#OTC Medication Uses

[masonrxpharmacy]

When it comes to managing health, understanding the differences between over-the-counter medications (OTC) and prescription medications is crucial. Each type of medication serves distinct purposes, comes with specific regulations, and is suitable for various health concerns. In this blog, we will explore the medication differences, advantages and disadvantages of both categories, and provide essential medication safety tips to help you make informed choices.

What Are Over-the-Counter Medications?

Over-the-counter medications are drugs that can be purchased without a prescription from a healthcare provider. They are typically used to treat common, mild health issues, such as:

Pain Relief: Nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) like ibuprofen and acetaminophen are widely used for headaches, muscle aches, and fever.

Allergy Relief: Antihistamines like diphenhydramine and loratadine help relieve allergy symptoms.

Cold and Flu Remedies: Cough suppressants, decongestants, and expectorants fall into this category.

Digestive Health: Medications for heartburn, indigestion, and constipation, like antacids and laxatives, are also OTC options.

Advantages of Over-the-Counter Drugs

Accessibility: OTC medications are readily available at pharmacies, grocery stores, and online, making them convenient for self-treatment.

Cost-Effective: In general, OTC vs. prescription costs are lower, which makes them an attractive option for patients looking to manage minor ailments without incurring high healthcare costs.

No Prescription Required: Patients can make their own decisions regarding the use of OTC medications without needing to consult a healthcare provider, promoting autonomy in healthcare choices.

Disadvantages of Over-the-Counter Drugs

Self-Diagnosis Risks: The availability of OTC drugs can lead to self-diagnosis and misuse. Patients may overlook serious health conditions that require professional evaluation.

Side Effects and Interactions: Even OTC medications can cause side effects or interact with other medications. Understanding medication labels is crucial for safe use.

[homiro]

Thanks potat again for the kindness. Got them. They're not exactly bulky noise cancelling headphones but they cancel noise enough and they're Grundig which is a brand I trust so let's hope it doesn't disappoint me. I had and still have an MP4 player from this brand that only broke because it fell and the buttons were smashed but when I plugged it in, it was still running smoothly and still are to this day. I suppose I could take it somewhere that works with analog technology and see if they can repair it because even the battery life was amazing. It lasted like three days of several hours of use and the sound quality was great. Not to ride the brand too much since I'm not being paid lmao but yeah I like the brand so I hope these will last. They seem sturdy enough and were within the budget so that's a plus. Happy new year everyone.

(Note: I have chronic ear infections due to sensory issues and constantly plugging my ears and needed non invasive mildly noise cancelling headphones but didn't have money for them until my golden angel stepped in and said I gotchu. I couldn't be more thankful and I'm sorry for the stupid post. Things get wild when you're stressed and in pain and uhh the infection isn't gone yet but I've been keeping it under control with topical antibiotic cream so it's not hurting anymore and doesn't seem to have spread past the ear so I guess that's good seeing that I don't want to hurt my family by you know dying)

[treecakes]

this migraine that keeps coming back after a few hrs each day that i’ve had this past week and a half is making me nervous for the digs i have starting tomorrow. i want to enjoy them they’re the first two real archaeology field schools i will have participated in and i’m really excited but i’ll have absolutely no fun digging in the sun for hours if i have a migraine every single day.

[thepolyamorouspolymath]

Adderall addiction is a very real thing -- for people who don't have ADHD. For people who do, you don't get high, you get stable (it's like benzos that way, if you have anxiety a Xanax will not make you high but you will suddenly not hear your heartbeat).

It's still used for the same reason benzos are (they too are very addictive).

BECAUSE THEY FUCKING WORK BETTER THAN ANYTHING ELSE.

I do think ADHD may be climbing due to life factors, however every bipolar person I've ever met had a fucked up childhood so guessing there's a correlation there too... the reason WHY an illness exists is not a reason to not fucking treat it.

Also, the opiod crisis is because we overregulate opiods, not underregulate them. I know because lots of western nations sell mild opiods OTC, and everyone is FINE. Almost like every study of the last forever that said addiction is caused more by environment and should therefore be treated that way was right rather than the guy who said addiction should be prayed away (sound familiar?) a fucking century ago.

