Psa - Pseudoephedrine kills ... Your libido and erections

[Zen0]

I don't know why I never noticed it before but my allergies were kiling me today and loratidine alone wasn't cutting it so I went and bought some extended release pseudo ephedrine....

No more runny nose but it has put me in a haze, killed my appetite for food and sex. People take this stuff for fun? :'(

 

[Kadarin]

I've noticed this effect with old formula Actifed (pseudophedrine + tripolidine HCl); the physical parts still work fine, but (relatively high doses of) the drug makes me distant and unemotional and not really caring about sex (or food). However, it has the effect of making me essentially smarter by allowing me to focus concentration better.

 

[Zargon]

I am on it all the time and it does not affect my sex drive at all.

 

[DougoMan]

If anything it should increase your sex drive. It's basically speed.

 

[Kadarin]

If anything it should increase your sex drive. It's basically speed.

In my case, it's the tripolidine (the antihistamine) part of the drug that affects me in this way; vanilla pseudophed does not impair me at all.

 

[destrekor]

I've never been a fan of pseudoephedrine.

I like real ephedrine.

So my allergy meds are not decongestant, as I'm already taking a daily decongestant (not for that purpose, but really... I've been cutting back as it was for attention in class and now it's just a daily ritual like caffeine - take away and me angry, but other than that it serves no more purpose in my life. baseline is dead at this point, lol).

Then again, I'm also noticing my meds like Zrytec are absolutely weak as shit... these allergies are still killing my eyes and nose. Antihistamine eyedrops (Zaditor [OTC]: ketotifen fumarate), Zyrtec (cetirizine), and my regular daily Bronkaid (ephedrine and guaifenesin). I don't always use the eyedrops, but if I use the eyedrops I do still tend to take the Zyrtec. Some days, I've tried a Nasonex sample... it seems to help a little with the constant nose drainage... but the eyes, ugh.
And anything else that happens to dry them out even further, on top of allergies? Worst dry eye feeling ever. I dry Dry Eye Syndrome - anything else on top of it compounds and all effects are magnified and made worse. Allergies? Running eyes, not exactly? Rarely, but they might get a little extra watery from time to time, especially if I try and adjust the contacts through my eyelids or move the lids around. But then it just gets worse - because tear quantity is fine with my eyes, it's tear quality... and extra tears doesn't do a damn thing unless there's actually a loose particle in my eye. Eye drops are hit and miss - sometimes a drop I use frequently really helps, other times I have to try one of my other drops. I have a whole mess of different drops for different uses, half of them rewetting/refreshing - either for contacts or for naked eyes.

 

[stonecold3169]

If anything it should increase your sex drive. It's basically speed.

Ephedrine causes your prostate to swell, which can lead to all sorts of whacky stuff.

The ECA stack was really weird for me. It certainly killed my appetite, but I had absolutely 0 impact on energy or jitteriness, and I'm the only person I've ever heard of that happening with (thats with both real ephedrine and pseudophedrine). However, it also made me a really angry guy. I'm normally about the nicest guy in the world with the longest fuse, but the dumbest stuff would set me off while using it.

 

[bryanl]

I don't understand why you're taking a decongestant, like Sudafed, for allergies, and contrary to the Claritin ads, 10mg loratidine doesn't seem to provide allergy relief for 24 hours.

 

[blash]

I took Claritin-D (10mg loratidine + 240mg pseudoephedrine) for years before I finally went ahead and saw a allergy doctor because although I could always breathe OK, my nose would run occasionally with a very thin mucus. Before Claritin, I would have thick-clogged passages that prevented me from getting any exercise.

He took me off the Claritin and switched me to two different nasal sprays: Veramyst (because I had tried Flonase before and it gave me nosebleeds) for the allergies (since mine manifest purely as pulmonary symptoms) and... I think ipratropium bromide? I have to check when I get home. The IP (if that's what it is) works to block the receptors that can cause mucus production during certain events such as hyperventilation (i.e. during exercise) or eating hot meals i.e. soup. The doctor told me that it's not recommended to take pseudoepehedrine long-term because it can cause dry mouth and high blood pressure with long-term exposure. He also didn't see the point of taking oral drugs which will go to every point in your body when you're only experiencing symptoms in one part i.e. the nose.

The IP was very cheap; a generic drug and the little bottle lasts seemingly forever. Veramyst is a more expensive prescription though there are alternatives (like the aforementioned Flonase). If I were you I would make an appointment and talk to an ENT (ear, nose, throat doctor) to discuss options. I did not suffer from decreased appetites when I was taking pseudoephedrine.