Lemsip Max: don't believe the (cheesy) adverts (Lemsip Max Cold & Flu Lemon)

Member Name: markos9

Product:	Lemsip Max Cold & Flu Lemon
Date:	29/06/09 (139 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Does work....

Disadvantages: ....but only for a while.

My most recent bout of 'manflu' (OK, a REALLY bad cold!) saw me without my favourite remedy for colds and flu, Night Nurse. Disaster! I did, however, have some Lemsip Max Cold and Flu Lemon sachets that my girlfriend left at my house so resolved to try these.

I used Lemsip a lot when I was young; this was always the medicine of choice when we had a cold. I used to enjoy the taste of it, but never found it completely effective.

Well, either my taste buds have changed (a possibility, I admit), or the new Lemsip Max has a completely different taste because after preparing the sachet in boiling water and tasting it, I found it simply sickly! There was a lemon taste, but a chemical taste, too, that I don't remember from my childhood days. This made drinking the stuff more like taking a medicine than having a soothing drink.

Within half an hour, I did feel better. The blocked nose (which is usually swollen sinuses, rather than a nose full of snot) had eased significantly, I wasn't sneezing as much, and my temperature appeared to have eased. Great! Having the medicine in drink form is an advantage as when suffering from a cold, it is advisable to drink lots of water.

Unfortunately, the effect was only temporary. Within an hour, I was bunged up and sneezing all over again. This fits with what I remember of the 'old' Lemsip, that the effect, whilst good, does not last long at all.

The medicine contains two active ingredients. Paracetamol (1000mg, quite a strong dose) for headache, fever, aches and pains, and sore throat, and Phenylephrine HCl (12.2mg) for blocked or runny nose.

Because Lemsip Max contains Paracetamol (a drug that's dangerous if an overdose is taken), the user is limited to four sachets in 24 hours. This meant that, even though the effects of my first sachet had worn off, I had to suffer on for another few hours to take another.

Finally, it was time for bed. I took a final sachet to bed with me and, again, I felt better within half an hour. Again, however, the effect did not last and I was not able to get to sleep due to discomfort (I have trouble sleeping at the best of times). By this stage, I was really missing my Night Nurse.

Fortunately, I was able to obtain Night Nurse the following day, so stopped taking the Lemsip Max. I was not impressed at all with the new Lemsip Max. There's a really cheesy advert for this product that claims it 'sorts the men from the boys'. Well, after taking it, I must be a boy because it did nothing for me! Seriously, with its limited efficacy for a cold, I can't imagine this product having any effect on flu at all.

In summary, I can only recommend this product if, like me, you have nothing else in the medicine cupboard (and if you have Paracetamol tablets, taking two of these will give you most of the effect of the Lemsip without the sickly taste). There are far more effective treatments for cold and flu on the market; I won't be using this again.

Summary: There are far better cold and flu treatments out there.