And you know what another super addictive medication is? Insulin. Seriously, you'll die if you stop! That's how stupid it is to worry about whether you'll be dependent on something you will need forever bc you have a forever condition anyway.

I fucking knew it, I SAID it: they're making ADHD people the next culture war targets. They will 'just ask questions' until we lose every scrap of ground we've gained in the last decade and more. We may not quite inspire the same level of hatred as a sexual minority, but we can very easily be made to inspire disdain and that also works.

They will strip us of our accomodations and our medications and try to stifle any sense of shared identity, and if that kills some of us, oh well. So long as it fuels another outrage cycle, fine.

So many of the tropes they've been using on trans people work extremely well on ADHD people too! "There are too many of these people suddenly! It must be a fad! It spreads through friend groups! And online! People are going private for diagnoses and that's bad! They are using pOwERfUl medical interventions and we think it's freaky!"

I saw the first ripples of this in terf circles about two years ago. And of course it's spread.

6% of British ADHD people lost their jobs in the last year thanks to the meds shortage. SIX PER CENT! And that just made these ghouls go "ooh, tasty, what else can we do?"

Recently an 'expert' was on the BBC saying people see ADHD diagnosis as a "golden ticket." Laurence Fox has been ranting that the condition doesn't exist and threatening "'you won't poison my child's body [with ADHD meds] against my consent"

People need to be aware this is going to get worse. Maybe, if we're lucky, it won't get really bad. But it's going to get worse than it is now.

[ev-ngelion]

I've got a doctors appointment coming up and its with the guy I saw for the same issue about a year ago who basically suggested I move away if I ever want it to get better.

[mortalityplays]

talking about impenetrable accents/dialect just reminded me. when I was in Milan a couple of years back I was staying in this little rathole hotel and I had the biggest fucking migraine, so I was like non c'è problema I'll just go buy painkillers. of course every pharmacy on the map in a three block radius was closed, so my stupid ass just starts wandering around trying to figure out on the fly if you can get OTC from supermarkets in italy.

I walk into this little everything store (to my foreign eyes the kind of place that back home could sell you a bunch of carrots, a 6-pack of beer, pantyhose, bleach and a screwdriver set) and I see some household basics in the back but not what I need. with the confidence of a person who is only in the city for 3 days because he got bored and packed a bag and booked the cheapest flight available the week before (<= MENTAL ILLNESS), I was like no worries I know some italian, I can just ask.

I grab a bottle of water, walk up to the counter, and I'm like Ciao, hai il paracetamolo? And the guy is like che, and I'm like paracetamolo. Per la mia testa. And he's like che?

This is where I would have said 'aspirina' except I can't take aspirin for medical reasons, or 'antidolorifico' except I don't know that word and I've got no phone data for google translate and also I'm stupid. So in my fucked up leith-glasgow-italian accent I'm like paaa-ra-cetta-mollll-ooo. He's like ohhh bene, bene, and he calls another guy out of the back and asks him to go get something. Other guy then walks out of the store into the street, and before I can be like hey, che la fuck, he comes back and hands me a huge bundle of herbs.

At this point I'm like okay this entire interaction has been a bust, but these guys have been very nice and patient and they're both smiling happily at me because they've been of service, so I'm like ahh perfetto, grazie, pay them a couple of euros and leave.

EVENTUALLY I find a pharmacy that's open, and my head is fucking killing me, and my phone still isn't connecting, and now I have this small shrubbery poking out of my coat pocket, so I don't even bother looking around the shelves. I just walk straight to the counter and I'm like uhh ciao, scusi. And hearing my nightmare of an accent the guy answers in english and I'm like thank christ, do you please have paracetamol. Not aspirin, I can't take aspirin. And he's like yeah yeah hold on, goes into the back, comes out with what I need.

