To be completely confused by the new rules on childrens cough medicines?

[dilemma456]

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No idea - I'm just as confused as you.

You could always go to a different pharmacy and lie

Right - this might be completely wrong, but i think its because apparantly parents can not be trusted to give the right doses at the right time throwing up the risk of overdose?
Or was it because it was proved that they had no proven benefit??

I am also confused so just wanted to let you know that you are not on your own...

lol, but we are allowed to give calpol, which must have a much higher overdose risk (assuming incompetent parents that is)

and it's ok to OD your 12 yrt old???

it is weird, i can't say I know much about it though

Having survived a lot of chest infections with Medised over the last 4 years ( and I mean DD, if she has her sleep she recovers better, no doubt), then I'm not looking forward to the next 6 years of the twins lives!!!!!

I have been told you are better off giving them nothing than the likes of Tixylix cough. This is because there is no evidence that they work in this age group (6 and under), and they can potentially cause side effects such as allergic reactions, effects on sleep or hallucinations.

Cough mixtures don't really work.

Make her a (non-alcoholic!) hot toddy of honey and lemon, or buy honey, lemon and glycerine mixture, and give paracetamol. Just as effective and much cheaper!

Hope she's better soon.

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I have treated my four with homeopathy over last 7 years - it's really good for coughs but you need to see a registered homeopath to get a remedy/potency suitable for your child. However, in moments of desperation/emergency I use medised (and lie to pharmacy staff to get it). The best anti-snot medicine is piriton/piriteze depending on age. I'm not sure on ages of this under new rules but you may need to lie again!

I had a chat with a pharmacist about this at the weekend. She says the rules changed because there was no evidence they reduce the length or severity of a cold, but they do relieve the symptoms. So, the advice is that they are no use for children - but I think that relieving the symptoms is surely important!

Anyway, she also said the problem with medised is that pharmacists felt most people were buying it for its sedative properties rather than snot-drying ability and there were concerns it would be a problem if people were using it at the same time as Calpol (since they both contain paracetamol).

The GP also said something similar, but said to use common sense and trust my judgement as a mum.
Donna