Over-the-counter drugs facts
How they affect you
- There are three main types: stimulant, depressant and sedative.
- Stimulants can make you excited, alert, agitated and anxious, increase your heart rate and blood pressure.
- Depressants can cause mild euphoria, relaxation, detachment, decreased heart rate and blood pressure, increased effects of alcohol, and physical addiction.
- Sedatives can make you sleepy/drowsy even at normal dosages, and increase the effects of alcohol.
Product names
- Stimulants include cough/cold treatments and decongestants (especially 'non-drowsy') such as Actifed Expectorant, Sinutab and Sudafed.
- Depressants include cough/cold linctuses, painkiller analgesic capsules and diarrhoea preparations such as Nurofen Plus, Paracodol, Feminax and Syndol.
- Sedatives include anti-histamines, cough/cold treatments and some night time sleep aids such as Piriton, Night Nurse, Benylin and Contac 400.
Are they legal?
- They are legally available.
The risks, signs and symptoms
- Misuse of these products often mimics the classic symptoms of a clinical drug addiction, with physical and psychological effects.
- Dependence doesn’t always mean you’re regularly taking large daily quantities of a drug. You can become dependent on having to take a daily amount that is under the maximum recommended dosage, but you’ve done so over many years.
- You can become unintentionally addicted to an over-the-counter drug. You may have simply bought it to treat a legitimate physical complaint without being aware that it has any addictive properties.
How you can reduce the risks
- The only way to fully reduce the risks from over-the-counter drugs is to only take them for a short period or as directed by your doctor.
- If you think you may have become dependent on an over-the-counter drug, try to reduce your use and speak to a drug worker or a doctor.