Only when he comes out he gives me this look, and then he starts laughing. And then he pretends he's not laughing and rings me up and I pay, and as I'm leaving I can see him losing it. But I don't care, my head is going to explode, I'm going back to the rathole to close the blinds and fall comatose for four hours.

When I get back to my hotel room I take off my coat and remember the huge bouquet of herbs in my pocket. They smell amazing, and I'm like I'm pretty sure this is parsley in which case I can just get some tomatoes and mozzarella later and make it work. but since I have no idea what that interaction was, I want to make sure. I bring out my phone to get a visual reference of what parsley leaves look like, and because I was using it for google translate earlier I put 'parsley' in the wrong box like a dope and translate it to italian.

prezzemolo

I wish I could have been the pharmacist in the moment he looked at my tired pissed off anglophone ass, heard me say 'paracetamol' in my fucked up accent, and turned around saw what was in my pocket. I'd have lost my shit too.

[slimywren]

twitter parxies are freaking out and trying to redefine what straight edge means

[screambirdscreaming]

Look, I get where you're coming from, but I think you've swung too far in the other direction here. NSAIDs and acetaminophen are, in most places as far as I'm aware, the only options available for non-prescription pain medications. They're available without prescription because, if used infrequently and within the recommended dosages, they are relatively safe and low in side effects. HOWEVER. it is very difficult to get a prescription for pain medication, and even if you do, those medications also come with dose limits and side effects. So the bottom line is that many, MANY people are relying on NSAIDs and acetaminophen for the primary management of chronic pain. And in that context, it is absolutely possible to severely hurt yourself. Which I think people absolutely deserve more knowledge and awareness of - even if they find it somewhat alarming.

This is especially true where people are brushed off by doctors to "just use advil" for pain that is quite frankly, too severe and ongoing for advil to safely handle. The dismissive way in which doctors treat NSAIDs gives the impression that they are harmless, and many people are desperate for relief. This leads people to use NSAIDs heavily and without precautions, causing lasting harm to themselves which could have been averted, or at least mitigated, by taking steps towards safer use - like those outlined in the original post. NSAIDs work on several biochemical pathways at once - they reduce inflammation, relax muscles, decrease pain signalling of nerves, and slightly inhibit blood clotting, and they also increase the production of stomach acid and decrease the production of protective mucus lining the stomach. This function is pretty much baked in, there's no way around it. So it's not an issue of "some people's stomachs are sensitive to NSAIDs," it's an issue of "NSAIDs cause some damage directly to the stomach lining every time you take them". It's not very much damage from one dose, and if that's the only dose you take for a while, it'll heal right back up. But if you keep taking them, multiple doses back to back, for days or weeks on end.... the damage starts to add up. Or even if you don't use them that much, but take maybe a dose every day to help with muscle soreness after work... or a couple times a month, for migraines or period cramps.... point is, if the damage to the stomach lining is happening faster than it can heal, you start to get problems - but you probably won't notice anything is wrong until it gets pretty bad.

Being careless until you get a proto-ulcer, or an ulcer, or acid reflux, or a bleeding lesion in the duodenum - is not a great tactic. And I will tell you, pretty much everyone I know who is careful about taking their NSAIDs with food or antacids, has become careful after suffering AT LEAST one of the above. And many people end up, as OP said, unable to take NSAIDs at all, because the chronic damage to the stomach is too easily aggravated. Which is not great! So it's good to get in the habit of safer use, before you find yourself in a situation of heavily using pain meds without realizing they could cause lasting damage! Because the underlying issue is stomach acid causing damage to the stomach lining, you can: - take NSAIDs with food, or after eating, so the food dilutes the stomach acid - take NSAIDs with an antacid, like tums (although avoid aluminum-based antacids with ibuprofen) - take NSAIDs with an H2 blocker, a relatively fast-acting medicine that reduces acid produced by the stomach - take a daily PPI medication, which reduces acid produced by the stomach over the long term

