Is alcohol ever an ingredient in meds? Does it facilitate any kind of necessary chemical reaction that is essential in a drug?

You are always a fountain of knowledge m'dear. When you show up I always pay attention. Can you make alcohol out of anything R? I know you can out of potatoes and rice. Corn? Grapes of course can be turned into wine but how many things can be turned into the "hard" stuff?  About antifreeze poisoning. Who drinks antifreeze? Is methanol like ethanol? Isn't that what they were considering making from corn? All of these disparate "facts" are jumbled in my brain. So there is ethanol in cough syrups? Used as a solvent? How much? Yikes. You know what? We haven't used cough syrup in decades but I cannot remember ever reading the ingredients label way back then! Anyway thank you for the helpful information. Some of it is confusing but that's not your fault. Do you use cough syrups? They usually have numbered dyes in them and we stopped ingesting anything with a numbered dye many years ago. I mean you can dye things with carrots or beets. Why do you need RED DYE #5 or YELLOW #6? Makes no sense.

Grapes can also be turned into spirits, that's what brandy is. Distilled wine.
Pretty much anything that contains sugar or maltable starch can be turned into ethanol, simply by adding yeast. Even bread dough contains it, it's evaporated out in the baking process.
Methanol is wood alcohol, it's toxic if ingested. Was used pure in top-fuel dragsters, but now must have an admixture of at least 10% ethanol - because pure methanol burns with a colourless flame. A pit crew member was doused in fuel and burned to death before anybody knew he was on fire. The addition of ethanol makes it burn blue. Also used as a disinfectant and is added to household cleaners, hence "methylated spirit". Children have ben accidentally poisoned by this and by antifreeze - glycerol and ethyl glycol are sweet tasting and deadly poisonous. Ethanol, though also poisonous in quantity, is less toxic and can be used to inhibit the uptake of the others, as well as preventing glycol by-products from crystallising in the kidneys and causing renal failure.

I did not know brandy was made from grapes. I'm not real big on it but some people love to have their after-dinner brandy in a snifter which I think they warm the bowl of the snifter in their hands? Our darling across the street neighbor does that. She is so cute. An ex-husband of mine used to do that too. After we divorced. I guess he took up with a gal who did that. Another ex(my son's dad) was into dragsters and designed and maintained the engine of a long-ago winner called "THE SPIRIT OF 76". We raced out of drag strips on the east coast. The pits were the pits when my son was very young. When the dragsters did burnouts he'd scream. I think the noise actually hurt his ears. So of course after that we'd park very far away so he would not hear the LOUD noise. Distance muffles intensity which I know you know. The folks were nice and it was all families. The wives and kids would be in the cars and the guys would be out there doing their thing. I have felt contempt for the NASCAR folks cuz I think the are all REPUBLICANS.I remember I did that too only not street racers...the ultimate ride...a DRAGSTER. So long ago. Antifreeze is sweet? Good lord I did not know that. That whole area of possibility is very scary and hopefully the folks must educate themselves about which does what and what can happen. Thank you for the education R. Do you enjoy brandy? I tasted apricot brandy and I liked that. I LOVE apricot! How about Maureen? :) This post was edited by RosieG at October 11, 2020 6:41 AM MDT

Neither of us are into brandy, although I've used kirsch in cooking (black cherry brandy, you can't do a proper Black Forest Torte without it). Maureen prefers spiced rum or gin, I'm partial to single malt Scotch whisky - not in large amounts or too often, it's expensive. I prefer beer anyway.

I am salivating as I write this. YOU/MAUREEN MAKE Black Forest Torte? Once upon a time very long ago I ate a piece of Black Forest cake and oh my! Delicious does not begin to describe it. So a torte is that only many layers? Oh my. I'm not a fan of gin but I like rum or vodka. Years ago when I lived in Massachusetts my Italian friend Nancy went to an Italian Bakery in Boston and I went along with her. She bought a RUM CAKE and gave me some. That was scrumptious. I never developed a taste for Scotch but I worked for someone who imported a certain Scotch. Glen something I think. What a great way to start my day! Food! Drink! Almost nothing better these days tp talk about than food. Sigh. Thank you for your reply R and Happy Monday! :).

