This Won't Cure Man Flu Let Alone Swine Flu (Beechams All In One)

Member Name: wigglylittleworm

Product:	Beechams All In One
Date:	03/11/09 (60 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: mildly effective

Disadvantages: overpriced, not very effective, gave me palpitations

It's cold and flu season again and like half the population I have got the sniffles, a sore throat, blocked sinuses and pounding headache. My daughter came to me on Sunday night complaining of having a sore throat and when I told her to take paracetomol she said she could not swallow. I headed to the co-op to see what was on offer and ended up coming home with Beechams all in one liquid which cost £4.50 for an 160ml bottle.

It looks like you are getting a big bottle of medicine but as each adult dose is 20ml of medicine then there is only 8 doses in a bottle, enough to last only two days if you take the maximum recommended dose. It contains paracetomol to ease aches and pains, guafensein to relieve chesty coughs and phenylephrine hydrochloride to ease congestion so claims to be the only medicine you will need to ease cold and flu symptoms.

The medicine is suitable for kids over 12 and adults, there are a few groups who should not take the medicine but you should read the label for yourself to see if it is suitable for you. There is some confusing labelling, on the outer box it says people taking MAOI antidepressants should not take the medicine but on the leaflet inside the box (which I never read until after I had taken the medicine) said that people taking any antidepressant should avoid Beechams all in one which was worrying for me as I take a different antidepressant medicine.

The yellow liquid looks and tastes foul, a mixture of menthol with a sour and bitter afterkick from the paracetomol. It's not something you would take for taste alone, I managed to throw it down my throat without any problems but my daughter whined and moaned about the taste testing my patience to the max, just as well I didn't go into nursing!

The main test of the medicine is how effective I found it. I did find that it helped me feel less feverish but my throat was still sore after taking it, looking on the box you can see it only has 500mg of paracetomol instead of the standard dose of 1000mg which you would get from two standard tablets so it is no wonder it wasn't great for the pain. It was good for relieving my sinus pain and it did help my cough which was really mild anyway.

One of the side effects listed is palpitations which the leaflet says only happens occasionally, well I was one of those lucky rare people it happened to. I also found that it made me drowsy despite the bottle saying it is a non drowsy formula but I always find any kind of decongestant makes me drowsy anyway.

Overall I would not recommend this product. If you need the active ingredients individually it is probably cheaper to buy 8 doses of each ingredient at the chemist. I though the medicine was overpriced, had confusing information and wasn't very effective anyway! As always do not take the advice of some random stranger online on what medicine to take, my experiences may vary from yours and you are better asking a pharmacist for advice than listening to me!

Summary: Ask your pharmacist for advice