Now, H2 blockers and PPIs are other (non-prescription) medications which have their own potential for side effects and interactions - so do your research if you want to add either of them to your medication regimen. But they can be very helpful, especially for healing up if damage has already been caused. Now all that being said. Acetaminophen is a COMPLETELY different story. And what pushed me to reply to this post was the way you were lumping together information on max dosages, which I think is dangerously misleading, even if the numbers are not technically incorrect. See, the risk with NSAIDs is chronic damage from long-term use, but they are relatively safe drugs in the acute sense. For Ibuprofen in particular - the bottle will tell you not to take more than 400mg at once, but if pressed a doctor will say you can take up to 800mg and it's perfectly safe if you don't make too much of a habit of it, and hypothetically you could even take a much higher dose than that and not die, although you wouldn't have a very good time. So, while it is certainly not recommended to take more than 800mg at once or more than 1600mg a day to avoid long-term consequences.... it happens. Which can perhaps teach a person the wrong lessons about dose safety. The risk with acetaminophen is acute toxicity. If you take too much at once, it causes liver toxicity, and then liver failure, and then death. This process can be stopped, but not reversed, so survival depends strongly on early diagnosis and treatment. You might think that the toxic dose in enough higher than the treatment dose that it'd be difficult to overdose accidentally - but that's not necessarily the case. From a National Institute of Health summary on Acetaminophen toxicity: "Acetaminophen toxicity is the second most common cause of liver transplantation worldwide and the most common cause of liver transplantation in the US. It is responsible for 56,000 emergency department visits, 2,600 hospitalizations, and 500 deaths per year in the United States. Fifty percent of these are unintentional overdoses." Sure, relative to the total population, overdoses aren't *that* common - but if 50% are accidental, I think people need to be better informed. The major issue with acetaminophen is that it is present as an active ingredient in many, many multi-drug medications, which people often don't realize. So an overdose can occur if, for example, a parent who has already given their child a Tylenol to get their fever down also gives them a dose of cough syrup - each alone at the recommended dose, but it adds up. (Children are at a greater risk of overdose on anything, because toxic dosage is relative to body size, and kids are small.)

So yes, acetaminophen is a great drug and relatively safe if you know how much you are taking. Always check the active ingredients on any medicine you take, especially if you're taking multiple things at once. And for acetaminophen especially, don't take more than the recommended dose at once, don't take more than the maximum dose per day, and wait at least 4 hours between doses - even if the effect has worn off. Don't push it!

Every time I see another ibuprofen post on this site I'm like STOP

STOP

Stop.

Take that after a meal. Take it with a big glass of water. Don't take it on an empty stomach EVER. Don't take it with alcohol. You will destroy your stomach. You will end up with an ulcer. You will vomit blood. I'm not exaggerating.

Yes, you. Yes, it will happen to cute little you. With your cute little bottle of miracles. Ibuprofen really does that to your body.

Love, an adult person over 35 who can't take NSAIDs anymore

[thebibliosphere]

did you get hpv vaccines? theres /some/ evidence that it can be the trigger for pots in some (obv very few) people, i think it might have been for me so i have mixed feelings about it

I did not, but I want to get it done and will be doing so once I get my other more pressing vaccines out of the way because the benefit of preventing cervical cancer are worth it to me as someone with a family history of that cancer.

I’m going to say something that will likely get a lot of people’s backs up: but I do believe people when they say vaccines cause them to develop health issues like dysautonomia or MCAS.

How can I not when every time I get a vaccine it has to be done under strict observation with an epi pen at the ready?

But:

I also believe, based on my own research, talking to countless people with similar issues online and discussions with my own specialists, that those individuals were pre-disposed to such issues and if it hadn’t been the vaccine that got them, then it would have been something else that eventually caused the symptoms to develop.

There is an under-explored genetic factor to mast cell dysfunction and mast cells can play a role in autonomic failure conditions, like POTS, regardless of whether the person suffers the classic allergic reactions more commonly associated with mast cell dysfunction.

Sometimes, something triggers the immune system the wrong way and that’s the catalyst.

It could be a vaccine, or an otc medication safe enough to give to infants. Sometimes it’s a virus or a bacterial infection. Sometimes you’ll just be chugging along and your genetics decide to hit you with a steel chair. It’s unfortunately just your luck of the draw.

