To expect cough medicine to do what it says on the bottle and actually provide some relief?

[the3ofus]

I have been hacking away with a cough for the past three days. This morning, in desperation, I took some cough medicine which promised to "relieve symptons". I did not expect a magical, instant cure but had hoped my one hour commute to work on the train would be tolerable. Instead I spent it coughing away miserably into my hanky, trying not to notice that everyone sitting near me was slowly shrinking away from me... (and I don't blame them!). I am sat here coughing away- the cough medicine has had NO effect whatsoever. I am not surprised, I gave up using cough medicine years ago as I found they didn't help me in the slightest, but today I was desperate...

How do these medicines get licensed when they DO NOT work?

There was a report recently stating that cough medicines do not work. Honey was supposed to be more effective. I never buy the stuff, have never understood how something that goes down your oesophagus could affect your trachea. The only ingredient that does help in the mixture is the mild sedative, but in the over the counter stuff it is so mild that it has little effect on gut-wracking coughs..