What are your hidden gem medications/drugs/substances and what makes them ideal for your usecase

If you notice an improperly formatted reply, kindly message the poster and gently remind them it needs to comport with the Naltrexone example below. It is simple and keeps things traversable and useful, thanks 🙏

Naltrexone

I will start with naltrexone, which can help people who have difficulty regulating their drinking have a more natural and sustainable relationship with alcohol should they choose to not cut it out of their lives entirely.

ergifruit,

Meclizine

Meclizine is an antiemetic that works far better than Dramamine, imo. You can find chewable tablets, but it’s far cheaper and more efficient to just get the pills. I get migraines + have IBS, so I’m constantly nauseous. (And have emetophobia, so I’ll do anything I can to avoid it.) It doesn’t make you drowsy like Dramamine might, either.

cameron_vale, (edited )

Vipassana meditation as treatment for AS malady.

An AS malady could be called a derangement of awareness. But then so could neurotypicality. In both cases your awareness is stuck in a certain shape or pattern of behavior. Your awareness is out of your control that way.

Vipassana meditation gives you control over your awareness. Which tends to resolve any related problems. And delivers a lot of other good stuff too.

FruitParty,

Yerba Mate

Honestly, I think Yerba Mate is probably the most pleasant and cleanest caffeinated beverage around. I’ve pretty much entirely replaced coffee at this point, as Yerba Mate seems to have all around superior effects. The unique blend of methylxanthine stimulants present (caffeine, theobromine, theophylline) in Mate provides incredibly clean stimulation with no crash and little anxiety (for me anyway). It doesn’t make my stomach feel nasty after multiple cups, which I appreciate as well. The guayaki canned drinks initially got me into it, but I’ve since graduated to brewing the unsmoked loose leaf tea.

cheese_greater,

What are the products to look for, brand-wise and things to look out for in terms of anything else to know when considering a product

FruitParty,

Personally, I prefer the unsmoked varieties of the loose leaf tea (although it is traditionally smoked). I do however prefer the traditional cut, which includes the stems and makes it less bitter. I get the “Eco Teas” brand, just because it seems to be available at one of the local, ritzy grocery stores. There are a million brands out there, I’ve only tried a few. Guayaki sells their loose leaf Mate at whole foods, but I have not tried it myself. I think the canned drinks are a good place to start to see if you like the effects, they just have a significant amount of sugar in them.

cheese_greater,

I don’t like sugar in my tea or most things so i’ll prolly ditto your recommendations for the simple tea :)

zwaetschgeraeuber,

Ritalin

cheese_greater,

[Please reformat and elaborate in a new paragraph]

tccpdi,

Zomig, it magically makes migraine disappear

cheese_greater,

[Please reformat and elaborate in a new paragraph]

Lifebandit666, (edited )

Pramipexole

It’s used for Parkinson’s and restless legs, I use it for restless legs. I’ve suffered with this condition as far back as I can remember, I’ve always referred to myself as a part time insomniac because this would keep me up a lot of the time.

I had a period of mental health problems and was prescribed Metazapine for it, which kicked up the RLS a notch. Despite being off them now for nearly a year, the Restless Legs are still kicked up.

Pramipexole, when taken at the right time, sorts the RLS out, I can finally sleep and when I do sleep I don’t kick my wife up the arse.

Side affects include hypersexualality and compulsive gambling, but I haven’t experienced this yet. I have warned my workmates that it could come up in the future though so if I ever say “I bet you a fiver you can’t wank me off” they know why.

Edited to bold Pramipexole

cheese_greater,

Have you noticed any issues with induced impulsivity from med, there’s crazy stories of folks getting on dopamine agonists like that who go wild and end up with gambling and porn addictions, criminal charges, etc. Really wild stuff

Lifebandit666,

From my reading on Pramipexole it’s about 10% of people that have these side effects. It worried me when I started taking the pills.

I read the documentation that came with them and it had in bold DO NOT TAKE THIS MEDICATION WITH ALCOHOL AS THIS CAN MAKE SIDE EFFECTS WORSE so I read the side effects and it was compulsive gambling and hypersexuality.

So I gave up my nightly rum for a few weeks. Then I thought “Meh, let’s see what happens” and reintroduced my nightly rum and coke before bed. Honestly I’ve not had anything noticeable.

Nothing compulsive. But I can spend an hour or more solving Rubik’s cubes or playing the guitar without even noticing. I had that before the pills though.

cheese_greater,

Just be careful yo. I wonder if its always either an immediate development or it in sets over time. It could also be that your dopamine receptor destruction/loss over time could attenuate the motivating aspect of the meds I would conjecture.

