Cough medicines - do they work?

[RudyDudy]

Just to be clear this is for me not my lo.

I have a tight chest and a rather foul sounding hacking chesty cough. Have been holding out taking cough medicine as a doc once told me that cough's are good as they are nature's way of removing 'bad stuff' from your body and so suppressing them is not a good idea. But would love for the cough to be gone by Christmas if possible - what does anyone think? Should I take a cough medicine?

The efficacy is very poor, they are said to barely make any difference. That said, I swear by mentholated cough drops (sweets) to help me sleep when I have a bad cough.

IMO they don't work. I have tried the lot even health food shop ones. Water is the only thing that helps me when a coughing fit starts. This is my opinion only someone else may recommend something.

I have brought some linctus stuff from safeways and though it hasnt stopped me from coughing it has left a nice thick coating over my throat so the next time it doesnt seem to rip my throat apart IYKWIM. Very cheap...just over a quid, but sooting if nothing else.

soothing..

Depends on what you mean by do they work? If you want it to make the cough go away faster than it would otherwise then they don?t work. But if you want it to help bring a little relief for the duration then IMO some mixes do help a bit. I like Benylin for Chesty Coughs Non-Drowsy, just seems to loosen everything up a bit.

When I've had coughs in the past - and I've had some horrendous, long-lasting ones, my GP always recommends our local Chemists "special recipe".

So I usually go to the chemist and ask for "Mr Gibbs Special Cough Recipe!" Not much good for you I know, but there is NOTHING on the market that is a patch on this stuff - and I've used most of them!

what a shame

reminded me though that when we were little mom used to swear by Gees Linctus but thinks that as it is opium based it isn't available anymore. Does anyone know if you can still get it? Might not help my cough but might make me forget about it for a while

I don't think they will clear your cough away completely. The only thing they might be any good for is relieving symptoms for a short while. My dd has a bad cough which really gets going when she goes to bed. Last night, in desperation, I tried her with a bit of tixilyx before putting her to bed and she only coughed for about five minutes and that was two hours after going to bed so she was soundly asleep by then and not disturbed by her coughing. She thought she hadn't coughed at all when she woke up this morning.

You can still get Gee's Linctus - I've got a bottle downstairs, I bought it in Boots. It tastes foul so it must be doing me good

Now for the useful bit - cough medicine for a chesty cough is an expectorant - that means it loosens the mucus and makes you cough more, which is a good thing - your GP is right, you shouldn't suppress a chesty cough.

But a cough medicine for a dry, tickly cough is a cough suppressant - and "may" help you sleep better, and have a break from coughing all the time.

Benylin do different medicines for different types of cough - ask your pharmacist.

None of them can cure your cough, but they can alleviate the symptoms a little (and I like to give them to my kids as I feel I am doing somthing to help - plus Benylin "Coughs and Colds" makes them drowsy which can only be a good thing at bedtime!)

thanks for that everyone - if it's still as bad tomorrow will try and get an expectorant or gees linctus (for the memories if nothing else!). However, am just off out with DH on a bit of a celebration so the cough may be lost amongst some new 'symptoms' by the morning