Coughs

Dry coughs are the hard, dry, irritating type, which are so annoying, and can keep you awake at night. They can be exhausting, tiring, and disturb other people, both at home and at work. They can make your chest muscles ache with coughing. This cough is not doing you any good at all, and should be suppressed.

A cough suppressant will help to calm the cough down, by suppressing it. This will help you to get on with your life, and make the cough far less troublesome. If you use the other sort of cough medicine it will do nothing. Examples of cough suppressants are Codeine, Pholcodine, Dextromethorphan. Some examples of cough suppressant medicines are -

• Cough Nurse Night Time Liquid

Some medicines contain both a cough suppressant and a decongestant to dry up a runny nose, such as -

• Actifed Dry Coughs
• Sudafed Dry Cough
• Tixylix Children's Cough and Cold

Chesty coughs are the loose, phlegmy type, which help you cough up all the phlegm lying on your chest. These coughs is doing you good, and they should be encouraged, so that you can bring up more phlegm.

An expectorant will help to loosen and thin the phlegm, so that it is easier to cough-up. This will help to get rid of the phlegm on your chest, which can get infected if it collects in your lungs. If you calm down this type of cough with a cough suppressant it will encourage the phlegm to collect on your chest, and increase the chances of infection turning this to bronchitis or pneumonia. This is not a good idea.

Expectorants are medicines which help to loosen phlegm on the chest, so that you can cough it up. Examples of an expectorant are Guaifenesin and Ipecacuanha. Some examples of expectorant medicines are -

• Lemsip Cough Chesty
• Potters Vegetable Cough Remover

Some medicines contain both an expectorant and a decongestant to dry up a runny nose, such as -

• Actifed Chesty Coughs
• Sudafed Chesty Coughs

Demulcents work by soothing the back of the throat, and help when the cough is caused by irritation from there. They are thick and syrupy, and cling to the back of the throat, such as -

• Buttercup Syrup
• Lemsip Dry Cough