Long-term effects of DXM

[robot1414]

Are there any harmful long-term effects of DXM?
For example, if you take one bottle of Robitussin every month.
Also, is there a difference between the cough syrup and the gel caps?

[worried878]

not sure..i dont think one bottle a month is considered overdoing it...the gel caps can be pure dxm but it is monitored at the store if u buy these just like ephedrine products..i bought some of the caps that were 15 mgs of dxm for my cough as i was sick for a month...i think it takes quite a bit to abuse dxm and not sure of what happens as i have never been tempted to abuse it..i do know it is monitored cos some do abuse it tho

[KLM_81]

Depends. Are you taking the whole bottle at once to get high, or just taking correct doses for a cold? If you're taking a lot at once to "trip", then you need to stop. I had a friend in high school who did it once a month or every couple of weeks for a long time (2 or 3 years) and it really messed his brain up. He's never been the same, and he's 30 years old now. He hasn't done it since those days, and never fully recovered. The reason DXM makes you "trip" in large doses is because it's a dis-associative (spellcheck?) which quite literally means that it seperates your mind from your body. DXM is a morphine derivative. it's basically morphine with all of the analgesic properties removed. The high you get from taking large quantities of DXM is the same mental effect as what you'd get from large doses of morphine. The difference of course, is that if you took that much morphine you'd overdose and die. And it's possible to die from the DXM. All in all, it's just a bad thing that no one needs to get into. Only take it in the correct dose, for a cough.

[aprildreams20]

I had my first encounter with Robotusin when I was about 19-20 yrs old. Not knowing the lasting effects on my body, I thought it was the greatest feeling in the world. I remember telling my friend who had never tried it, and he didnt think that it would really work as I bragged. What a fool I was. When I was "trippin" I would engage in activities that I wouldnt normally do making me feel horrible when I came off the high.

Now not having used the drug in over 3 years I feel long-term effects. I feel like I am in a constant daze. When it comes to  making decisions... dont count on me. I feel alot of paranoia now, more than I had ever felt. I am suspicious of people. I can not complete a long-term task like school. I feel as though my thoughts are delayed and some days I feel sorta stoned.

If anyone is comming to this page to make a decision to or not to trip on robotusin, by all means dont. Look around you and think about would you like to be as I descibed uptop. Constantly living in a mental cage where you can not escape. Looking around you and wondering how does everyone else function so well, while you sit in a daze and have a slow reaction to everything around you. I

If anyone reads this, Please.... Please.... Dont "robotrip".

[KLM_81]

Thank you so much for sharing your story! I wish more people would do what you just did, and make it known that "Robo-tripping" can ruin lives. In high school, I saw so many of my friends poisoning themselves with it that it just broke my heart. The kids who were constantly doing it looked worse than kids who were hooked on cocaine and ice. Ane they had no idea that their whole personalities were changing. And several of them messed themselves up so bad (permanently) that they are on mental disability today. I did end up addicted to opiates, but I consider myself to be extremely lucky because I didn't like it at all. I hope that you never hesitate to tell this to anyone who will listen.

Thanks again, KLM_81

[AnonAddict]

Take note of this, the "occasional" use of recreational drugs rarely stays that way. I am not implying that drugs are always abused, just that abuse is easier than casual use. I am in my twenties now, but when I was about 13 I started to use DXM as a recreational drug and it grew to be the single greatest addiction of my life. I have abused heroin, crack, cocaine, alcohol, ketamine, pain killers, tryptamines, LSD, mushrooms, nearly everything under the Sun. I have quit them all, haven't used any of them in two years. DXM is a different beast altogether, it is my anti-matter. In my early teens I found a website selling 99.99% pure dextromethorphan hydro-bromide and bought some. I was a chronic; read near daily, as in 340 days out of 365, abuser taking an average of 1,000mg and I have consumed 2,800mg of it in a single sitting. I am a lucky survivor and I SHOULD be dead. Instead I find myself fairly successful but I live with the constant fear that my demon will take it all away. I am in professional counseling but due to the OTC nature of DXM and the difficulty of screening for it I am still an abuser, I go as long as I can usually in the 5-10 day range, and will always be haunted by it. If anyone is reading this, DXM may be an incredible substance, but the overall danger overwhelms any positive benefit. Some wounds are too deep to properly heal. By the way, while DXM IS an opiate derivative it is so heavily chemically altered that it is technically a dissociative more closely related to PCP, Ketamine, and some surgical anesthetics.

[keeka]

