Got my Sudafed stolen. :( Help?

[Centrals]

Pseudoephedrine is illegal in countries where meth is a big problem eg. Philippines.
Drugs where you can readily pick up over the counter at home can get you into serious trouble aboard.

10 common medications you didn't know could be illegal to take abroad

Foreign Office reveals surprising local drug laws

www.countryliving.com

The everyday medicines that could get you jailed in a foreign country

Many treatments available over the counter in Britain are strictly controlled abroad

www.independent.co.uk

 

[Annika1]

If you use it too much it will have the opposite effect and actually cause rebound swelling. That’s why there’s a warning not to take it more than 3 days on the box. You can do 800mg ibuprofen or 975-1000 mg Tylenol to keep your sinus inflammation at bay on days you dive.

 

[gopbroek]

I believe Sudafed is illegal in MX.

Pseudoephedrine is illegal in countries where meth is a big problem eg. Philippines.
Drugs where you can readily pick up over the counter at home can get you into serious trouble aboard.

10 common medications you didn't know could be illegal to take abroad

Foreign Office reveals surprising local drug laws

www.countryliving.com

The everyday medicines that could get you jailed in a foreign country

Many treatments available over the counter in Britain are strictly controlled abroad

www.independent.co.uk

Yep when Mexico's methamphetamine production exploded due to the massive quantities of imports of precursor chemicals from China it was easier to blame it on retail sales of Sudafed and ban it, rather than to interfere with the real cause. The added benefit was to cut supplies to the low quantity street level cook operations that were a drag on the cartels interior retail distribution business..

 

[bvbellomo]

I got some bad upper respiratory thing on my last trip, and the pharmacist recommended something that was a combination of 3 drugs - an obsolete antiviral for the flu, an antihistamine and acetaminophen. I thought there was no way it would do anything but I bought it anyway. It worked pretty well, probably better than pseudoephedrine in the USA, but I still sat out the last 2 days of my dives.

 

[tridacna]

I got some bad upper repository thing on my last trip, and the pharmacist recommended something that was a combination of 3 drugs

Do you mean “suppository” or even “respiratory” perhaps?

 

[cvchief]

Years ago, I went to a DAN ENT. The first think he told be was stop the Claritin as it dried the crap in the ears making them stiff and hard to clear.

His regimen was Mucinex with lot of water to get that ear juice moving. Flonase and some Sudafed with my doc proplug ear plugs. I am down to the the Flonase and the ear plugs now.

 

[kaerius]

Phenylephrine is available over the counter.
When I had a cold with internal fever I went to the international hospital, they prescribed me Afrin and Sensibit XP (some sort of antihistamine).

From back home I had a nasal spray with a combination of Ipratropiumbromide and Xylometazoline as well. This one I had for "emergency use", it's over the counter back in Sweden (Otrivin comp), and really powerful, but you shouldn't use it for more than 3 days in a row(2x per day) because it thins out your mucus membranes (they get too dried out), it can give you nosebleeds if overused.

I had some runny nose towards the end of the trip and ended up combining phenylephrine, sensibit xp, and the otrivin comp in the morning, kept me clear all day. I did 3 days of staged decompression diving like this, no problem.

 

[parzdiver]

I will add another + for Flonaze. I had eustachian tube issues at one point and the doctor gave me Flonaze, when it was still a prescription. Worked wonders. Not that it is OTC, I usually pack a bottle for the dive trips.

Afrin works great, but it can have a nasty rebound.

 

[DandyDon]

Phenylephrine is available over the counter.

Except that it's worthless...

"But pharmacists are now calling for phenylephrine to be banned after research has shown that popping a pill or taking a spoonful of the stuff is ineffective for relieving nasal decongestion."​

Breaking bad sniffles: Crystal meth made cold medicine rubbish

To crack down on criminal chemists, many cold medicines have had their active ingredient removed, now many are potentially no better than placebos

www.newscientist.com

 

[mstevens]

Tylenol to keep your sinus inflammation at bay on days you dive.

No. Acetaminophen is not antiinflammatory.