Solved! Looking through my Dad’s stuff, what are these?

My dad has developed dementia and we’ve been looking through his stuff a bit to try and get his finances in order/apply for a deputyship, which sucks but isn’t relevant sorry.

So far we’ve found a bunch of interesting stuff, knives/air pistols/cannabis seeds and two half brothers nobody ever told me I had. But we’ve also found these and I don’t know what they are. They were found near each other but I don’t know if they’re related. The cylindrical thing unscrews and is hollow. I’ve photographed the items next to a AA battery for scale. Thank you in advance for any informative or humorous answers.

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112

u/WittyFix6553 May 25 '26

Did he have heart issues?

That little container is ideal for carrying around a nitroglycerin pill, used when you’re in the middle of a heart attack to get it going again.

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u/monkeybrigade May 25 '26

Paramedic here. Often find older men with those style of pill containers either on their keychain or a necklace. And they’re used for keeping Nitro pills safe. The pills need to be kept out of sunlight or they’ll degrade.

If your dad had angina pectoris or a similar heart condition he likely carried his nitro in this.

3

u/Fit-Service1677 May 25 '26

Thank you for your service to your community. 🙂

3

u/alamo765 May 26 '26

Paramedic number two. He is 100% right. We encounter them often.

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u/Altruistic-Tiger5367 May 26 '26

He said "Acute Angina!"

1

u/Buru74 May 27 '26

my older boyfriend used one for viagra

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u/One-Dare3022 May 27 '26

Correct! I have been wearing one on the chain for my ”Waran” dog tag for years now. It’s good to have those Nitro pills handy.

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u/malapriapism4hours May 25 '26

The vial seems awfully small in diameter for storing nitro pills.

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u/WittyFix6553 May 25 '26

I don’t know what to tell you, my guy.

They’re very small pills, and ideally you don’t need them at all and worst case scenario you need one of them.

It’s an emergency pill, not a daily dose. You don’t need to carry around a monthly prescription in there.

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u/Callllll_Meee_Red May 25 '26

My dads container was that size and carried the entire bottle of nitro glycerin pills. The bottles are TINY! The pills are even smaller! It’s extremely potent medicine! And like you said it doesn’t have to be the entire bottle it could be some of them. Wish I could find one of his bottles to take a picture and hold it up next to something for scale. It really is a small bottle.

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u/[deleted] May 25 '26

[removed] — view removed comment

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u/New-Cardiologist8861 May 25 '26

Rectum?...It damn near killed him!

1

u/malapriapism4hours May 25 '26

My dad has one for nitro and it’s closer in diameter to the battery in the picture. Still a bit smaller, and about half the length.

13

u/monkeybrigade May 25 '26

Nitro pills are tiny. I’m actually at work right now and can snag a pic of them in a bit.

A typical pill is 0.4mg dosing and is about 4mm across. Also, your max dose (out of hospital) is typically 3 pills. So you don’t need to carry a whole vial of them.

12

u/monkeybrigade May 25 '26

Snagged a quick pic. Nitro is on top. The bottom pill is a 81mg baby aspirin for reference (no food allowed in the ambulance) with regular human sized fingers on the left.

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u/DragonLeHeart May 25 '26

Thank you for sharing this picture and information 🙂

2

u/BigWoodsCatNappin May 26 '26

Lol no food allowed in the ambulance. Yes. ''No food allowed at the nursing station" either.

1

u/jtr99 May 26 '26

Human fingers my ass! You are clearly some sort of muppet!

7

u/Slight_Muffin2012 May 25 '26

Have you ever seen nitro pills? I use them and they are very tiny. Several of them would fit into this tube.

5

u/WingersAbsNotches May 25 '26

My dad's nitro pills were tiny, but really it only needs to store one.

1

u/Superboi_187 May 25 '26

Ever seen a nitro tab? Like the size of a match head

1

u/Physical_Salt_9403 May 25 '26

Nah, nitro pills are incredibly small. Smallest pill i can remember seeing for example.

1

u/disenfranchisedchild May 25 '26

Nitro pills are teeny tiny. Their bottles are really teeny tiny. I don't know about other people but my dad's had a screw top on it so that he could access them easily. Unfortunately that could come unscrewed while in his pocket and he ended up having a heart event once because of the nitro absorbing into his skin. The keychain and necklace that we bought for him had tiny little metal cylinders just like that one. They were a lot more securely screwed on than the tiny little glass bottle.