Lifebandit666,

I shall! Gambling has never been my thing anyway, I lucked out finding my Wife at the age of 17. Hypersexuality? Well I may have been with her for over 20 years but she still puts out, so I should be fine with that. Drugs? I have a rule that I don’t buy em unless I can afford em after all my bills have gone out, it’s a spare change rule.

I think I’ll be fine.

cheese_greater, (edited )

Unexpectedly wholesome personal drug policy. This is how rec users can be functional and living best life.

As an aside, I wish more people would calculate total monthly expenses and set aside 1/2 that amount every paycheque. Over time they would always be saving substantially without even knowing/missing it and always have a bit of cushion float to accomodate them at any point

Lifebandit666,

I’m weekly paid and have monthly bills, so I saved up a month’s worth of bills money and set up a second account. Then I worked out what each monthly bills costs me a week, added it all up and set a direct debit from my main account on pay day every week. That way I always have a month of money for bills as a buffer in case anything stops me getting a pay check.

Then I set up a little bit into a savings account every week too.

Now when I get paid I know that money is for food, petrol and fun because my bills are deducted before I even get out of bed.

When I run out of weed I go “Oh no I can’t afford weed” then look at my savings account and go “Oh yes I can!”

This shit should be taught in schools.

I got myself debt free at the beginning of the year for the first time in a while. Slipped into my overdraft last month (cars suck!) and I’ve been hitting the overtime to whittle it back down. Goal is to start the new year debt free again.

I use my drugs policy for me-time too. Jobs get done before me-time. I’m trying to teach this to my kids then I can hit them with the Drugs Policy when they’re older and just tell them it’s the Me-time policy for money.

cheese_greater, (edited )

I have zero fucking idea how I would ever approach drugs if I had kids… Like, I would be so worried about setting them on a bullshit path that I really shouldn’t have even survived lol. But its something they need to be educated on and exposed to at the right dose because its so crazy out there

Edit: k, I sort of want to back up on this and say that I would likely develop a Dexter-style Drugtaking Code

Lifebandit666,

Absolutely, “drugs are bad mmmmkay?” is still how schools teach it.

I remember smoking weed for the first time and not even having a hangover. It me question EVERYTHING about drug policy.

I don’t want my kids to question it, because they’ll already know it’s bullshit. I want them to ask their Dad.

My kids already know that “Drugs” means all the bad shit plus all the good shit. Cocaine, alcohol, paracetamol, ibuprofen, all drugs.

If you take too much paracetamol you can die. You can get addicted to coffee.

I heard in a film “If it comes out of the ground it’s probably ok, pills and powders are bad news” and I couldn’t agree more when it comes to recreational, so that’s the line I’m gonna take.

Personally I think it’s human nature to get off your box once in a while, I think it’s what’s shaped humanity into what it is today. I believe most religions probably came from a dude doing psychedelics and writing shit down.

Tell me Buddha never got fucked up. Jesus’ holy oil was probably made from cannabis. Santa Claus is actually the Fly Agaric mushroom, it’s red and white, and if you drink the piss of reindeer that have eaten it you can get fucked up and not die, a gift. Mead was originally magic mushrooms preserved in honey, until some started fermenting and they realised you don’t need to put the mushrooms in there to get wasted.

So my kids will probably want to get off their box in the future. I need to educate them well enough that they get off their box on the safer stuff, not blindly take that pill their mate offers them.

cheese_greater,

I would definitely have them know to check out Erowid + Wikipedia + Lemmy/Reddit and do their “homework” before engaging with anything and to not hang around any kid who shits on their Drug Code (like Dexter’s murder code 😈)

Lifebandit666,

I would definitely have them know to check out Erowid + Wikipedia + Lemmy/Reddit and do their “homework”

Isn’t the Internet amazing?

evranch,

Nifedipine - vasodilator

This cheap and common calcium channel blocker has an effect more localized to the peripheral vessels than most other calcium channel blockers.

I started taking it as a cure for chilblains, which it was remarkably effective at despite not being officially listed for. Did my research and asked my doctor for it. Never had one since.

However I soon realized the joy of never feeling cold again. Gone are the days of taking swigs from a flask to keep my fingers thawed out while working on a stalled tractor at -30C. Gone are cold/numb feet in ski boots and rubber boots, frozen thumbs on quads and snowmobiles. I can work in my unheated shop all day!

Of course its main function is to drop blood pressure by decreasing arterial resistance, which I found provided a significant performance boost in someone with only high normal blood pressure. I box and jump rope, and realized a few days after taking nifedipine that I had been jumping so long that my legs were getting sore, but my endurance still felt limitless.

