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Benylin Dry Coughs Original
by ms_123
A couple of weeks ago I went home to visit my parents and when I arrived I found my sister in a bit of a sorry state, lying on the couch nursing a very heavy cold. I was tempted at that point to turn around and march back to my flat as with several work deadlines looming the last thing I needed was a cold! However I decided to try my ... luck and hope my sister wasn't feeling too generous with her germs. However no such luck there and a couple of days later I too had a full-on cold along with a very sore throat and accompanying cough. Ordinarily I would have taken some time off work to rest but with an important presentation coming up I could not really afford to, so I soldiered on, with the help of some medicine along the way.
I developed a cough that was quite dry and one of those annoying ones that would start as a slight tickle and eventually caused a bit of a choking fit. On my way home from work I headed over to my local pharmacy and purchased some Benylin Dry Coughs syrup. I believe I paid around £4.50 for 150ml bottle, so it's not exactly a cheap product. Benylin is a well-known brand and one that I have used on previous occasions. This is a non-drowsy formula - important for me as I wanted to stay as alert as possible at work, and formulated to relieve irritating, dry coughs. It has a blackcurrant flavour, which is reflected in the purple colouring of the package (which differs from that in the picture above).
The recommended dose for adults and children over 5 years is 10ml (2x5ml spoonfuls) taken three to four times a day, whilst for children aged 1-5 one 5ml spoonful should be taken. This is stated on both the label on the bottle, as well as on the box itself. It should be noted that the liquid is unsuitable for children younger than 1 year old. The cough syrup comes in a small, transparent glass bottle, and the liquid inside is deep purple in colour. The lid at the top of the bottle is white in colour, made of metal and is sealed when first taken out of the box. Rather surprisingly this lid doesn't have a child-proof lock on it. As I don't have any children in my household this isn't a real issue for me, but if you do then this may be something to take into consideration. For me the lack of child-proofing is a positive thing as I find that such lids are often 'adult-proof' too, and I usually struggle to get them to open, so no such problems here!
The syrup itself is quite sweet, unsurprising since the bottle states that it contains both glycerine and liquid sugar. I should point out here that there is a warning on the box that the liquid may be harmful to teeth and for this reason I made sure I brushed my teeth around half an hour after taking this. There is also a warning that due to the high sugar content it may be unsuitable for those with a sugar intolerance or diabetics.
Now, back to the liquid itself. The syrup has a definite blackcurrant taste which is actually quite pleasant. I can see that this combined with its sweetness would make it quite appealing to young children. As I swallow the liquid has a warming sensation and I can feel it coating my throat, which acts to calms it and soothes the irritation. The relief is instantaneous and lasts for a couple of hours before the next dose is due. I don't think it acts to treat the cough or sore throat itself, rather its role is just to provide relief. The liquid lives up to its non-drowsy claim and I can function normally (or as normal as one can with a cold!)
Overall I can't really find too much fault with this cough syrup. It is a little on the expensive side and although relieves the symptoms of the cough, doesn't do anything to treat the underlying cause, which means you don't get rid of your cough any quicker by taking it. Four stars from me.
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Benylin Children's Dry Coughs
by ladyradley
There is nothing worse than feeling helpless when a child you are caring for is not well. My granddaughter has had a cough for a while now and it seemed to be really irritating her, it was dry and a nuisance, it kept disturbing her sleep so she was miserable and tired. I bought this Benylin Children's Dry Cough medicine from Boots and it ... does seem to have made a difference.
Benylin make a whole host of medicines and in the cough mixtures alone there are so many different types from night coughs, congested coughs to this dry cough for children medicine. I never knew there were so many options!
The box looks quite cute with a teddy bear on the front and it is quite nice to see a medicine box that looks child-friendly, it makes it seem a little less daunting to a child who may be feeling poorly and miserable and may not be too willing to have some medicine.
For Benylin dry coughs for children it is for children over six years and I think their other products are the same. It is important to follow the dosage guidelines properly, the active ingredient is called Pholcodine. It is blackcurrant flavour and sugar free. My granddaughter was happy enough to take it and didn't complain about the taste, in fact she quite looked forward to having some so that's good! There is nothing worse than horrible tasting medicine for children who already feel miserable.
My granddaughter had some of this before she went to bed and the syrup itself seemed to soothe her throat which was sore from all of the coughing she had been doing. It seemed to work as during the night she wasn't coughing as much and she said the tickle she had felt constantly wasn't always there. This did not take the cough away, she did still sometimes cough and there were a few times it seemed just as bad but she did definitely have some relief from the tickly, dry cough she had had for what seems like a long time.
I will definitely be using this again when my granddaughter has this kind of a cough. I'm not sure whether a less specific kind of cough mixture would have the same effect or not but because this did help a bit we will be using it again. Anything to help a little one feel better.
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