I'm sure we all know that horrible feeling when you have a bad dose of manflu. You feel terrible, your head is pounding, your throat feel like you have been eating razor blades, your nose is all stuffed up and you lack energy. There are a number of over the counter remedies designed to treat those symptoms, one which I reach for again and again is Lemsip.

Lemsip costs around £3 for 10 sachets, significantly more expensive than simple paracetamol. It contains 650mg of paracetamol and 10mg of Phenylephrine hydrochloride, a simple painkiller and decongestant which work together to relieve cold symptoms. It also contains various flavourings and sweeteners, it is available in both lemon and blackcurrant flavours. It is important to make sure you don't take any other paracetamol when taking Lemsip in case you accidently overdose so always read the labels carefully.

Lemsip is made up as a hot drink by adding some boiling water to the contents of a sachet. The drink tastes disgusting, really bitter from both the medicines and artificial sweetener. I tend to choose the blackcurrant flavour so I can make it more palatable with a generous slug of ribena syrup to make it sweeter and disguise the foul taste.

Lemsip is really effective at relieving the symptoms of a cold, within half an hour of drinking one of the sachets then I do start to feel significantly better. The paracetamol brings down my temperature and relieves the headache and sore throat, the decongestant starts working to relieve the stuffy nose and this combination makes me feel much more alert and less lethargic. I have no idea why drinking Lemsip seems to work better than taking the same kind of remedy in tablet form, maybe the hot drink is soothing in its own right or maybe it is all in my head. Who knows? I don't care what the reasons are I am just glad it works.

Lemsip is really effective for relieving symptoms of the common cold so I always keep some in my medicine cabinet because you never know when it will come in handy.