The main ingredient in sudafed is pseudoephedrine, which is basically a type of speed. When I first started the program, I was having a lot of sinus issues, and my doctor had prescribed a sinus drug to take daily. Like all the sinus drugs I had tried, after a while it stopped being as effective. Then my health plan took it off their approved list, so suddenly the cost per month tripled, so I decided to stop taking it.

After about a day or two, I suddenly felt like I was losing my mind. I alternated between feeling rage and wanting to hide under my desk. I was really scared. Then I remembered I had stopped taking this drug. So I posted on the forum and listed the ingredients in the drug. Kathleen told me I was having speed withdrawal. Once I knew what was going on, it was a little easier to get through it, but it really scared me, and I have never taken anything with pseudoephedrine since.

When I was taking the drug, I never felt jittery from it (I was also a coffee drinker at that time), and I wasn't addicted - I didn't want more and more or have any emotional charge around it. But clearly my body was habituated to it.

Now when I am congested, I use a hot compress, or fill a bowl with hot water from the kettle with a few drops of eucalyptus oil and then breathe the steam with a towel over my head. I also use a neti pot if I'm not totally blocked. And I sleep with one of those nose strips. (And whenever I get a cold, it's a head cold, not a chest cold)

I don't know if you would have withdrawal like that from taking sudafed during a cold, since I had been taking my drug over a much longer period of time, but just be aware. I think Kathleen told me to eat more protein when I was going through the withdrawal, but it was 12 years ago so I don't remember exactly. I just know I don't want to ever go through that again. It was really scary.
Allison

: What kind of after effects from
: sudafed? I want to be prepared to
: know what to look out for.
: Anything I can do to help myself?
: What do others do when they get
: sick? I am so congested and my
: ears are in a lot of pain. I have
: been taking 2 sudafed a day.