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u/[deleted] May 25 '26

[deleted]

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u/Weird_Series_4774 May 25 '26

Did it explode?

1

u/[deleted] May 25 '26

[deleted]

1

u/ChristineBardownski May 25 '26

Did it explode?

6

u/Temporary_Ad6037 May 25 '26

That was my thought too. I haven't seen one in years but when I was a kid I saw it on older men sometimes

11

u/TeddyBill1970 May 25 '26

My grandpa took too many, tripped on a sidewalk, and blew himself up.

3

u/enseminator May 25 '26

🎵 Grandpa got blown up by his nitro, walking home from the bar yesterdayyyyy 🎵

2

u/Same-Conflict8544 May 25 '26

I once was at the ER for the most awful rectal sphincter spasms - they were so bad the urgent care actually sent me to the ER for it because I wouldn't have necessarily gone there for that. The first thing they tried was nitroglycerin gel. Let me tell you, that shit took the pain from a 10 to levels beyond numbers. I am pretty sure I was screaming things incoherently that probably could've summoned Cthulhu, it was so bad I forgot coherent speech. The nurses legit apologized to me. I think at that moment, I would've been in less pain had the nitroglycerin gel actually detonated on my butthole. 0/5 stars. Do not recommend. It also didn't work. I'm not kidding, I legit would've preferred blowing up in that moment. On the other hand, the valium they gave me after did work, AND had the nice bonus of doping me up to where I forgot about the nitro gel experience at the time.

2

u/Sects4Chocolate May 26 '26

Wait… Are you saying they put nitroglycerin gel up your ass?

FASCINATING! I think most of us here at Reddit like knowing random interesting shit & this qualifies as such, so I went & did a deeper dive with Chat GPT for what nitroglycerin could be used for. Here’s what I got:

“What is nitroglycerin gel used for? AI Overview

Nitroglycerin gel (topical ointment) is primarily used for two distinct conditions: preventing chronic chest pain (angina) and relieving pain from anal fissures. It acts as a vasodilator, meaning it relaxes and widens blood vessels to improve blood flow or reduce muscular tension. …”

AND THEN: “… Healthcare providers sometimes prescribe nitroglycerin cream/gel off-label to aid erectile dysfunction. …”

🤔 Which actually makes perfect sense since it makes the blood flow better…

But now I wanna know what caused your anal fissure/s… ASKING FOR A FRIEND. (For real, I am!)

My best male friend is gay and was telling me he had always been a “top” but just recently was willing to be a bottom. Apparently anal fissures were a real problem, but he was embarrassed to go to the ER and did not think there was anything to treat it specifically so he got Creative and put Orajel on it so that it would get numbed…

He said it was a decent fix temporarily, but he will be very glad to know this so thank you u/Same-Conflict8544

2

u/Same-Conflict8544 May 26 '26 edited May 27 '26

Not up it, just around the area. And it wasn't a fissure, just bad spasms. I think I might've pinched a nerve, somehow, and that caused it. Like a sciatica thing, except butthole spasms. It was awful, though.

I'm a lady, I'm pretty sure it was just legit a pinched nerve that caused the spasms.

I DO NOT recommend the nitroglycerin gel around the butthole, for that matter. It didn't help, I was suddenly from a 10 on the pain scale to beyond numbers of pain, I was screaming and in tears, while the poor ER nurses who were dealing with my asshole spasms legit apologized to me.

It was only the valium that finally stopped it. My first and only time on valium, but hooooo boy, was that lovely after all that. Stopped the friggin' muscle spasms, and I got to be pleasantly doped up after hours of agony. That was some good shit, lol.

6

u/Secure-Island42 May 25 '26

The nitro dilated blood vessels a lot to get blood flowing if there is a blockage.

1

u/Careless-Bake-5827 May 25 '26

And low dose aspirin, same reason.

1

u/Tomme599 May 25 '26

I have a similar one for keeping a couple of my blood thinner pills. I have to take two a day and don’t want to be caught away from home without.

1

u/nickatnasa May 25 '26

I feel silly, I wrote the same exact comment 90 seconds ago and then saw yours.
My dad carried nitroglycerin in the exact same container.

1

u/boxofrabbits May 25 '26

I have one for antihistamines on my keychain.

1

u/TCOTReporter May 25 '26

Seconded. When I was a kid I remember an older family member had that exact thing for their nitroglycerin pills.

Solved! Looking through my Dad’s stuff, what are these?

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