Page 5 | How do pharmaceutical companies get away with the lie that is cough “medicine”?

Coughmedicinedoesntwork · 2023-05-09T15:45:04+00:00

Seriously, how are they allowed to sell this stuff? I must have tried every brand and type of cough medicine including liquids/syrups/tablets/lozenges and NONE of them work. They do not stop or help a cough. Had everything pinned on Covonia but again doesn’t work. I’m talking about those awful coughs you get when you have a cold, with these useless products specifically being targets at cough and cold sufferers. I even tried a humidifier and what a waste of money that was too. In fact everything I’ve read is a waste of time and money. Yesterday I tried garlic and pineapple as “natural” remedies and they did zero to help with my cough. I feel like we are all sold this rubbish that the medicine works and as unwell people are desperate for some relief we will try anything and these companies know this and benefit from peddling their rubbish products. Can you tell I am fed up after another night of coughing and no sleep. I just want something to work.

Backtonormalatlast · 09/05/2023 23:42

Benylin nighttime was absolutely bloody amazing…cannot get it now!!!

VanillaImpulse · 10/05/2023 00:44

Nyquil contains a sedative antihistamine called doxylamine which is unavailable in this country now. It used to be in the original Syndol tablets.

VanillaImpulse · 10/05/2023 00:45

Codeine linctus does work but you're unlikely to find a pharmacist who will sell it due to the addiction dangers

throwaway2023 · 10/05/2023 00:55

VestaTilley · 09/05/2023 19:13

Only thing that ever worked for me for the most horrific chest problem of my life, years ago, was a course of steroids. But I’m not sure that’s usually recommended.

I’d just drink honey and lemon to soothe your throat that’ll be made sore by coughing. Go to GP if it worsens.

I’ve got a cough and cold now; I wore my thermal vest with heatgen tech (or some nonsense) that M&S

Oh that brings back memories
I had an OOH appointment for what I thought was a chest infection
Sat in the waiting room coughing and staff came out with a nebuliser and stuff so I am nosying at who is unwell
Er me. If you cough constantly you can't really breathe
3 courses of steroids, 8 nebulisers and 2 courses of antibiotics. Turns out it was pneumonia

FictionalCharacter · 10/05/2023 02:45

ColonelRhubarbBikini · 09/05/2023 16:59

Chesty cough mixtures use a medication called guaifenesin. It’s not supposed to suppress your cough as you shouldn’t stop a productive cough. The guaifenesin helps to thin the mucus and therefore make it easier to cough up.

Pholcodine will absolutely stop a cough as it works to send a signal to your brain telling it not to cough essentially but you can’t use that if the cough is productive as you’ll just have all that crap sat on your chest instead of being coughed up.

Exactly. Mixtures for chesty coughs contain an expectorant such as guaifenesin. Mixtures for tickly coughs contain cough suppressants. Both are intended to help the symptoms (a bit) but they don’t cure the cough or make it go away any quicker.

Unfortunately for me, guaifenesin just makes me throw up violently!

FictionalCharacter · 10/05/2023 03:04

FictionalCharacter · 10/05/2023 02:45

Exactly. Mixtures for chesty coughs contain an expectorant such as guaifenesin. Mixtures for tickly coughs contain cough suppressants. Both are intended to help the symptoms (a bit) but they don’t cure the cough or make it go away any quicker.

Unfortunately for me, guaifenesin just makes me throw up violently!

Show quote history

Actually @ColonelRhubarbBikini I think it was ipecac that made me throw up, in the old formulations.
I used to absolutely love Gee’s linctus when I was a kid. I can remember the taste even now after more decades than I’d like to admit. There was another one that tasted nice but I can’t remember the name.

CakesAndCookies · 10/05/2023 05:33

Marshamallow root loose leaf tea is the only effective thing I know for relieving dry coughs. .
In a mug. we pour boiling water over a table spoon of dried root , cover and leave for 10-15 mins.
We gargle with the strained liquid, then swallow.
It has mild pleasant taste.
It was recommended by an acquaintance, found it on Amazon.

Outdamnspot23 · 10/05/2023 08:17

Why is it that Jakemans sweets seem to work in a way that other sweets don’t?

currently pregnant and you can’t have lemsip so feeling pretty wretched

TroysMammy · 10/05/2023 08:44

Pre-covid when you could go into work with a cough I was on the phone to a patient. Later that morning he came in for his appointment and gave me a packet of black Jakemans. Whenever I get a cough I buy them, they are no miracle cure but nice to have. We do have lovely patients.

