1. What is cough syrup?
Cough syrup refers to concentrated sucrose aqueous solution containing drugs, which is used for oral treatment of diseases. The drugs in syrup can be chemical drugs or extracts of medicinal materials. Because sucrose and fragrance can cover up the bad taste of some drugs, such as salty and bitter, it is convenient to take and especially popular with children.
Cough syrup is not a food, but a medicine with clear indications, usage and dosage. Parents must not rush to stop coughing, excessive use will increase side effects. If the dosage of promethazine syrup is too large, it can cause clumsy hands and feet or eccentric movements, and in severe cases, fatigue or flushing, fever, shortness of breath or dyspnea, increased heart rate, muscle spasm, etc. Abuse of large doses of dextromethorphan syrup may lead to brain injury, seizures, loss of consciousness, irregular heartbeat, respiratory depression and even death. Therefore, it must be taken in strict accordance with the dosage, time and times indicated in the drug instructions.
Second, under what circumstances should I use cough medicine?
Cough is a defensive reflex activity when the respiratory system is stimulated, which can discharge secretions from trachea or bronchus or external stimuli into trachea. Slight cough can be relieved naturally, and cough medicine is generally not needed; However, long-term severe cough not only affects sleep and work, but also leads to increased heart load and pulmonary artery pressure, which seriously affects oxygen supply. Therefore, cough medicine should be added at the same time of treatment.
3. What are the common cough syrups? How to choose?
Cold cough syrup: clearing away heat and relieving exterior syndrome, resolving phlegm and relieving cough. It can be used for treating common cold caused by exogenous wind-heat with symptoms of fever, nausea, headache, stuffy nose, sore throat, cough and general malaise. Not suitable for people with cold and cold.
Infantile Stemona cough syrup: clearing lung, relieving cough and resolving phlegm. It can be used for treating phlegm-heat cough and lung disease in children.
Urgent syrup: clearing away heat and toxic materials, resolving phlegm and relieving cough. It can be used for treating lung qi deficiency, cough with yellow phlegm, etc. Wind-heat invading the lung, or phlegm blocking the lung.
Pinellia cough syrup: relieving cough and resolving phlegm. Used for cough due to wind-cold (symptoms include severe cough, shortness of breath, itchy throat, thin and white phlegm, aversion to cold and fever). ), more phlegm leads to more gas.
Xiaokechuan syrup: relieving cough, eliminating phlegm and relieving asthma. Used for cough and asthma caused by cold phlegm blocking lung, with white phlegm; Chronic bronchitis with the above symptoms.
Ambroxol hydrochloride syrup: it can reduce the viscosity of sputum, promote the oscillation of airway cilia and accelerate the discharge of airway sputum. It is suitable for expectorant treatment of acute and chronic respiratory diseases with abnormal sputum secretion and poor expectoration function, such as acute attack of bronchitis, asthmatic bronchitis and bronchial asthma.
Dextromethorphan Hydrobromide Syrup: A Central Antitussive. Suitable for dry cough caused by acute and chronic respiratory diseases.
Promethazine syrup: sedative and antiallergic. Applicable to allergic cough. This medicine is best for children who cough at night and can't sleep well.
When using cough syrup, we should first find out the causes of cough and expectoration, and then choose the drugs accordingly. Generally speaking, for frequent dry cough or irritating cough with less phlegm, cough should be given priority to; Too much phlegm can't stop coughing, so as not to stop coughing, and phlegm can't be discharged and stays in the respiratory tract, causing or aggravating infection. This cough needs expectorant.
Fourth, how to take cough syrup?
Because of the high sugar content in syrup, diabetics should not take it, and cough syrup should not be taken before meals, because sugar can promote the secretion of digestive juice, make the stomach full and affect appetite.
When taking syrup, don't touch the bottle mouth of syrup directly. Otherwise, the syrup liquid will be contaminated and deteriorated by bacteria on the bottle mouth.
Cough syrup can form a protective film on the surface of pharyngeal mucosa and reduce the irritation of inflammation to mucosa. Therefore, do not drink water, especially hot water, within 5 minutes after drinking, so as not to wash away the protective film and reduce the curative effect. But if the thick syrup is too irritating, you can also drink a small amount of water. After all, most of the liquid medicine can still be absorbed by the gastrointestinal tract and play a role.
Because the unopened syrup is in a vacuum sealed state after aseptic treatment, it can temporarily prevent or delay the growth of microorganisms, and can be stored according to the storage requirements on the packaging box (sealed in a cool place-not more than 20 degrees Celsius).
Once the syrup is opened, it loses its closed aseptic environment and is exposed to the air, which is easily polluted by microorganisms such as fungi, making it turbid or deteriorated. Therefore, the opened sugar water should not be stored for a long time, not more than three months in winter and not more than one month in summer. Before taking the opened potion again, look at the light to see if the solution is still clear. If there are a lot of bubbles, flocculent suspended matter, precipitation, discoloration and crystallization, it means that the syrup has deteriorated and can no longer be taken.
5. Under what circumstances should I see a doctor?
If children use cough syrup for three days, their cough symptoms have not improved or worsened, or new severe symptoms such as chest tightness and palpitation appear, they should stop taking the medicine immediately and go to the hospital to avoid delaying their illness. Cough is just a symptom, which can be caused by many reasons, such as cold, pneumonia, tuberculosis, allergic cough, variant asthma and so on. Only symptomatic treatment can achieve the effect of relieving cough.