And I understand people get validly frustrated and angry when vaccines do this to them, because they’re doing the right thing to protect themselves. It’s just deeply unfortunate that they had this type of immune response that is poorly understood and unpredictable. My hope is that as mast cell research grows, solutions will be found to help prevent it or at least mediate it.

Personally, in the meantime, I’ll take the risk of the vaccine over what the virus might do to me, but that’s because I’ve seen what “mild” viruses can do to people when their immune system is already primed to self-destruct.

I’ve got friends who caught common colds and haven’t left their beds in years because it caused them to develop ME/CFS so severe they never bounced back. It’s wild all the ways the human body can break without killing us.

If the vaccine was the cause of your POTS, I’m sorry that happened to you. It’s shit when it happens. Hopefully it’s some small solace knowing you’re better protected from HPV and the complications that can arise from it, though I wouldn’t blame you if you’re not there yet. Grieving a chronic and lifelong condition like POTS is a shitty, difficult thing. I wish none of us had to go through it.

[quillpenkeyboard]

Treating fleas

Fleas never really stop being an issue in vet med, but as we in the northern hemisphere are rapidly entering summer, it is once more kicking up in intensity.

In a perfect world, everyone should have their pets on prevention year-round and we'd never have to deal with them, but that's not an achievable outcome.

If your pet does have fleas, you need to treat all pets in the household with effective prevention for at least 3 months while managing the environment. Let me break that down a little further:

"all pets in the household" means every non-human mammal in the house. I don't care if you're only seeing fleas on your one dog - other dogs, cats, ferrets, bunnies, guinea pigs, etc all need to be treated too. All of them.

"effective prevention" unfortunately at least in the US probably means prescription medication, which means your pets have to have a current (generally within last 12 mo) exam on file with a veterinarian. Frontline and other fipronil- or pyrethrin/oid-based products available OTC have become largely ineffective in the last decade or so. I know it's more expensive to get prescription prevention. But I promise it's more expensive in the long run to spend money on products that don't work well and then still have to buy the good stuff afterwards.

"at least 3 months" is because of the flea life cycle and how prevention works. The stuff you give your pets kills the adult fleas when they bite, so they disappear and stop making more fleas. Flea eggs will continue to hatch for a couple months after that. If you treat for less than 3 months you will have the same fleas again. If you stop treating after 3 months you can get fleas again (just like you got them in the first place) but are not guaranteed to.

"managing the environment" means doing what you can to minimize the number of flea eggs that are around. This helps keep your pets comfortable (less itchy) and healthy (reduced risk of illness from fleas). Mostly I have people focus on good household hygiene like vacuuming and washing bedding frequently. If you do use a flea "bomb" product, read the packaging carefully first - most of these are toxic to pets and so have to keep pets out during and for a period of time following treatment.

[wiisagi-maiingan]

I know that ibuprofen is like. A meme now (at least in my disability and chronic pain circles) but please remember that OTC pain killers like ibuprofen and acetaminophen are still medications and there can be severe consequences if you take them too often or exceed the recommended doses.

Acetaminophen overdose is known specifically for liver damage and potential liver failure. Ibuprofen overdose can cause stomach ulcers, gastrointestinal distress and bleeding, high blood pressure, heart failure, and strokes.

These medications aren't something to be afraid of, but you need to be aware of how to use them properly and that includes following the recommended dosage closely and not using them more than necessary. Ibuprofen especially should not be taken for more than a few days in a row. Always check reactions to other medications too; one of the most common causes of acetaminophen overdose is people taking acetaminophen with cold or flu medication that also contains it. If you take ibuprofen and acetaminophen together, like many people do, it's incredibly important to limit how often you do that and pay close attention to how much of each you're taking.

If you're using OTC pain killers to handle chronic pain, speak to a doctor if possible about alternatives. If that ISN'T possible, and I am aware it's not for many many people, please just be careful and don't put yourself into liver failure or a stroke to try getting rid of a migraine.

