Evil Tasting Lemon Has Limited Effectiveness (Lemsip Max Cold & Flu Lemon)

Member Name: keeperofthematri

Product:	Lemsip Max Cold & Flu Lemon
Date:	21/07/09 (32 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Liquid form may be good for those unable to swallow tablets easily

Disadvantages: Taste. Lack of effectiveness against headache

After returning from a spot of hospital visiting last night I found myself with a rather medium range headache. I hunted around for a while & realised that there were no tablets in the house whatsoever. Not one single solitary paracetamol, ibuprofen etc. Not even any of those nasty dissolvable tablets either. The box of Lemsip, that my partner bought some time ago, caught my eye & I saw the word headache on it so it was that or nothing...


Packagaing:-

The front of the box says that the product is called Lemsip cold & flu & that it's lemon flavour. There's a 10 in white at the top left hand corner which refers to the number of sachets. At the botton right there's a list which comprises of:- headache, fever, blocked nose, body aches & pains, sore throat. Each of these has a tick next to it meaning that the drink can be used to treat them. At the bottom on the box we're informed that the product contains paracetamol.

The left hand side panel contains the contact details for the manufacturers in case you wish to contact them with comments are suggestions:-
Conumer Information, Freepost, HU7831, Reckitt Benckiser Healthcare (UK) Limited, Hull, HU8 7BR
Tel: 0500 455 456 (freephone)
E-mail: lemsip@reckittbenckiser.com

The bottom of the box contains the expiry date whilst the back panel contains further information about the product.

Directions for use: For oral use. Pour one sachet into a mug. Fill with hot, but not boiling, water. Stir until dissolved. Sweeten with sugar, honey or usual sweetner if preferred.

Dosage: Adults & children over 12: 1 sachet every 4 hours. Do not exceed 4 sachets in 24 hrs. Not suitable for children under 12.

This products contains Paracetamol, Phenylephrine hydrochloride, aspartame & sucrose.

Do not take with any other paracetamol containing products.


Taste:-

I made the drink as directed & took a sip. Not pleasant at all. There was, indeed, a lemon taste but there was also a rather unpleasant edge to it. I'm wondering whether this was down to the aspartame? I hurriedly sank a couple of teaspoons of sugar into the mug & stirred well. Thankfully that took away much of the unpleasant taste & I was able to finish the cup with no further problems.


Effect:

After finishing the drink the headache did appear to lessen somewhat, however, it did not completely vanish. As stated above this was only a medium range headache ie: not a migraine, but something slightly more annoying than a low level headache. When I work up this morning the headache was pretty much back to a similar level that it was at last night.


Opinion:

Having just used this product for the first time I'm not qualified to comment on it's effectiveness for blocked nose, body aches & pains or sore throats. In terms of headaches however I'm not impressed. It may well be able to alleviate the pain induced by the mildest headaches but it was unable to completely eradicate my medium strength headache. Based on my experience I'd expect it to be completely ineffective to deal with something as strong as a migraine. If you have a headache then I'd recommend that you use something else to deal with it.

Summary: Ineffective on the headache front