My blood pressure is down to totally normal too. So drop your blood pressure, boost your endurance and never feel cold again for under $30/month… It’s a deal

Terrapinjoe,

Escitalopram - Lexapro It took my anxiety from the point where I was having severe panic attacks for simple issues to where I was able to put down my problems.

cheese_greater, (edited )

Can you modify so its like

Escitalopram (Lexapro)

Body of text

Thanks, it helps keep everything consistent and easily readable/comparable

Grayox,
@Grayox@lemmy.ml avatar

Lexapro has been amazing for me as well, went from smoking weed everyday to deal with my depression and stomach issues, to not even smoking anymore, coming up on a month pot free. Its crazy how much better you feel with the appropriate amount of serotonin in your system.

pirrrrrrrr,

Meanwhile it screwwed my body up. It caused a cascade that resulted in nearly losing my feet.

ellabee,

oh weird, Lexapro failed entirely at managing my anxiety. worked great on the depression side, which meant that dampener of the anxiety wasn’t in effect. spiraled quick, had to email the doc for an emergency appointment.

Effexor (venlaxafine) is the first SNRI I’ve tried and it’s been like magic.

cheese_greater,

[Please reformat and elaborate in a new paragraph]

cheese_greater, (edited )

Iron bisglycinate (supplement)

Need an iron supplement but the regular ones (iron sulfate) plug your bowels up? You want iron bisglycinate.

(Not author, will remove after original comment is properly formatted)

cheese_greater,

Primatene (ephedrine)

For alertness and appetite suppression.

(not author; will remove when replicated by author)

shalafi,

Got COPD “light” (my doctor’s words) and use Advil Cold & Sinus to pop my lungs open. Works great.

Daily kratom user. Gives me energy and kills pain. Weird stuff. I can be bouncing off the walls, lay down and still go to sleep.

Some people get addicted I hear, and I can understand that. For me, stopping is no big deal, just leaves me wishing I had more energy. Tolerance drops fast if you start taking too much.

Green makes me low-key nauseous, red is supposed to help one sleep. White kratom is my jam.

cheese_greater, (edited )

Advil Cold & Sinus (ibuprofen/pseudoephedrine)

Yada yada yada

Kratom (red, green leaf)

Yada yada yada

Could you reformat to bold and title the things you mention, followed by description? Sorry and thanks, it helps with scrolling thru to what folks are interested in or makes it easier to navigate :)

Feel free to copy paste this and I’ll remove when you’ve had a chance to grab it :)

I upvoted ya, good addition

mycabbages,

I realize this is going to apply to a small fraction of people, but there is an additional caution I would like to add about kratom. There are two compounds in kratom that work as mu-opioid receptor partial agonists. I think of it like a natural analog of buprenorphine. As such, try to avoid taking kratom with full opioid agonists.

Anecdotally, this became relevant one time in my experience. I saw someone undergo elective orthopedic surgery, and he was using large doses of kratom up to the day of surgery. 24 hours after the surgery, when the nerve block had worn off, his usage of oxycodone and hydromorphone skyrocketed due to uncontrolled pain. And even then, he looked like he was going through opioid withdrawal.

At that time, it was hypothesized that some of the kratom had been eliminated from his system to have him go into withdrawal, but enough remained to block the action of the regular opioid medication. The pain crisis period eventually passed, but man did he have a really bad time.

shalafi,

That’s rather horrifying and good to know. Cut the kratom 2-weeks pre-surgery. Got it.

cheese_greater,

[Please reformat and elaborate in a new paragraph]

mrmule, (edited )

Omeprazole

Got stomach bad acid? Want it go away for days or weeks on end without antacid? Omeprazole works like a dream and is available without prescription in most countries except Japan.

cheese_greater, (edited )

You don’t, like, take that chronically do ya? I’ve heard that vigorously warned against…

Thanks for bringing this up, I’m curious about folks’ experiences/thoughts regarding Proton Pump Inhibitors

fjordbasa,

It may be prescribed long term if the benefits outweigh the possible risks. If someone is taking it in their own, it’s probably better to talk to their doc about it. My understanding is that it’s safe but can have long term effects and needs to be stepped down if you stop after taking it a while

cheese_greater, (edited )

Is that overseen by a GI specialist or your family dr? No offense to general practitioners?l

fjordbasa,

Either can prescribe it. Depends on the person’s situation- other symptoms, severity, etc.

cheese_greater,

I mean in your case or is this all academic/hypothetical? I assumed you were describing your personal use case. Did your dr prescribe and refill it or was it specialist?

mrmule,

I was in Japan this year and I had run out of omeprazole, in JP you cannot buy it over the counter. Ofc cue a bad few days of acid and luckily there was a GI specialist near my hotel. He noted that I had used PPI before and gave me a prescription for 60 tablets

mrmule,

I was initially prescribed this by my doctor.

cheese_greater,

Have you considered getting a second more specialized opinion from GI?