it started doin it once.
a few wks later,
once more...
next i knew i was doin atleast 2-3 boxes/bottles per day for a good 9mos.
i shouldve died twice!! (no joke!)
got into alot of trouble and ruined alot of good friendships because of it.
what i hate the most now,
my relationships with people are totally different now..
my whole me is just quite off track, i can feel it.
theres no forgetting what i did to myself. at all, ever!!
i eventually came out of though, thank god!!!
but now im sittin here with extreeemelyy high blood pressure (179/121)
thats rediculous,
not only that but im different..
everything is!!!!
its unexplainable, but i know life will never be the same.
ive told my story too many times,
but im glad im here to tell it!
now i wont even take cough meds for a cough...
no matter how bad, i dont care.
not even cough drops/strips with dxm in it.
nooo waay!!!!
and i hiighy recommend you dont either!
its not worth it,
nothing is. nobody is.
because at times now i still feel all the negative effects, just without the high..
and let me tell you it *****!!
i could stroke out or have a heart attack any day, even though im on a couple different pills controlling that control my hypertension pretty well.
it still has its own way of thinking and goes up real fast real high, all just depending.
i constantly feel my heart beating so irregularly and extremely fast,
a steady tight pressured feeling like its gun explode out my chest,
horrible horrible headaches,
im a very excessive sweater now (no deoderants help, even perscription. ive tried it all)
i feel like a completely different person,
theres no doubt in my mind that ive changed mentally more than anything,
theres so much more...
fry my brain, liver, heart and so on (the list gets really long, too long!)
we could be here for years, literally!!
but IM JUST WARNING YOU not to waste ur time,
its fun yeah. but ruins your life!
if not in this way, itll get you somehow or another..
physically, mentally and emotionally!!!!
<3 <3

[lone_wolf5]

I used to do DXM a while back, and in total, I had 10 trips- two third plateau, 4 second and first plateau. The highest dose I had ever taken was 500mg, and for the third plateau, I had taken it with Dramamine. On that note, do NOT use Dramamine- I found out that stuff really screws up your respiratory system with long term use.

Has it affected me? Well on the plus side, it seems to have helped with my SAD- I have more confidence when speaking, something I had trouble with, and I don't get as depressed. BUT my short-term memory is not as good as it used to be- I find I have to write down things often to remember them, such as appointments and phone numbers. And I find that I easily get restless. Also, don't think this will help your depression or anxiety just because it helped me- some people have used DXM and this actually made their problems worse, even inducing constant paranoia.

I'm also guessing it isn't good for the muscles (DXM makes them tense up for a long time) and not good for your brain, liver, heart, and kidneys- most drugs overwork the kidneys and damage the liver if taken too frequently or in very high doses, plus DXM increases your heart rate and blood pressure. If you take a massive dose (above 3500 mg, I think?), you risk heart failure.    

So with DXM, long-term use is not a good idea, even at the lower plateaus. And if you take it, you run the risk of getting addicted, though compared to some other drugs DXM isn't too addictive. I recommend that you check out erowid- people have posted how long-term use has affected them, and there is a DXM FAQ. Hope that helps.  

[ErialC]

I am a 24 year old female.

When I was 15, my friend introduced me to DMX.  We took it and she ended up OD-ing and ended up in the hospital.  I probably should have gone to the hospital too.  I took 8 Cordicidans and 2 hours later, I wasn't feeling anything, so I took the rest of the box (16 pills total).

All I remember is tripping so hard, I had no idea where I was or who I was.  I was scared and freaked out.  Strangely enough, after that night, I found that needed DXM to escape insecurities and reality.  I tried different products until I found the one I liked the best (CVS brand cough suppressant).  It made me feel invincible.  I had so much energy and I became the outgoing, friendly person that I wanted to be.

I didn't do it a lot at first (because I didn't have a car to go get it).  I did one 4 ounce bottle a couple times a month.

Things got out of control when I got my driver’s license.  I had a job to buy the cough syrup, a car to get the cough syrup, and trusting parents.  I consistently did it 3-4 times a week (4-8oz a day).

There were times when I would spend two months just binging on DXM.  I would start out with 4 ounces a day but my tolerance grew and I worked my way up to 8+ ounces a day.  One time I drank 24 ounces.

I wasn’t thinking about side effects, I just needed to get away from everything.  I figured that I had done enough damage to my body that there was no point in quitting.

I really didn't feel negative side affects until into the 3rd year of my addiction.  I would get sharp pains in my chest and I was 20lbs underweight.  

When I turned 21, I would constantly drink alcohol with cough syrup.  It intensified the trip and the cough syrup was my remedy for hangovers.  They went hand in hand for me.

I finally wanted to quit after 7 years and I tried quitting more times than I could count.  I would get up to 3 days sober and life would feel unbearable and I would look for justification to do it again (usually for energy).  

After 8 years (August 2008), I was through letting DXM control my life.  I finally quit cold turkey.  It WAS the hardest obstacle I have ever had to overcome.  It has been almost a year since the last time I tripped and I am still fighting cravings to this day.  My speech is slurred when I get flustered; I have issues with anxiety, extreme paranoia, fatigue, depression, chest pains.  My memory is shot and I have a hard time finding the words I’m trying to say.  

I can’t go back to prevent my life from taking this path, but I can learn from it and move forward from there.

Please take my advice and stay away from DXM and all other drugs especially if you have an addictive personality like I do.  

[ErialC]

PS-- I just realized I put DMX in the start of my post instead of DXM... I'm new to this community and I can't figure out how to edit messages.
Just for the record, I've never met DMX  :)

[lone_wolf5]

Oh that reminds me- if you're still determined to take DXM, NEVER take the ones that have other active ingredients, especially Coricidin or with acetaminophen. Coricidin has CPM which (in high doses, over 24 mg) causes all sorts of complications, not to mention can kill you.

And...I'll be honest, if you're really desperate to get high, inform yourself and use something besides DXM. There are a lot more safer ways. And if you're worried about getting addicted, the best thing is to NOT do it at all!