Cough Linctus

So I have this nagging cough that just doesn't go away. So, of to the old GP I goes. This being the UK, it's not always easy to make an apppointment to see your GP, so the quickest way I have found is that everything is an emergency, then you can get to see the doc the next morning between 09:00 and 11:00, not too bad but one does what one can.

I was prescibed simple Linctus hopefully it will work. Me being me, I look up on t'internet to see what it does, how it works etc.

Low and behold the powers of Google, I find my answer.

• there are two types of cough medicine, cough expectorant and cough suppressant - although there is little evidence that either is effective.

• the logic behind use is that:
  • a 'dry cough' with little phlegm requires a cough suppressant e.g. codeine and pholcodeine linctus.
  • a 'productive cough' requires a cough expectorant to help bring up phlegm e.g. 'ammonia and ipecacuanha mixture BPC' - expectorants are designed to force the cough reflex to propel the phlegm out of the bronchi - there is no evidence that they have any effect.

Source

 What tickled me with this one is the comment about expectorants.. there is no evidence that they have any effect. There you go, the Docs can't explain why it works.