium and prozac to various antibiotics.

I am one of these people that just chucks pills in there in the thought thay may be useful later, but seldom are. What I would love to know is where some homeopathic remedies came from (Think it was an old girlfriend), WTF do you use tablets of Belladonna for apart from poisoning someone????

mind you I did find some climbing boot waterproofing stuff that I was about to buy some new.
 
I don't have a medicine cabinet.
I have some band-aids and desinfectant laying around somewhere and I have pills for my pollen allergy in the bathroomm. Oh, and some bandages that I didn't get around to use after the last time I injured myself and had to see a doctor.
 
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