mrmule,

I did, from a specialist in Japan. It really helps me as I can get extreme symptoms such as nausia, vomiting, insane back pain and inability to eat anything. No other medicines have helped me like this.

mrmule,

I was warned not to use it chronically. I use it perhaps 2 days each month. You need to be aware of your triggers, such as fatty or spicey foods and alcohol. Also try and self diagnose stomach acid symptoms as early as possible.

cheese_greater,

Ya that sounds better. I pop a Tums once in a blue moon but my diet is much cleaner to the effect I rarely need it anymore.

scottywh,

Esomeprazole works way better for me.

mrmule,

Isn’t that an inversion of the same?

scottywh,

They’re obviously closely related but they work differently.

www.healthline.com/health/…/nexium-vs-prilosec#di…

https://lemmy.world/pictrs/image/3a4d0182-f309-49f6-a91e-5dab2805ee11.png

Bye, (edited )

water

  • makes my headaches go away
  • makes it easier to poop
  • tastes good
  • cools me down on a hot day
  • super inexpensive, so cheap you can bathe in it
  • only bad part is that it makes you need to pee
FireWire400,
@FireWire400@lemmy.world avatar

Pure waa a

inetknght,

tastes good

Sir, let’s discuss the taste of water.

My sister tells me water is tasteless. I disagree. Water definitely has a taste. I have yet to find water with a taste I like except when I am very dehydrated.

Tap water? Definitely no. Filtered water? Nope. Mineral water? Nah. Flavored water? Eugh.

Tea, though. Tea is amazing. Especially coffee tea. Coffee tea is amazing. You take coffee beans, grind them up, and pass hot water through it. It’s so amazing.

cheese_greater,

You tried Fiji or Evian? I find them so damn refreshing and “palatable” even tho I am at baseline a HydrationHomie

Thisfox,

Rain tank water is bloody lifechanging. Tap water tastes too strong, and filtered water doesn’t seem to do much to the water (although lifestraw filtered water does seem to remove the unpleasant flavours better) but water from our galvanised iron tank is recognisable and downright pleasant. Also the concrete tank is pretty good too. You can taste if anyone gets water from the plastic tanks on the east side of the house though. Ick.

These days I run rainwater through a lifestraw and call it good. No tea beats that.

accideath,

Not every tap water tastes the same. I have had tap water that is a bliss to drink but I’ve also had tap water that was barely drinkable without being filtered…

Also, tea and coffee also profit from using good water while making them.

Bye,

No idea where you live, but the tap water is amazing where I live (somewhere in the western United States). And it comes from a set of glaciers that’s basically behind my house.

If my tap water tasted bad I’d probably set up a solar still to purify it.

Xer0,

Hydrohomies unite.

CorrodedCranium,
@CorrodedCranium@leminal.space avatar

L-theanine and caffeine

It’s a combination that gives me energy and allows me to focus for a couple hours at a time without jitters or anxiety.

SuiXi3D, (edited )
@SuiXi3D@kbin.social avatar

Vyvanse (lisdexamfetamine).

I know a lot of folks don’t like it for a multitude of reasons, but it works well for me. I take it about an hour before I get to work and I’m actually able to focus on work as opposed to why I don’t wanna be there. It’s great. Also helps that my job is pretty great overall, but being able to focus on actually getting up and doing stuff is great.

cheese_greater,

deleted_by_author

    •
    SuiXi3D,
    @SuiXi3D@kbin.social avatar

    deleted_by_author

    •
    cheese_greater,

    deleted_by_author

    •
    cheese_greater,

    Thanks! Sorry to be so difficult

    SuiXi3D,
    @SuiXi3D@kbin.social avatar

    Nah, it wasn’t a problem at all.

    agent_flounder,
    @agent_flounder@lemmy.world avatar

    Same deal here. It makes a big difference for motivation for me, too. ADHD sux.

    CaptainPedantic,

    Oh my God Vyvanse is amazing. I was on Adderall XR for years, but I got sick of getting a huge burst of energy for 5 hours, feeling ok for 3, and then crashing hard after that. It was really hard dealing with that while work a 4/10 schedule.

    Vyvanse is so smooth, I get a gentle push through most of the day, and a subtle let down after 10 hours or so.

    Now if I could just be more diligent with my sleep…

  • All
  • Subscribed
  • Moderated
  • Favorites
  • •
  • random
  • uselessserver093
  • Food
  • [email protected]
  • aaaaaaacccccccce
  • test
  • CafeMeta
  • testmag
  • MUD
  • RhythmGameZone
  • RSS
  • dabs
  • oklahoma
  • Socialism
  • KbinCafe
  • TheResearchGuardian
  • SuperSentai
  • feritale
  • KamenRider
  • All magazines
    •