[macgyvermedical]

Definitive Care for Writers

The following are things that could be believably taken care of completely outside of a hospital/without a doctor, listed by the caregiver's highest level of medical training:

With a "Lay" caregiver:

OTC Medications with labels that have instructions for use, like acetaminophen and/or ibuprofen for a headache/fever, antihistamines for minor allergies, etc..

Sunburn

Menstrual cramps

With someone who has first aid training:

Simple choking (Heimlich maneuver believably fixes this)

Small cuts, venous bleeding only (pressure to stop bleeding, washing with water and dressing is believable)

Opioid overdose (single drug, use of nasal naloxone and rescue breathing is believable as long as the person is monitored for several hours)

Heat exhaustion (get them out of the sun, give water)

With an urban EMT or Paramedic:

Uncomplicated childbirth (It's not fun to have a baby out of a hospital, but it can be done)

Uncomplicated seizure for someone who has a known seizure disorder (basically just need to time it and give emergency med if longer than 5 minutes, have it at least stop after the medication)

Fainting (if it's a 1-off thing with no injury)

Low blood sugar (sugar/food with carbohydrates fixes this within about 15 minutes)

With a Wilderness EMT:

Simple fractures, broken ribs, sprains, and strains (as long as the bone ends are well approximated, a splint during the healing process will do a "good enough" job fixing this)

Some dislocations (forward shoulder dislocation, patella dislocation, finger dislocations all can be believably reduced in the field)

Small wound closure (something like a cut or bullet graze that doesn't hit an artery)

Moderately-sized wounds without life-threatening bleeding (can be packed in the field and believably heal with daily care)

Hypothermia (warm the person up and give sweet warm liquids)

With a Registered Nurse:

Uncomplicated concussion (need to do assessments every 2 hours, have them come up normal)

Severe nausea and vomiting (needs timing of medication, sips of water)

Small skin infections and abscesses (treat-able with heat)

Viral Pneumonia (not requiring oxygen)

Malnutrition

Migraines (assessments needed to determine not a stroke)

[kuzcosources]

Ouija ask meme!

Spell out a word and the mun will answer according to each letter. (Individual letters are fine, too!)

A - Does your muse believe everything is absolute? Or do they believe that anything could be changed if they tried hard enough?

B - If your muse had to write a book, what would it be about?

C - What are the most severe consequences to their actions your muse has suffered?

D - What are your muses deepest desires?

E - Does your muse consider themselves an empathetic person?

F - Does your muse believe in fate or fortune? Why or why not?

G - What are some things your muse is grateful for?

H - Where does your muse consider home? Physical or metaphorical?

I - Is your muse intuitive? Do they rely on their instincts or luck?

J - What would your muse go to jail for? What are they willing to put themselves on the line for?

K - What does your muse consider themselves knowledgeable in?

L - What lie is at the center of your muse’s world view?

M - What would your muse do if they were a millionaire? If they are already wealthy, what would they be doing if they didn’t have money?

N - Is your muse a positive or negative person?

O - What does your muse do if they’re overwhelmed?

P - Does your muse have powers? Do they abuse said powers or do they use them for good?

Q - What is a quirk that makes your muse stand out?

R - Is your muse religious? Do they believe in a higher power? How do they feel about religion in general?

S - What scares your muse? What terrifies them to their core?

T - What is a truth about your muse personally that they refuse to acknowledge?

U - What is your muse hiding under their bed?

V - Does your muse have paralyzing vulnerabilities? If so, what are they?

W - What’s wrong with your muse?

X - Does your muse rely on drugs such as Xanax or any OTC (over the counter) medication?

Y -What was your muse’s youth like?

Z - Is there a specific time where your muse is at their zenith (their most powerful)?

YES - Would your muse be considered a yes man? If so, why?

NO - What is one thing your muse will say no to, every time asked, no matter what?

HELLO - What’s your muse’s way of greeting people? How do they say hello?

GOODBYE - Is your muse prepared to say goodbye when they die? Are they ready?

