I wonder if the same applies to adults. Are all those codeine prescriptions just making folks happier? heh
I used to take a horrible syrup called Ipsotal. Nastiest syrup ever made, I'm sure. But it did work one time in my memory. I kept waking up because of my cough so I steeled myself and swallowed that hideous stuff. Part of what makes it so hideous is that it doesn't leave too readily -- your mouth and throat feel coated in this horrible gunk for quite awhile. That night, I was able to sleep shortly after taking the syrup.
So what I'm wondering is this. Perhaps it's not entirely a placebo effect. Perhaps that coating lubricates things and interrupts the coughing. Once interupted, perhaps the body doesn't just spontaneously start up again once the coating finally leaves -- maybe it needs to be stimulated back to coughing.
Codeine saved me on my return trip from India, when I was having horrible hacking bronchitis-coughs. Before I left there I had tried dextramethorphan (an OTC cough medicine), and it didn't touch the cough. So I made an extra effort to score some codeine just before my 24-hour flight odyssey home. Worked well, and even helped me sleep though much of those flight hours!
Even if it's just tea with honey, I'm glad there are alternatives to cough syrup with codeine... since unfortunately for my mother & codeine doesn't help us -- it makes us feel worse.
I'm skeptical of the methodology. From the description in that article, it sounds like they only gave the kids one dose of medication: "The day after taking the medications, the parents were asked what, if any, effect the medication had."
Perhaps it's more effective after a few doses, or a few days of doses? A great many medications are more effective with continued use than they are with a single dose.
Also, the groups are too small for a statistically significant result. If an entirely different group of 33 sick children were in one of the groups, the results might have been quite different.
It wouldn't surprise me if it were true that OTC cough syrups are ineffective, but I don't think this study has enough validity to draw that conclusion.
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I used to take a horrible syrup called Ipsotal. Nastiest syrup ever made, I'm sure. But it did work one time in my memory. I kept waking up because of my cough so I steeled myself and swallowed that hideous stuff. Part of what makes it so hideous is that it doesn't leave too readily -- your mouth and throat feel coated in this horrible gunk for quite awhile. That night, I was able to sleep shortly after taking the syrup.
So what I'm wondering is this. Perhaps it's not entirely a placebo effect. Perhaps that coating lubricates things and interrupts the coughing. Once interupted, perhaps the body doesn't just spontaneously start up again once the coating finally leaves -- maybe it needs to be stimulated back to coughing.
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My thoughts exactly. Folk lore often 'prescribes' things with honey and lemon -- I'm wondering exactly what the placebo syrup was made of?
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I vouch for codeine.
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They think I'm gonna make crystal meth from Triaminic?
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Perhaps it's more effective after a few doses, or a few days of doses? A great many medications are more effective with continued use than they are with a single dose.
Also, the groups are too small for a statistically significant result. If an entirely different group of 33 sick children were in one of the groups, the results might have been quite different.
It wouldn't surprise me if it were true that OTC cough syrups are ineffective, but I don't think this study has enough validity to draw that conclusion.
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