Cough
Medicine
Cough
Medicine - Does It Work?
The Latest
Research
When a cold or flu hits, many people reach for over-the-counter
medicines. But do they really work? A researcher has analyzed
results of 15 trials, finding no real proof that cough
medicine does anything.
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"We
found that there is little evidence for or against the effectiveness
of over-the-counter cough medicines," says lead author Knut
Schroeder, MD, researcher at University of Bristol, England. His study
appears in the Feb. 9 issue of the British Medical Journal.
The Effectiveness
of cough medicine
"Many
different cough medicines are available, which may or may not
work. People should be aware of this lack of evidence when deciding
to buy [them]," he says. "They should not expect miracle cures
from all of them."
In his
analysis, Schroeder looked at trials of various types of medicines for
coughs -- antihistamines, cough suppressants, expectorants, antihistamine-decongestant
combinations, and other drug combinations -- involving 2,166 people
with cold or flu symptoms.
Cough
medicine Vs Placebos
"Antihistamines seemed to be no better than placebo," writes
Schroeder.
Cough suppressants
were compared with placebo in five trials. "Two studies tested
codeine and found it no more effective than placebo," he says. Codeine is one cough medicine
available over the counter in Canada and the U.K. but only by prescription
in the U.S.
One of
two studies of dextromethorphan -- often referred to as DM on cough
medicine labels -- showed the drug to be more effective than placebo,
whereas the other found no significant effect.
As for expectorant medicines (which break up mucus), antihistamine-decongestant
combinations, and other drug combinations, "there was conflicting
evidence on the effectiveness," he writes.
Most coughs
due to common colds are not serious, and usually disappear after two
or three weeks, Schroeder says. His advice: "Rest and get plenty
of fluids."
Nathan
Segall, MD, a private practice internist-allergist and assistant clinical
professor at Emory University School of Medicine in Atlanta, has worked
with plenty of drug companies in testing new products including cough
medicine.
Medicines
for coughs are tested on people with specific symptoms before they make
it to the marketplace, Segall says. They do show significant improvement
in symptoms, he says.
"Over-the-counter cough medicines are effective," he says. "That's why
people use them." Dextromethorphan may not help everyone, Segall
says. Some people may need a more potent medicine -- a narcotic
medicine, such as codeine or hydrocodone, he says.
"Over-the-counter
medicines for coughs are relatively inexpensive," Mark C. Merlin,
MD, holistic and integrative medicine specialist in Atlanta, says. "If
they work as a placebo and aren't causing any side effects, there isn't
any harm in trying them."
An alternative
medicine for coughs is chicken soup. "Chicken soup is a
warm liquid, and increasing fluids, hydrating the body with warm liquids,
is absolutely excellent for helping the body rid itself of toxins,"
says Merlin. He considers a cough to be "the body's signal of an
energetic or infectious abnormality in the body," he says. "If
I think there is an infectious cause to the cough, I work to build up
the immune system, either with herbals or acupuncture."
One herbal
cough medicine pill combination includes olive leaf extract,
echinacea, goldenseal, astragalus, elderberry, and l-lysine. Another
medicine that "works almost like magic" contains colostrum,
zinc, grapefruit seed extract, rhodiola, rosea extract, astragalus,
licorice root, Chinese mushroom extract, and aloe vera, he says.
Another
excellent treatment is Acupuncture can also be very effective in eliminating
chronic cough, even helping the body get rid of viral infections, he
says. "If that doesn't work, I give an antibiotic."
Cough
medicine - Latest Discovery
Another
excellent alternative to conventional cough
medicine is
the latest alternative treatment discovered by James Churchill.
This new remedy simply involves three plant extracts and a mineral.
This treatment seems to work by killing the bacteria and viruses
that cause infection in the lungs.
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This new
discovery is proving very popular and effective. For more details
of this simple cough medicine remedy, please click
Cough Medicine
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