NationStates Jolt Archive

Have you ever spent several dollars or more on a medicine whose effects were dubious, at best? I sure have, it seems. :eek:

Now, normally, I'm a stickler about medications and OTC stuff, so I check the online literature on any drug before I ingest it. But sometimes someone will give me their old stuff, or make a recommendation based on their results, etc. Or sometimes, I simply buy the stuff that I was always issued for a cold or flu as a child, trusting the judgment of my elders. Well, I've been wrong many times, it seems. :p

I've been blessed with having few major medical problems in my lifetime, but I'm rather scarred up from the odd mole removal, etc. That fact never bothered me until recently, when I started watching my health more closely, and, frankly, became more vain about my appearance. :p I use this white goo (silver sulfadiazine, the bottle says) to disinfect wounds and help the healing process, but I still wind up with a lot of pockmarks and craters in the flesh. So I'm at Wal-Mart last week, and I see a cheap tube of goo that promises to magically reduce scars, making the skin like new. So, like a dope, I shell out the $7 and take it home.

Well, this caused some laughter at my expense, to the benefit of a friend of mine, who assured me it was a quack - the proverbial snake oil. :(

So the question is: Has this ever happened to you? Have you been flim-flammed by the medicine man? ;)

Have you ever bought a pack of pills that worked like magic (it seemed) when you were a kid, only to find, upon a quick internet search, that the stuff's effectiveness is scientifically dubious? (coughsudafedcough) Are there really 'miracle' drugs, in your opinion? Let's hear some stories, I say. :)

Dried Frog Pills :p

Dried Frog Pills :p

Wuh? What were those supposed to do? :p

Wuh? What were those supposed to do? :p

Dried Frog Pills - Discworld - A hallucinogen, used by the Bursar of Unseen University. The pills are carefully designed to make him hallucinate that he is sane.
(To borrow from the Wikipedia 'cos I'm lazy)

To be honest the only 'medication' I have ever taken is panadol (aspirin in the US I believe) and cold&flu tablets.

Have you ever spent several dollars or more on a medicine whose effects were dubious, at best? I sure have, it seems. :eek:

Now, normally, I'm a stickler about medications and OTC stuff, so I check the online literature on any drug before I ingest it. But sometimes someone will give me their old stuff, or make a recommendation based on their results, etc. Or sometimes, I simply buy the stuff that I was always issued for a cold or flu as a child, trusting the judgment of my elders. Well, I've been wrong many times, it seems. :p

I've been blessed with having few major medical problems in my lifetime, but I'm rather scarred up from the odd mole removal, etc. That fact never bothered me until recently, when I started watching my health more closely, and, frankly, became more vain about my appearance. :p I use this white goo (silver sulfadiazine, the bottle says) to disinfect wounds and help the healing process, but I still wind up with a lot of pockmarks and craters in the flesh. So I'm at Wal-Mart last week, and I see a cheap tube of goo that promises to magically reduce scars, making the skin like new. So, like a dope, I shell out the $7 and take it home.

Well, this caused some laughter at my expense, to the benefit of a friend of mine, who assured me it was a quack - the proverbial snake oil. :(

So the question is: Has this ever happened to you? Have you been flim-flammed by the medicine man? ;)

Have you ever bought a pack of pills that worked like magic (it seemed) when you were a kid, only to find, upon a quick internet search, that the stuff's effectiveness is scientifically dubious? (coughsudafedcough) Are there really 'miracle' drugs, in your opinion? Let's hear some stories, I say. :)

I haven't. But I'm fortunate. I got several dangerous diseases when I was young which has seemed to have done my immune system a load of good since I never seem to get ill.

Though I have made myself unpopular with some people due to insulting remedies they swear by (frex, homeopathy, evening primrose oil and acupuncture)

Dried Frog Pills - Discworld - A hallucinogen, used by the Bursar of Unseen University. The pills are carefully designed to make him hallucinate that he is sane.
(To borrow from the Wikipedia 'cos I'm lazy)

Ah, okay then. :p Sounds wild.

I haven't. But I'm fortunate. I got several dangerous diseases when I was young which has seemed to have done my immune system a load of good since I never seem to get ill.

Though I have made myself unpopular with some people due to insulting remedies they swear by (frex, homeopathy, evening primrose oil and acupuncture)

Yeah, I've gotten into arguments over acupuncture before - I can't believe it's much use, but I don't kill myself trying to talk people out of it. The placebo effect is real enough, after all. :p Same with homeopathy, more or less.

Yeah, I've gotten into arguments over acupuncture before - I can't believe it's much use, but I don't kill myself trying to talk people out of it. The placebo effect is real enough, after all. :p Same with homeopathy, more or less.

Well, I rarely argue fully about it. From experience that just causes to many problems. Generally I'm content to say it is "a load of bollocks which relies on the placebo effect".

Strangely, this upsets people, not sure if is because the treat their pet quackery as a religious belief, or because deep down they agree and are worried once they realise it doesn't work they won't get the placebo effect.

Don't get me wrong, I've also met a couple of true believers who can be unbelievably annoying.

