Many cough medicines lack effective dose, say doctors, studies

October 24, 2008 By Kayce T. Ataiyero

It's an autumn and winter ritual. There you are in the drugstore aisle, wondering which of the many cough remedies to buy, standing miserable among the promises of a speedy recovery. It's amazing to consider that most experts offer the same advice: Save your money.



Content from McClatchy-Tribune Information Services expires 90 days after original publication date. For more information about McClatchy-Tribune Information Services, please visit www.mctdirect.com .

Similar stories from PHYSorg:


As prices rise, find ways to trim grocery bills

created May 05, 2008 | popularity 4.4 / 5 (7) | comments 0

Meltdown 101: Package sizes at the grocery store

created Jul 26, 2009 | popularity 1 / 5 (2) | comments 0

Extended service contracts: When and why do people buy them?

created Jun 15, 2009 | popularity 2.2 / 5 (5) | comments 1

Alice.com grasps the woes of buying toilet paper

created Jul 01, 2009 | popularity not rated yet | comments 1

Disease prevention often costs more than it saves

created Jun 24, 2009 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0


print this article email this article download pdf blog this article bookmark this article     Stumble it Digg this share on Facebook retweet share on Reddit add to delicious
Rate this story - 4.1 /5 (14 votes)

Rank Filter

Move the slider to adjust rank threshold, so that you can hide some of the comments.


Display comments: newest first

  • x646d63 - Oct 24, 2008
    • Rank: 3.4 / 5 (5)
    Not everyone is tricked by the pharms. For coughs eat a spoonful of organic clover honey. Works for kids, too.
  • Minnaloushe - Oct 24, 2008
    • Rank: 5 / 5 (3)
    Codeine is the mother of all cough meds. Of course, you can't buy it OTC in a cough medicine since we have to protect doctors'/pharma's monopoly -- errr... I mean protect the public health. Yeah. That's it.
  • itistoday - Oct 24, 2008
    • Rank: not rated yet
    Well obviously they need to increase the dose then. Say, something around 600 mg outta do the trick. And even if people tell you that it doesn't actually work, at that point you probably won't know that you're coughing anyway.

    ;-)
  • Minnaloushe - Oct 24, 2008
    • Rank: not rated yet
    100mg demerol/50mg promethazine? :)
  • conservo - Oct 25, 2008
    • Rank: 3.7 / 5 (3)
    Not everyone is tricked by the pharms. For coughs eat a spoonful of organic clover honey. Works for kids, too.

    I had a major allergy problem last spring with severe coughing that caused me to lose my voice, and was told by friends that honey would help get it back sooner. So I tried it. No it didn't help bring back my voice, but it sure as hell soothed my throat and stopped my coughing. Now it's the first thing I turn to when my throat starts tickling from hay fever. Works like a charm.
  • Soylent - Oct 25, 2008
    • Rank: 1 / 5 (1)
    Not everyone is tricked by the pharms. For coughs eat a spoonful of organic clover honey. Works for kids, too.


    Do placebos work better when they're "organic"?
  • Doug_Huffman - Oct 25, 2008
    • Rank: not rated yet
    Stuff with no side effects generally have no effect at all.

    Not every one is tricked by the "pharms" be they marketeers or alternative. Believe nothing you read or hear without verifying it yourself unless it fits your preexisting worldview.

    NOmamiNation
  • JesterOI - Oct 26, 2008
    • Rank: not rated yet
    The one shot of whiskey is what does it for me. My cold symptoms definitely seem gone or way less noticeable than before.
    I am going to give the honey a try next time I get sick. Two or three spoons should do.
    Does anyone know if the effectiveness of honey is affected by mixing it into a hot totty type drink? I'm going to give that a try next time as well.
  • x646d63 - Oct 29, 2008
    • Rank: 5 / 5 (1)
    Do placebos work better when they're "organic"?


    You should withhold your mockery for topics in which you're more educated.

    If the conventional placebos have antibiotics and sulphonamides in them like conventional honey them then I'd recommend the organic placebos.

    Feel free to mock honey and its cough suppressing ability. You just keep paying the pharms for the drugs that will give you a stroke. I'm going to use organic honey.

    http://www.medica...0594.php

October 24, 2008 all stories

Comments: 9

4.1 /5 (14 votes)
  • Stumble this up

  • Digg this

  • share this

  • hide
  • Related Stories

  • High Blood Pressure Medicines Show Promise for Treating Heart Disease
    created Oct 29, 2009 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0
  • Giving babies Tylenol may blunt vaccines' effects
    created Oct 15, 2009 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0
  • Early flu season -- what you need to know
    created Sep 14, 2009 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0
  • Studies: Swine flu spreads long after fever stops (Update)
    created Sep 14, 2009 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0
  • Swine flu: 10 things you need to know
    created Sep 01, 2009 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0



  • hide
  • Relevant PhysicsForums posts

  • How to prevent another stroke?
    created Nov 11, 2009
  • Swine flu vaccination
    created Nov 10, 2009
  • Improving the brain through chemistry
    created Nov 07, 2009
  • Sleep / REM Sleep and homeostasis
    created Nov 07, 2009
  • More from Physics Forums - Medical Sciences

Other News

'Cross-talk' mechanism contributes to colorectal cancer

Medicine & Health / Cancer

created 23 hours ago | popularity 5 / 5 (1) | comments 0

Researchers at the University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Medicine and Public Health have identified a molecular mechanism that allows two powerful signaling pathways to interact and begin a process leading to colorectal ...


Thoughtful words help couples stay fighting fit

Medicine & Health / Psychology & Psychiatry

created 23 hours ago | popularity 4 / 5 (1) | comments 0

Couples who bring thoughtful words to a fight release lower amounts of stress-related proteins, suggesting that rational communication between partners can ease the impact of marital conflict on the immune system.


Researchers find two units of umbilical cord blood reduce risk of leukemia recurrence

Medicine & Health / Cancer

created 23 hours ago | popularity 4 / 5 (1) | comments 0

A new study from the Masonic Cancer Center, University of Minnesota shows that patients who have acute leukemia and are transplanted with two units of umbilical cord blood (UCB) have significantly reduced risk of the disease ...


China investigates 2 deaths after flu vaccinations

Medicine & Health / Diseases

created 14 hours ago | popularity not rated yet | comments 0

(AP) -- Two people in China who received swine flu vaccinations died in the past week but at least one death appears unrelated to the vaccine and the other was being investigated.


A child sleeping (Sleep)

Dreams may have an important physiological function

Medicine & Health / Neuroscience

created Nov 12, 2009 | popularity 3.9 / 5 (25) | comments 9

(PhysOrg.com) -- Dreams have long been assumed to have psychological functions such as consolidating emotional memories and processing experiences or problems, but according to a Harvard psychiatrist and sleep ...