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Comment by robobro | Hacker News Reader

Dextromethorphan is definitely not a placebo. Take enough and you'll go to space and meet God. Smaller doses produce euphoria and dissociation, which, even if they don't make the cough go away, makes it easier to tolerate a cold -- same reason antitussives have historically contained alcohol, cannabis extract (which may incidentally work as bronchodilator but was not the reason I imagine it was in antitussives)

Funny amphetamine used to be an over the counter cold medicine, which the article doesn't mention despite talking about the meth precursor?

Fine article but these two details stuck out to me while reading it.

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> Dextromethorphan is definitely not a placebo.

It definitely works for me. It'd be wild if for all 44 years of my life, it's only worked because of the placebo effect.

The article mentions phenylephrine, and that shit definitely doesn't work. Not even a placebo.

Yup. The only upside to being sick is that I get to take NyQuil before going to sleep and have trippy as fuck dreams.

The left enantiomer of methamphetamine (exact same chemical formula and structure, just mirror symmetry) is also an OTC decongestant.

Vicks

Only historically. No Vick's brand product has contained it since 2016. The only "brand" name I'm aware of currently is Benzedrex.

Benzedrex is not l-Methamphetamine, it is Propylhexedrine

Ah indeed, I misremembered. That is also a very similar compound, identical structure but more saturated carbon bonds (non-aromatic ring). It's always delightfully silly to get your own correction corrected!

https://www.vumc.org/poison-control/toxicology-question-week...

Came here to say this, the author is hating on dextromethorphan like he never robotripped before. But then, overdosing dxm isn't all that healthy and I'd recommend ketamine if you want to experiment like that.

> But then, overdosing dxm isn't all that healthy and I'd recommend ketamine if you want to experiment like that.

Ketamine is neurotoxic itself and can cause permanent brain damage. I can't find the info but there was someone in the tech industry who accidentally overdosed and suffered a two year bout of severe debilitating depression culminating in suicide.

Sorry to say, we shouldn't really base our opinion on drug safety from people who accidentally overdose or are generally reckless with drugs. There's people who drink for the first time and end up in the hospital.

If you want to do it the smart way, just consult erowid.org and use a little common sense.

https://erowid.org/chemicals/ketamine/ketamine_faq.shtml

The post I replied to stated that a DXM OD is dangerous then mentions ketamine without stating its OD dangers giving it the appearance of a safe alternative.

You need much higher doses of dxm to get the psychedelic effects compared to ketamine. Ketamine is a pretty safe drug when used responsibly and occasionally, especially because you can slowly dose to the required intensity and it wears off quickly. Like any drug there are risks involved. Most notably psychosis and addiction. Apart from the immediate toxicity, of course. And that is very much higher for dxm in my experience. It's also a very weird trip and it took me a while (2 weeks) for my brain to fully settle again, whereas with ketamine I would bounce right back feeling better than ever, which of course increases its addiction potential. What we didn't know back then is that ketamine is actual toxic to the kidneys in prolonged high doses, so yes, be careful.

one off experience of someone in a stressful job. are we gate keeping?

It is entirely reasonable to say that it should be RX-only to be monitored by a physician for these reasons.

>I can't find the info but there was someone in the tech industry who accidentally overdosed and suffered a two year bout of severe debilitating depression culminating in suicide.

i believe you are referring to Felix Hill.

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1-jBoSEVlryiX1IaSzV4vKuih...

"On mental health, psychedelics and life

This is a story about mental health, psychedelics, psychology and the mind. It is a story about the joy of family, the joy of friends, the joy of being in love, and the joy of doing scientific research. It is a story about life, the world, and how amazing they both are.

After 18 months of intolerable torture, and after many months of consideration I have decided to end my life."

Very relevant username

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