Toprol & Flu-cold medicine

[nirvana]

I am on Toprol XL 50 mg and have picked up the flu. I called up the cardiologist and spoke to the nurse. She said Tylenol cold medicine should suffice and not to mess with stuff like nyquil. What do you do when you get a flu? The irony is that I went to the doc because of a cold and cough last month when I got diagnosed with a murmur and then eventually HOCM.

Two bouts of cold and cough within nearly two months. Should I be concerned about it or is it just the time of the year?

[Reenie]

It's probably this time of year, but try to stay away from decongestants if you can help it. Sudafed is known to cause some people's heart to race. Make sure you ask questions before you buy.

Reenie

[nirvana]

Thanks Reenie. I did speak to the pharmacist and he suggested that an anti-alleregy medicine like claritin is safer since most of the flu medicines tend to be vasal constrictors.

Claritin has what he called level 2 anti-histamine (loratadine) that does not do that. Anybody with more info on this?

[Reenie]

I've never heard of anyone having trouble with antihistamines and I have heard that Benadryl at least can have a little drying effect on the nose when you take it. Be careful, though, since it can really make you drowsy!

Reenie

[Lisa Salberg]

Claritin and clarinex have been suggested to me in the past as good options.
CHeck with your doctor when taking any over the counter meds when first learning to live with HCM.

Lisa

[Sarah]

Here is the deal: READ THE LABEL.

ANYTHING with ephedrine, epinephrine, ephedra, or pseudoephedrine (the one you are most likely to see) are all off limits. They can cause arrhythmias.

Benadryl ---and I mean PLAIN Benadryl-- contains diphenhydramine, which is fine. However, it can make you very sleepy (not the "dramine" in the name, in fact--if you buy over-the-counter sleeping pills, they are usually just 2 benadryl --as opposed to the one you would take for your cold).

It is VERY important to know that Bendaryl also makes versions WITH decongestants in them (the ones that claim to eradicate every symptom).

Claritin is safe but Claritin-D is NOT (it adds a decongestant).

My personal experience is that the best way to get rid of all the crud building up in my head is to use a "neti pot." http://www.nutraceutic.com/Products/Yoga/Neti/netipot.htm

When I first heard about this, I said NO WAY am I ever going to do that. Out of despiration, I did. And it is truly a godsend. I used to have a runny nose all the time. Now I irrigate my sinuses almost every day and since I'm keeping them clean and healthy, I'm not getting sick!!! I used to have a cold every time the tempeture changed. Now, I only get a cold if I don't irrigate when I start to get snuffly.

Also, if you are really stuffed up, you can wash your sinuses every few hours if you need to. It is just pure salt-water and it isn't addicting. Just be sure to keep the neti pot clean and use distilled water if you don't trust your tap water. The other key thing is to use salt that is iodine-free. So you can't use your table salt or it will burn like the dickens. You can get iodine-free salt in any grocery store. You can also get a neti pot at any health food store or a Whole Foods.

And no, I don't have stock in neti pots! :D :shock: :lol:

By the way, Puffs Plus with Lotion are woth every penny.

Sarah

[Sarah]

OH--Can you believe I forgot to look up what the nurse mentioned---Tylenol Cold & Flu??? (I can.) Anyway, this is what is in it:
Pseudoephedrine, Dextromethorphan, and Acetaminophen.

Tylenol Cold Medicine contains Chlorpheniramine, Pseudoephedrine, Dextromethorphan, and Acetaminophen, which once again, has a stimulant.

Thera-flu is acetaminophen, chlorpheniramine, dextromethorphan, and pseudoephedrine ----so that is big no-no, too.

For the flu: chicken soup, no antibiotics (viruses don't respond to anti-bacterials). decaf hot tea, saltines. bed rest.

[Donna]

I hope you start to feel better soon. I like the part about staying in bed. I don't think my kids, husband, grandson and work (two Jobs) would let that happen. What about the flu shot? Should we as HCMer get one? Just a thought befor the flu bug hits Alaska.

Have a great Weekend.

[Sarah]

My doctors have always told me to get the flu shot. It is easy to dehydrate when you are sick and this is very dangerous for us HCMers.

I've had the shot about 5 or 6 times now and I only felt crappy after the first two, (the first time, I felt like I was getting the flu, but it only lasted a day. the second time i just felt slightly cruddy for less than a day).

seb

[shirleymahoney]

Nirvana

I was told by my Pharmacist, after looking up all the meds i am on that i could take Robatussin, the plain Robatussin, or claritin, my dr. agreed with this also
Take care
Shirley

[annamc]

I was told to always get the flu shot. I had the flu once and nearly died from it and had to be hospitalized. As for over the counter drugs, I was told I couldn't take many. I mean, I cannot even take Pepto Bismol.


Sarah:

The link you posted here. I checked it out and thanks. I'm going to get a neti pot b/c I think I have sinus problems and this may clear it right up.

:D Anna

[nirvana]

I figured I could wait for a couple of days and see how the cold behaves before taking any medicine. I feel much better now so I might not have to take anything though I did buy a Claritin generic called Tavist ND.

I was planning to take the flu shot (my company had arranged one last week) but I wanted to wait till my appt with the specialist this week. For the future, are there any concerns about the flu shot? By the way, this year CDC has predicted a much stronger strain of flu. It seems that the number of deaths from flu this time could be as high a million (as against 30,000 on an average) in the US.

P.S.: This board is wonderful - I could not find much information on the web about flu medicines but now we sort of have a FAQ with this thread. Thanks folks esp Sarah with all the complex sounding chemical names. :)

[bryan]

I called Dr M Maron last week to ask about the flu shot and he said he recommend I get it. I also Asked him if there was any over the counter meds I could take for a cold. He told me to just ride it out, cause he felt that over the counter meds would do me more harm than good.

Bryan

[annamc]

I was planning to take the flu shot (my company had arranged one last week) but I wanted to wait till my appt with the specialist this week. For the future, are there any concerns about the flu shot?


I was told that the flu shot will not give you the flu b/c they use a dead strain of the virus. You may get muscle ache in the arm that your given the shot or bruising. Also, you might feel like you have a case of the flu, which is rare. I mean, I never had this happen. Only the arm pain. Hope this helped.

[Sarah]

if you are allergic to eggs, you can't have the flu shot. otherwise, no big problems really.

i felt really yucky for one after i had my first one, but the rest were just arm pain from the shot.

s