My daughter is the fancy cook in our family. "Torte" is German for "cake" and that's where the Black Forest is. Schwarzwalderkirschtorte is complicated, so I helped her with it.

Glenfiddich and Glenlivet are both good single malts, Laphroaig is better but fiendishly expensive. From the isles (Islay) rather than the highlands. Blended Scotch is cheaper but not as good. My grandfather was a top-shelf man, he introduced me to single malt when I was nineteen (18 is legal in Australia) and I just can't stand the cheap stuff as a result. This post was edited by Slartibartfast at October 13, 2020 2:07 AM MDT

Thank you for your informative reply R. I'm pretty sure it was the Glenlivet that my former employer would import. That rings a bell. I only tasted Scotch a couple of times when I was much younger. Never had an entire drink and it tasted like medicine to me. I expect it wasn't the best kind of Scotch. So single malt is best and blended is not so hot? Ever hear of Sacher torte? I don't why that popped in my mind. Never tasted any but I think I might have read a recipe once upon  a time. I used to be a pretty good baker but somewhere along the line I lost my touch. I always thought a torte was a  many layered cake..like ten layers or so. I said the name out loud twice of the torte you made. It is delicious to say strangely enough and I'm sure incredibly delicious to eat. I know Schwarz means black. Is it German or Yiddish? Happy Tuesday to thee and thine m'dear! French Open is done with a few upsets. Now on to the Aussie slam in January. We miss seeing Ash play. I wonder if she will pick where she left off? I'm sure she practices a lot. It will be good to watch her play again! :)

Schwarz - black
Wald - forest
Kirsch - cherries, also the liqueur made from sour morello (black) cherries - both are required
Torte - cake.
It's just the name for it in German, I'm showing off.

Ash excels on slower surfaces, if the Australian Open is held in Melbourne on rebound ace, she'll do well. If it has to be moved to Sydney's White City (grass) or Adelaide (hardcourt), she could struggle. Melbourne is still restricted due to COVID, the AFL grand final will be played elsewhere this year for the first time in more than a century.

Geez R you are taking time to EDUCATE me. Showing off? Of course not. How can I learn if you keep what you know to yourself? I'm not a mindreader m'dear. But as you define each part of the word my taste buds come alive. I guess that is the hallmark of a foodie? Words cause physical wanting? I dunno. It's gotten worse or better as I've gotten older. It's gotten more. That's all I know. But you know what's so odd? The more involved I became with food the slimmer I became. i am not joking. You'd think it would work opposite but for me it didn't.  As for Ash I think she rocks on any surface but I'm not as knowledgeable about her specifically as you are. If it were in Adelaide would you go? Once upon a time in the long ago when Indian Wells opened and the first master of each year's ten was held there Jim and I went to the opening day. We spent morning till night there and saw Roger Federer and the other greats live on court in real time. It has been a highlight of our lives. There is just something magic about BEING THERE though we are very grateful that we can go anywhere in our chairs in Hemet and stay safe. Looking forward to January Aussie tennis. Maybe things will be better? Surges are now happening in Europe. The dumb cluck duck rallies will insure superspreading at all the rally sites. No mask no social distancing. Things are normal there in the alternate world of his reality. So of course we know what the results of that idiocy will be. Thank you for your informative reply R! :) This post was edited by RosieG at October 13, 2020 5:30 AM MDT

Our mouthwash is TOM'S of Maine m2c. It is alcohol-free. We haven't used cough syrups in decades. No need. Thank you for your reply and Happy Monday to thee and thine! :)

Yes there are alcohol free mouthwashes. My husband buys one by Colgate.  Personally I don't like them as well. 

I think having a book dedicated to meds is fairly benign. But a book listing all medical conditions and their warning signs? Imagine reading it. By the time you were on the third page you'd swear you had all the symptoms of all the diseases and were dying! Well perhaps that is an exaggeration but I did run across such a book once upon a time...I think a book store or library was having a sale and I was tempted to buy it but then I thought maybe I'd better not. So I didn't. I don't know if I am really prone to being swept up by such info but I didn't dare to test it. Thank you for your reply Durdle and Happy Monday to thee and thine! :)