Had a really bad cold lately, went to the drugstore and it seems Nyquil isn’t carried here. However when I asked for anything at all that could relieve my symptoms and also help me to sleep, I was told there wasn’t anything like that. Is this true??
I have a bottle of Safeway Supermarket equivalent of Nyquil and the ingredients are:
In each 15cc:
Acetaminophen 500 mg -fever/pain reducer (this you can pretty easily find, or if not use aspirin or ibuprofen)
Dextromethorphan Hbr 15mg - cough suppressant
Doxlymine Succinate 6.25mg - antihistamine
Phenylephrine Hcl 5mg - nasal decongestant
You should be able to find meds for colds in any large drug store in Taiwan.
what’s the brand name? I’ve gone to the big drug stores but they keep suggesting straight cough medicine andi’m not seeing anything like what you describe on my own…
The other ingredient in Nyquil… which trumps all the others IMO… is alcohol. 25% alcohol, in fact, meaning that the 30 ml adult dose is about the same as 20 ml of regular liquor.
http://www.wired.com/science/discoveries/magazine/15-11/st_nyquil
This led to my self-prescription last time I had a bad cough in Taipei… I toddled down to 7-Eleven and bought whiskey, the cheapest, which was actually not half-bad when you’re looking for medicine, not a fine, mellow taste sensation. I used about 60 ml (that’s the start of a medicinal dose, isn’t it?) to chase two acetaminophen and two Mucinex (decongestant/cough suppressant) tablets that I’d brought with me from home. LOVELY. I went right to bed and I felt almost completely better the next morning. 
I ain’t the boss of you or anything, but it is my understanding that mixing alcohol and acetaminophen is a huge no-no.
I just take a cold med (antihist. + decong.), and then add very small sips of the following:
brandy mixed with honey and lemon
I keep a bottle premixed as a cough remedy. The alcohol numbs the throat and helps suppress the cough, and the other ingredients are soothing and improve the flavor for those who don’t like straight liquor. 10-20 cc is usually enough to have an effect. I wouldn’t suggest consuming more significant amounts of alcohol than that in combination with other medicines.
I ain’t the boss of you or anything, but it is my understanding that mixing alcohol and acetaminophen is a huge no-no.[/quote]
Long term, absolutely. However, if it was THAT bad for you, it seems that the US FDA wouldn’t allow Nyquil to be sold over the counter to anyone who wants to buy it… right? That includes my daughter (age 9 at the time), who bought some for her dad once at the grocery store… and no, he was not visible to the cashier… just doesn’t hit the same “check the ID” pattern as a bottle of wine, even though it’s stronger… but I digress…
Thanks for worrying about me. I’ve done it maybe twice in five years. Still alive. 
Whisky with honey and lemon is great. Add a tylenol and an antihystamine like Benadryl and you’ll be fine. But you won’t find Nyquill or anything like it here. At least, I never have.
there are Nyquil and Dayquil pills available at every Cosmed and Watsons. Most of the suggested remedy’s so far in this post are great, except they recommend concocting drugs that also are not sold in Taiwan! Tylenol and Benadryl? Not in any store I’ve been to!
Well, Tylenol is acteminophen (Panedol here), and Benadryl is diphenhydramine (which is just an antihystamin–which happens to cause drowsiness–the “sleep aid” in Nyquill), and you could just google to find that information if you didn’t know it.
Acetaminophen is also called Paracetamol here, which confused the hell out of me for years before I finally looked it up.