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Nitin Bhatnagar

Can I take NyQuil and Sudafed at the same time?

Carrol Turner  Follow

There’s no harmful interactions with the two, but Sudafed is a stimulant and will likely keep you awake. NyQuil won’t hurt, but it’s debatable whether it’ll tire you out after the Sudafed.

Speaking without knowledge of alternatives to Sudafed: next time, maybe try a warm shower (or at least a warm, damp washcloth) draped over your nose to hopefully help loosen up your sinuses while you lay down.

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Asad Hussain  Follow

Taking NyQuil and Sudafed at the same time would have the stimulant effect of Sudafed (pseudoephedrine, or phenylephrine if you take the Sudafed PE version) competing with the drowsiness effect of the antihistamine in NyQuil (doxylamine). The results are unpredictable and likely to be unpleasant; you might end up stimulated, drowsy, or waver between the two states.

If you need the antihistamine effect of NyQuil in addition to the pain relief (acetaminophen) and cough suppressant (dextromethorphan), it would be better to combine DayQuil with one of the non-drowsy antihistamines for daytime use. Suitable drugs include Allegra (fexofenadine), Claritin (loratadine), and Zyrtec (cetirizine).

If you don’t want the stimulant part of DayQuil, but do want the other things along with an antihistamine, you’ll have to take them separately. I don’t know of any suitable combination drugs for that.

As always with combination drugs, it’s important not to take two drugs that contain the same ingredient. Otherwise you can end up taking too much of that ingredient and get bad side effects. It’s especially important not to take two drugs that contain acetaminophen (Tylenol) or paracetamol (the European name for the same drug) at the same time; that can lead to LIFE THREATENING damage to the liver.

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