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LETTERS: James Walmsley, Graham Marshall, John Widdicombe, Alyn Morice, and Kath Checkland Over the counter cough medicines for acute cough BMJ 2002; 324: 1158 [Full text]

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"Cough bottles"

Bruce C McG Williamson, none   (14 May 2002)

"Cough bottles" 14 May 2002
Bruce C McG Williamson, retired LE13 0NT, none Send response to journal: Re: "Cough bottles"	Pace the 'sticky drink' effect; locally it is Honey & Lemon, but I was raised on Black Molasses, so appearance & flavour matter not. The correspondence about "cough bottles" misses a point in that they can work inerror. Many catarrhal children have an allergic rhinitis made worse with country pollen and post nasal drip, causing the consequent foreign body in the glottis cough; especially when the child is lying flat at night. Alas the characteristic sequence of sniff, pause (1/4sec), cough & a chokey wheeze is often missed (by hospital staff especially!). Most of these children respond to the oral decongestant and an anti-histamine, rather than to the tiny amount of opiate effect present. Many commercial linctuses (?linctii?) have all three classes of drug and it is my policy to recommend to the parents of such children, that they may make a deliberate; though informed error and use the medication, if isolated on holiday or out-of-hours. Or simply be less reliant on the GP. Nose drops can also be helpful, though difficult to place in a rebellious toddler. With an Allergic Salute (Apley) occult asthma must be suspected. The anti-histamine is usually the drug house's work-horse, Promethazine in M&Bs (Rhone-Poulenc) Tixylix - preparations. I wonder how many have realised that Parke Davis's Benylin now contains Astemizole and no longer includes Diphenhydramine, though the name has not changed. Yours faithfully, B.Williamson Penarth, off Nottingham Rd., MELTON MOWBRAY LE13 0NT