CharlottenBerg · 10/05/2023 11:32

PipinwasAuntieMabelsdog · 09/05/2023 23:33

What does Vicks on the feet achieve? Rather than the chest, I've never heard of this

My mum's chiropodist advised Vicks for slight fungus infection on her toenails. Worked a treat, she said.

CharlottenBerg · 10/05/2023 11:47

A funny thing, for years I had thought that 'Vicks' was wrong and the proper name was 'Vick' because that's what my mum always called it, but I checked just now and it has always has been 'Vicks', originally Vicks VapoRub. Lunsford Richardson initially wanted to call his new product Richardson’s Croup and Pneumonia Cure Salve. It wouldn't fit on the label however, so he changed the name to honour his brother-in-law, Dr. Joshua Vick. Every day a school day. Better get on with some work!

elm26 · 11/05/2023 20:07

TroysMammy · 10/05/2023 08:44

Pre-covid when you could go into work with a cough I was on the phone to a patient. Later that morning he came in for his appointment and gave me a packet of black Jakemans. Whenever I get a cough I buy them, they are no miracle cure but nice to have. We do have lovely patients.

This is lovely!

Love black Jakemans.

itsabigtree · 11/05/2023 20:45

Fucking ridiculous. No other country police their medicines quite as over the top as the UK

Not really true!
We're very lucky to have paracetamol in stores, supermarkets, super drug etc. for very cheap. A lot of countries it is only available in pharmacies for ten times the price! As for cocodamol... not a chance! No diamorphine in labour in most of Europe either.

We're actually very lucky to have the drugs we do!

OneTC · 11/05/2023 21:11

They give heroin in labour?

OneTC · 11/05/2023 21:12

Just googled, mind blown

dementedpixie · 11/05/2023 21:20

I had diamorphine for both my labours.
I hadn't realised it was classed as heroin

VeggieSalsa · 11/05/2023 21:23

Have you tried an inhaler?

Quisquam · 11/05/2023 21:24

*Why is something that is supposed to help your chest, going into your stomach?

It is quite literally going down the wrong tube.*

My grandfather said morphine was an effective cough medicine, and so he used to keep a bottle in his pocket for his smoker’s cough. As some cough medicines contain codeine, which is a member of the opiate family, and it’s supposed to be metabolised in the liver into morphine, I guess the manufacturers are working on the same principle?

CharlottenBerg · 11/05/2023 23:13

@Quisquam "Why is something that is supposed to help your chest, going into your stomach?"

What goes in your stomach ends up in your bloodstream, and can be processed by your body into something another part can use.

Quisquam · 11/05/2023 23:24

What goes in your stomach ends up in your bloodstream, and can be processed by your body into something another part can use.

I didn’t say that. I was replying to another poster, who said it. I replied that my grandfather took oral morphine for his smoker’s cough, as he said morphine is effective for coughs. He must have thought oral morphine could still work, even though it wasn’t going into his lungs! Indeed, as a pathologist, he must have done post mortems on people who had drowned, so he’d have known of the dangers of liquids, going into the lungs?

Quisquam · 12/05/2023 12:19

I imagine the pharmacy staff probably sell cough medicines, because the customers won’t take “Do self help remedy x,y or z” for an answer, as so many people want a magic pill to cure any ailment instantaneously?

CharlottenBerg · 12/05/2023 15:43

Quisquam · 11/05/2023 23:24

What goes in your stomach ends up in your bloodstream, and can be processed by your body into something another part can use.

I didn’t say that. I was replying to another poster, who said it. I replied that my grandfather took oral morphine for his smoker’s cough, as he said morphine is effective for coughs. He must have thought oral morphine could still work, even though it wasn’t going into his lungs! Indeed, as a pathologist, he must have done post mortems on people who had drowned, so he’d have known of the dangers of liquids, going into the lungs?

Ah yes. For his cough. Being a medical professionals is high risk for substance abuse. I read in Sydney Smith's Forensic Science that ether drinking used to be common among doctors at the time he wrote it (1920s), plus opiates of course.

CharlottenBerg · 12/05/2023 15:46

However... "The most effective antitussive agents are opioids such as morphine, diamorphine, and codeine which, in all probability, act both centrally on brainstem opioid receptors and on receptors located peripherally on sensory nerve endings in the airways. However, at their effective doses they also cause physical dependence, respiratory depression, and gastrointestinal symptoms. ... Several opiate-containing proprietary cough mixtures contain low doses of weaker opioids such as codeine, but there is no strong evidence that these are more effective than the demulsant vehicle."