[cabin13cappuccino]

coming out of my well to shame the fandom re: treating Nico like he's from 1840 rather than 1940 in terms of living with medical innovations

Vaccines for the following diseases were available during this time:

Smallpox- first generation vaccines were available and work on second generation vaccines occured in the 1930s with production of an egg-based vaccine begun by the Texas Department of Health in 1939. DC schools required smallpox vaccination for children to be allowed to attend by 1930, so Nico would have gotten immunized for this even if he didn't get anything else.

Diphtheria- first vaccine was developed in 1913, then a cheaper version in 1924. Yep, it's the "antitoxin" they call for in Balto (1995)- it can be used to either treat active infection or immunize.

Pertussis (whooping cough)- first vaccine was licensed in the US in 1914, then another in 1931, and another that became the basis for the modern vaccine in 1932.

BCG vaccine for Tuberculosis (TB)- first available in 1921, but neither the US nor Italy mandated it. This vaccine is still given around the world today.

Tetanus ("lockjaw") - first vaccine was produced in 1924, then a more effective version in 1938. The combo DTP (diphtheria, pertussis, tetanus) vaccine was first released in 1948 and was used all the way up to 1996 when a new, safer version was released.

Anthrax- the veterinary vaccine in use today is based on the one developed in 1935 in South Africa. The Soviet Union developed a human vaccine that was available beginning in 1940.

Yellow fever- the vaccine still in use today (17D strain) debuted in 1939.

The first rabies vaccine was developed in 1885, for crying out loud!

Penicillin was used to cure infections as early as 1930, though it didn't hit mass-production until 1945. Other antibiotics (Salvarsan and Prontosil) were in use in the early 1900s (by 1910 and 1935, respectively).

Thyroxin (1914) and insulin (1923) were known quantities for treating endocrine disorders.

Medical radiography (x-rays) was a thing before 1900. There were portable ECG/EKG machines as early as 1927.

Cocaine was taken out of Coke in 1903. Like, not even Maria di Angelo would remember that.

Yes, a whole bunch of things changed in medical science between 1942 and the mid-2000s- plenty of fodder for "Will blows Nico's mind with modern medicine." I will even provide suggestions!

Vaccines for major childhood illnesses: polio (1952), measles (1962), mumps (1967), rubella (1969). IMO the polio thing is way slept on given how big the March of Dimes got in the public consciousness.

Closed-chest defibrillation (1950s) and CPR (1970s for the public)

Organ transplants (1953)

Ultrasound (1949/1961)

Not giving aspirin to anyone under 16 due to Reye's Syndrome risk (1980s) and the advent of other OTC painkillers (ibuprofen, 1969; paracetamol/acetaminophen, 1952; naproxen, 1976)

Insulin that comes from genetically engineered E. coli instead of purified animal pancreases (1978) so as to keep allergic reactions from happening

Rapid strep or flu tests (1980s/1990s) rather than waiting days to culture stuff

If y'all want a "they took the cocaine out of Coke" moment, might I suggest "what do you mean cigarettes/asbestos give you cancer" and/or "they took the lead out of the gasoline"?

But yeah...we've made a lot of progress since 1942 but it wasn't "you got ghosts in your blood and bad air do some drugs about it" back then- not by a long shot.

Wah wahwah wah wah back in my day we scoured Wikipedia and the rest of the internet to do background research on fandom-related minutiae and we liked it

[maumausie]

Very bored so here’s medications I think COD:Ghosts characters would have

Credentials: certified pharmacy tech and certified vibe reader

This is all for jokey jokes, I am not qualified to diagnose/prescribe medications, only fill them and do boring insurance stuff :)

Translation for any shortening (I think they’re all common sense, but just in case):

XR—extended release

Caps—capsules

Tabs—tablets

Gtts—drops

TID—three times a day.

DR—delayed release

Elias: Lantanoprost gtts for ocular hypertension/vision loss. Rich motherfucker probably got Xalatan because he could afford brand name. Everyone boo him /j. Also Nitrostat. He had one(1) scare and now keeps it on him religiously. It probably expired 2 months ago but he never bothered to get it refilled (also he’s dead. So. Not much use for it huh).

