[TrainTilUDrop]

Cure can worsen your cold
By BOB LAMENDOLA and LARISSA CUMMINGS
January 11, 2006
IT is a staple of most medicine cabinets but doctors have warned that over-the-counter cough syrup could worsen symptoms of a common cold instead of improving them.
In new guidelines for treating coughs, the American College of Chest Physicians yesterday recommended dropping cough syrup as a treatment and instead relying on low-cost antihistamines.
"Cough syrups may suppress a cough a little bit. But they don't treat the underlying cause. They won't make you better any faster," the physician group's president Dr Michael Alberts said.
In Australia, a growing number of general practitioners are advising patients to tough it out rather than waste money on cough syrups, as colds typically go away on their own.
The inefficiency of cough syrups has been proven locally by the Australian Consumers' Association.
In a survey conducted by the watchdog's magazine Choice, cough syrups were found to worsen symptoms of colds in children.
Echoing the concerns of their American colleagues, Dr Wendy Hu and Dr Kathryn Currow of The Children's Hospital, Westmead, said: "As a general rule, medicines should not be given unless they do more good than harm, but unfortunately most over-the-counter cough mixtures don't follow this rule."
The US doctors said cough syrups often contain codeine derivatives which can sedate children but do not help the cough to go away.
"Many cough mixtures contain complicated mixtures of different medications in doses that are less than what would be recommended to be effective that can increase the risk of side effects," they said.
"For example, the addition of an antihistamine increases the sedative effect, and by making the mucous thicker, can make it more difficult to cough up, causing a second infection."
Recent studies in the US have found that cough syrup - usually containing the cough suppressant dextromethorphan and the expectorant guaifenesin - works no better than sugar water. In drafting its new guidelines coming out on Tuesday in the journal Chest, the physicians group looked at the research and concluded that cough syrup can give short-term relief for some people but that's about all, Dr Alberts said.
The group recommends using older-generation antihistamines that may attack the nasal drip and runny nose that cause many coughs.

[StanChampion]

hmmm I thought guaifenesin worked.
I had a lil stuffy nose recently and have been using the dextro/guaif/pseudoephed mix to help out.


I was going to get the muciex (sp?) 600mg guaifenesin product and add some sudafed.

Maybe I should try out straight up benedryl.

[punta]

Interesting...

[Nullifidian]

I wonder if they are talking about strictly DXM. Because Niquil works like a charm.

[TrainTilUDrop]

Guiafenassen (sp?) is usually given by prescription. It says in there OTC stuff is their concern.

[bioman]

Guafenisen..or however the hell you spell it LOL.. can be purchased OTC. I believe it is a derivative of a compound found in cherry tree bark.

Dextro can also worsen bronchitis. There are warnings on Alkaseltzer cold medicine to avoid it if you have chronic bronchitis. I found this out the hard way...it made my bronchitis much worse.

I use an herb called Yerba Santa (Eriodictyon angustifolia) to open up the lungs and expectorate. Works like a charm but you need a quality liquid extract.

[Whiskey Steve]

Originally Posted by bioman

Dextro can also worsen bronchitis. There are warnings on Alkaseltzer cold medicine to avoid it if you have chronic bronchitis. I found this out the hard way...it made my bronchitis much worse.

Damn, i have been there. I took it the first time I had Bronchitis. (I have had Bronchitis&Pnemonia two time's....in pairs both times that is.)

[CarryOnTheChaos]

this is very interesting considering the "plague" is currently going around everywhere down here...i've had it for the past week and keep losing weight

good post.

regards,
COTC

[bioman]

I'm just coming back from the flu..it totally kicked my ass. I could hardly eat for 2 weeks. I tried to avoid cold medicines but I did have to break down and take some dextromethorphan cough syrup because I couldn't stop coughing. Also used some Tylenol for the body aches.

I do think the products brings some small relief but many of the ingredients are just plain toxic or will have negative effects on recovery.