:)

When I have a headache, I take Aspirin.

When I have a cold, I take NyQuil/DayQuil

These are really the only medicines I ever take, and they both seem to work just fine.

*wanders off*

Acupuncture is good for relaxing you, but that's about it.

I went to a chiropractor once...I signed up in a little contest for a free massage at this Chinese restaurant in nearby Bailey and on the sheet was an offer for a free medical appointment. Me being silly, I agreed to it, and I was subsequently called a few days later about the appointment.

I didn't even know it was for a chiropractor until I was at the place...I almost walked away immediately, but I decided to go in and check it out.

While there, I was treated to information packets and lots of anecdotes with no real actual evidence to support chiropractic "medicine." I showed the chiropractor how much it insulted my intelligence, denounced him as a crackpot, and left before he could do anything.

Which was good, because as I researched later, chiropractic "medicine" often causes many back problems and can even kill people if adjustments are done incorrectly.

As for why I went at all, I had some back pain at the time...pretty severe actually.

But once I started going to the gym, a bit of physical therapy cleared it up. I didn't need any sort of chiropractic adjustment.

Stupid idiot he was, too...he kept telling me anecdotes like "it cured my bedwetting." :rolleyes:

yeh, herbal sleeping pills. they do fuck all even after taking half the packet in a night. unfortunately can't get the proper chemical ones here without prescription.

To be honest the only 'medication' I have ever taken is panadol (aspirin in the US I believe) and cold&flu tablets.

it's acetomenaphen in the US.

it's acetomenaphen in the US.

Ah, right. I think that's Tylenol. Basically a quack medicine when put into my bloodstream, but others swear by it. Weird stuff. Regular Bayer aspirin is the most effective for me, I would say, and probably easier on the liver, too. :p

Anyone ever had potato chips with Olestra and get the "slight" side effect from it?

I want horror stories.

Nope. Do you guys think I read all that science stuff just for fun? :p

Keeping up with medical and biotech science makes it almost impossible that I'll be scammed by some kind of snake oil product. It's easy to debunk or affirm claims if you know the science behind them.

I paid $42 on a catholic priest to try and exorcise the hemorrhoids outta my arse. He thought I said "exercise on my ass" and well, he made me into an alter boy.:eek:

I take Alieve when I get home from work. Thats it.

No, not really.

Nope. Do you guys think I read all that science stuff just for fun? :p

Keeping up with medical and biotech science makes it almost impossible that I'll be scammed by some kind of snake oil product. It's easy to debunk or affirm claims if you know the science behind them.

I try to do the same, albeit as a consumer, and not as any kind of scientist. But it still occurs from time to time that I end up with worthless products. :p Maybe I need to read the fine print.

Anyone ever had potato chips with Olestra and get the "slight" side effect from it?

I want horror stories.

Side effect? That is a mother fucking effect.

*eats pringles*
"Olestra? I don't see what the big dea-..."
O_O''
O0O !!!!!

Caffeine pills.
According to the bottle, one pill has 200 mg (the equivalent of a XL coffee, I believe), and it even advises you not to take more than one per two hours.
Yet, after taking two of them (washed down by a bottle of Diet Coke), I still managed to pass out at my desk within less than an hour.
I'm still trying to decide if the pills themselves are legit and I just don't react strongly to caffeine in non-coffee form, or if I really bought $10 worth of sugar pills.

I take Pro-plus tablets washed down with Coke on mornings after work (I work until 3 am sometimes and have to be up at 7:30 for lectures) and they seem to work reasonably well for me. The only problem is that I sometimes overdo it when studying / cramming and end up practically vibrating all night

Caffeine pills.
According to the bottle, one pill has 200 mg (the equivalent of a XL coffee, I believe), and it even advises you not to take more than one per two hours.
Yet, after taking two of them (washed down by a bottle of Diet Coke), I still managed to pass out at my desk within less than an hour.
I'm still trying to decide if the pills themselves are legit and I just don't react strongly to caffeine in non-coffee form, or if I really bought $10 worth of sugar pills.

Dextromethorphan Hydrobromide doesn't do much for my cough, but in sufficient quantities it becomes interesting stuff nonetheless.

Caffeine pills.
According to the bottle, one pill has 200 mg (the equivalent of a XL coffee, I believe), and it even advises you not to take more than one per two hours.
Yet, after taking two of them (washed down by a bottle of Diet Coke), I still managed to pass out at my desk within less than an hour.
I'm still trying to decide if the pills themselves are legit and I just don't react strongly to caffeine in non-coffee form, or if I really bought $10 worth of sugar pills.
You were ripped off, guy. With that much caffeine you should have been physically incapable of falling asleep.

Dextromethorphan Hydrobromide doesn't do much for my cough, but in sufficient quantities it becomes interesting stuff nonetheless.

My roommate does that from time to time down at OSU...I've heard it's interesting, to say the least.

I prefer to stick to alcohol, myself, though...but stay away from sake and Sapporo. I don't care about the rhyme, those two are deadly no matter in which order you drink them.