Hesh: Baclofen 5mg tabs tid. He gets muscle spasms often :(

Logan: Promethazine 25mg tabs. He seems like the type to easily get motion sick (lovingly)

Merrick: Fioricet 50mg. YES, HE NEEDS IT. HAVE YOU SEEN HIM? BRO PROBABLY HAS MIGRAINES EVERY HOUR OF EVERY DAY.

Ajax: Ferrous Sulfate 325mg DR tabs. He’s anemic (especially now that he doesn’t have any fuckin blood).

Keegan: Zolpidem 10mg tabs. Bro has insomnia 😭😭 he isn’t consistent about it due to ops, and all of the techs + his pharmacist worry about him (PSA: take your fucking meds. We notice when you don’t. And don’t take too much of your meds at once. We notice that too.)

Kick: Adderall XR caps. 15mg. You can’t tell me he doesn’t have ADHD. He keeps forgetting to take them.

Neptune: no Rx, but he takes Tylenol OTC for general aches and pain.

Rorke: unmedicated. Completely rawdogging whatever the fuck he has going on.

[raven-at-the-writing-desk]

Hi! I don't speak English, but I hope that the text will be understandable, because the question that haunts me really excited my thoughts! I often read fanfiction about twst, and some of them mention that a student or teacher can easily create a healing potion and legitimately give it to an injured person, but is this mentioned in the game itself? I'm a beginner, but it seems illegal to me to create my own healing potions and give it to someone.

I believe that students and teachers are not able to whip up and administer healing potions whenever they like. However, some adults (such as potion pharmacists) are licensed to do so.

Fanmade content tends to ignore certain aspects of canon for convenience or out of genuinely not knowing what canon says about the matter. For example, many fan arts depict Yuu riding on a broom, even though canon implies one must be able to use magic in order to fly.

Healing potions are generally made in advance and then handed out for usage. For example, Lilia drinks one and then comments that he must still rest to recover from a blow he took.

Characters mention making various potions in class (sleeping potion, burn healing potion, itch relief potion), but under the watchful eye of a skilled instructor (Crewel) and generally not on their own or outside of a classroom setting. Crewel actually reveals in a recent JP event, Wish Lantern, that all potions must be brewed under the supervision of someone holding a professional license in Alchemy and Magical Potions, such as himself. Even if you know the recipe + have the ingredients or the potion is seemingly for something harmless (like hair-lengthening), it's not legal for you to just up and brew whatever you like whenever you want to.

Riddle further elaborates in book 6 that medical mages write prescriptions for certain potions, while potion pharmacists brew said potions. It seems that if you take a transformation potion legally, you will require specialized supervision and should not be taking healing potions from anyone but a licensed medical provider. So this is one situation where you can’t just… make and chug a healing potion indiscriminately.

Potions in general seem to be something akin to medicine, so it’s possible that while some is highly regulated, there are also over the counter/OTC or generic variants easily accessible to the public. For example, Jamil has his own set of potions and medicinal herbs to brew antidotes at a moment’s notice. There wasn’t any indication of him doing something illegal here (though keep in mind that poison antidotes are not exactly the same as potions).

NRC does have an infirmary and a school nurse on staff. There are many vignettes or even instances in the main story where students get sick or injured and go to the infirmary or are advised to do so. Medical mages are also cited as providing post-OB treatment and monitoring the affected parties.

This seems to imply that you need specialized care and cannot just make your own healing potions on the fly. I would also like to stress that it appears healing potions are not always instantaneous or cure-alls. This former is implied through the need of prescriptions (meaning potions must be specific and target certain symptoms). Many of the potions we see the NRC students brewing are also specific, such as painkiller potions being different from anti-itch potions and potions that cure burns. The latter is shown in book 7, as Baur has Lilia drink what appears to be a healing potion, but then we are told Lilia must also rest in order to make a full recovery. Furthermore, he is still too weak to use teleportation magic after taking the potion.