Which cough medicine do you need?

Cough medicines | What to buy for a cough | Chesty cough | Dry cough

Average rating:

Have you stood in your local chemist and been totally baffled by the rang of cough and cold medicines on display?

We know we have, so we talked to Boots pharmacist Angela Chalmers to give you a quick and simple guide to which cough medicines are which.

Types of cough

'There are lots of different manufacturers out there,' says Angela, 'but most medicines treat either dry or chesty coughs.'

Chesty coughs: This is the one where you have lots of phlegm on your chest and it sounds like a sort of wet cough.
Dry coughs: There's no phlegm involved here and this is more of an irritating bark.

Medicine for chesty coughs

'What you want here is an expectorant,' says Angela. 'Boots, Benylin and Robitussin, among others, all do a cough syrup for a chesty cough.'

'The active ingredient is something called guaifenesin and the idea is it helps to break up the phlegm and bring it up (expectorate) off your chest.'

'These medicines also contain sugar which is used to soothe and coat the throat,' continues Angela. 'It's important to note that none of the medicines are miracle workers, but they are made to help with your symptoms and make you more comfortable.'

By Rob Mansfield