Don't Waste Your Money On Cough Syrup

[jeffrey]

Americans spend hundreds of millions of dollars a year on cough syrup and it doesn't do a thing for us. According to the American College of Chest Physicians, it's a waste of money to purchase over-the-counter cough syrups or drops for both adults and children. The new guidelines are based on a review of studies dating back several decades. The conclusion is that there is no scientific evidence which exists that suppressants or expectorants (drugs used to thin out mucus) - both commonly found in cough syrup - relieve coughs due to colds.




Instead, the new recommendation is to use over-the-counter sedating antihistamines, such as dexbrompheniramine, plus a decongestant, such as pseudoephedrine, which appear to be effective in relieving coughs due to colds. The new guidelines and evidence review are published in this month's issue of the journal Chest.

For persistent coughs you should always consult your doctor since this may be a sign of something more serious than a cold.

Source: usatoday

[dealsaver]

Personally, I feel like I've been robbed of all the money that I've spent on over the counter cough medicines. I'm conservative with my application of medicine, but I've definetly bought a sizable amount of cough medicine over the years for all my kids. I'm waiting to sign up for whatever class action lawsuit there is against the pharmacutical companies to get some of my money back. Liars.

[nate]

One word. Zicam!

[Optsol]

Recently I travelled to Zurich on business, and I picked up a viscious cold. They don't have drugstores over there like we have, and basically, you can't buy cough medicine in grocery stores or walmart-type stores there.

Instead they have kind of a combined pharmacy/hmo location -- where a licensed pharmacist/nurse performs a mini consultation, and heads back into a room of a billion drugs/herbs/weird stuff and comes out with a bottle of something for you.

It was obviously a weird experience -- but the lady there basically told me the same thing as this study.

The "dexo-blah-blah" (cough suppressent) doesn't do anything except let you sleep at night (she said never take it during the day).

The expectorant should only be taken immediately when you wake up in the morning, so that when you shower, the hot steam can get in there and you can hack out the overnight accumulation.

She also said that you never take both, since they aren't overly useful in combination, i.e., you're supposed to cough when you take the expectorant.

All in all -- I have never felt that expectorants/suppressants help me get through a cold faster -- but that they simply allow me to feel better while enduring them.

[anewshka]

Go "old school"....Grandma used honey and lemon........still works!

[pyotr]

This is old news. Every respectable doc I know has been telling and teachinger everyone the same thing - tussionex etc. doesn't work. There's really nothing that is effective for coughs. The cough is the body's natural defense mechanism to rid itself of noxious substances. Whenever you suppress the cough, you are reducing the body's ability to remove the offending particles from its respiratory passages. I've been reciting this spiel to patients for over a decade now - in the end they still want their prescription for the worthless robitussinAC or tussionex or whatever (probably for the narcotic effect). We write the stupid scripts because we don't have the hour to go over the evidence with them in more detail.