Effective cold/sinus med without added pain reliever

[cepmom]

Can anyone recommend an effective cold/sinus medication that does not contain an added pain reliever (Tylenol, aleve etc)?? Started with this sinus cold yesterday and tried sudafed with little help. Also took Aleve sinus stuff last night which worked pretty well, but I had shoulder surgery a few weeks ago and need to take ibuprofen for pain relief.

I don't want to mix the ibuprofen and the aleve in the cold medicine. (I didn't take my ibuprofen last night thinking the aleve in the cold med would be enough to alleviate the shoulder pain, but it wasn't good enough... Been awake since 2:00 am maybe an Advil cold med then I could adjust the amount of ibuprofen I take for the shoulder but I have no idea if it's effective for cold/sinus relief.

Any suggestions?

[pigletgirl]

Have you thought about alternating tylenol with the ibuprofen?

[Mkrop]

Do not take sudafed at night...it will keep you up bc it is a decongestant. I would bet the Aleve stuff has sudafed in it.

I would take REAL Sudafed during the day, get it behind the pharmancy counter. OR Mucinex with or without D works well too, it will thin the mucous so it can be reabsorbed by the body. Once again do not take anything with D at night!

I rarely take meds that are mixed with something else. I look at the ingredients and then take stuff separately.


Feel better!

[cepmom]

Originally Posted by pigletgirl

Have you thought about alternating tylenol with the ibuprofen?

I did consider that but figured if Tylenol was in the cold medicine and I need to take the cold med probably every 4-6 hours then I'd keep taking the Tylenol and not be able to alternate with Advil. Or maybe you should alternate them so they overlap? I don't know; I've never done the alternating Tylenol and Advil thing before. I generally take Advil for pain, especially now where I'm taking it 3 or 4x a day for weeks due to the shoulder. I hesitate to take the Tylenol long term.

[cepmom]

Originally Posted by Mkrop

Do not take sudafed at night...it will keep you up bc it is a decongestant. I would bet the Aleve stuff has sudafed in it.

I would take REAL Sudafed during the day, get it behind the pharmancy counter. OR Mucinex with or without D works well too, it will thin the mucous so it can be reabsorbed by the body. Once again do not take anything with D at night!

I rarely take meds that are mixed with something else. I look at the ingredients and then take stuff separately.

Feel better!

I just checked the sudafed I took yesterday and it was the pseudoephedrine free version....did nothing to help the sinuses. The aleve cold med's active ingredient is pseudoephedrine, which seemed much more effective. I just found another box of sudafed that does contain pseudoephedrine so maybe I should go that route during the day today. I don't want to be up all night again! Although I think it was more the shoulder pain that kept me up half the night but who knows...maybe a combination of not enough pain killer and the decongestant!

[The Mystery Machine]

Originally Posted by cepmom

I just checked the sudafed I took yesterday and it was the pseudoephedrine free version....did nothing to help the sinuses. The aleve cold med's active ingredient is pseudoephedrine, which seemed much more effective. I just found another box of sudafed that does contain pseudoephedrine so maybe I should go that route during the day today. I don't want to be up all night again! Although I think it was more the shoulder pain that kept me up half the night but who knows...maybe a combination of not enough pain killer and the decongestant!

My dd takes the 12hr Sudafed, morning and night.

It is the generic since we are at the mercy of the pharmacy now. WE have to get a prescription for anything with pseudophedrine in it.

[Kerrio929]

They do make Advil Cold and Sinus which is ibuprofen and pseudoephedrine (Sudafed). You could take that. Or just get plain Sudafed and take that along with your ibuprofen.

[Mkrop]

Originally Posted by cepmom

I just checked the sudafed I took yesterday and it was the pseudoephedrine free version....did nothing to help the sinuses. The aleve cold med's active ingredient is pseudoephedrine, which seemed much more effective. I just found another box of sudafed that does contain pseudoephedrine so maybe I should go that route during the day today. I don't want to be up all night again! Although I think it was more the shoulder pain that kept me up half the night but who knows...maybe a combination of not enough pain killer and the decongestant!

For me personally that stuff is useless...I might as well take nothing. I would take the ibuprofen as prescribed for the shoulder and then add in plain REAL Sudafed during the day for the sinuses. Maybe some Nyquil at night?

[tluvstink]

I have sinus issues as well and I take Sudafed in the morning (the kind from the pharmacist) and I use a netti pot at night.

I hope you are feeling better soon!

[SaraJayne]

If it doesn't have pseudophedrine in it, it's worthless.

My kids and I take Advil Cold and Sinus or Advil Allergy Sinus.

I hope you feel better!

[cepmom]

Thanks everyone! I took the psuedoephedrine about an hour ago and am starting to feel better already. Guess I'll stick with that today and hope for the best tonight!

[2binak]

Dh & I both take Advil Cold 'n Sinus and it really seems to help over any of the other sinus/cold meds that we've tried in the past.

You can call your local pharmacist and ask their opinion on what they think you should take so that it doesn't interfere or mess up your ibuprofen dosage.

[minkydog]

Originally Posted by Mkrop

For me personally that stuff is useless...I might as well take nothing. I would take the ibuprofen as prescribed for the shoulder and then add in plain REAL Sudafed during the day for the sinuses. Maybe some Nyquil at night?

I agree, that fake sudafed isn't worth the walk to the cash register. But I use the store brand pseudophedrine, the one you have to sign for in the pharmacy. It works just fine and I can take whatever pain reliever I want since it's not mixed with anything else.