UNBUNGING (Lemsip)

Member Name: sersha

Product:	Lemsip
Date:	14/04/03 (131 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: un-bunging properties, pleasant-ish taste

Disadvantages: expensive for what it is

Spring has sprung, and I woke up this morning feeling as though I had a inhaled a bonfire with some sharp twigs in it. Worse, I know it's only the beginning. My husband has gone back to working weekends, probably since he knows full well that I will be unbearable for at least another fortnight. My Annual Spring Cold has arrived, bang on time.

Living in the middle of nowhere does have advantages, but not when it comes to finding cold and flu relief. I scoured my handbag and eventually found a couple of crumpled sachets of lemsip max strength, left over from an old cold. I probably would have stocked up on them, if they'd been any bloody good, but since there weren't more in my cupboards, I realised pretty quick that they can't have been much cop the last time.

Undeterred, I bravely bumped myself downstairs in full body sleep-suit. Well, if I'm going to wear an adult size babygrow, I might as well go down the stairs in small-child mode as well. Then remembering just how ill I was, I courageously made it to the kitchen, and switched on the kettle.

Taste
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They recommend you use hot, but not boiling water to make your lemsip, and suggest adding sugar or honey to taste. I prefer it without – it tastes reasonably lemony (compared to Shop's own brands) and quite sweet as it is, but I never seem to manage to dissolve it properly and usually end up with a good percentage of the powder in the last mouthful, which tastes invariably like soluble paracetamol. Ugh!

Overall, it's the fact that it's a hot lemon drink that appeals to me more than anything when I have a cold, and the very act of drinking it that seems to be comforting and beneficial (regardless of the content.) I think much of it is psychosomatic. I'd probably be just as well off with a hot ribena and two paracetamol. Or would I?


What's in it?
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The contents of a sachet of this
kind of lemsip contain two things, medically speaking: 1000 mg of paracetamol, and 12.2 mg of Phenylephrine hydrochloride (a nasal decongestant). I could of course have bought some paracetamol for next to nothing, and some decongestant for less than the price of the lemsip. I know that, yet it's still the first thing I buy when I feel a cold coming on. It's probably down to nothing more than habit.

Other kinds of lemsip (not this type) also contain Vitamin C - the level of vitamin C in your body tends to drop when you have a cold of flu - and/or caffeine. You pay extra for both of those, which seems a little like Rip-Off-City to me. Besides, I don't need any more caffeine!

Does it work?
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As well as paracetamol, yes. It takes 20 minutes to kick in, and tails off about an hour after that, leaving you checking the time to see when you can have the next one. The decongestant is fairly effective, but sticking your head over a bowl of steaming vicks is probably going to do you more good. And it's not exactly a gastronomic delight either – but then most of us with the full sniffles aren’t really going to notice how it tastes anyway.


Dosage
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The recommended adult dose of paracetamol is two 500 mg tablets, with four hours between doses, and no more than eight tablets in 24 hours. Regardless of the paracetamol dosage, which varies in lemsip types, they recommend you take only 4 sachets in a 24 hour period. Don't supplement the dosage with extra paracetamol, or anything else. Check the packet of lemsip to see what the stated dosage is. As with all medicines, read the instructions carefully on all medicines and never exceed the stated dose!


Price and Competitors:
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A 5 sachet pack will set you back about £3, a 10 sachet pack £4. That's expensive when compared to paracetemol. Shop's own brands are invaria
bly cheaper. And yes, they all taste pretty much the same. You would have quite some nose to be able to tell them apart, let alone prefer the flavour of one over another.


Packaging
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Does anyone care? I don't. It looks and smells like lemsip.


Would I recommend it?
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Not, not really. For the first time I think I've managed to write a review on a product I'm completely indifferent to. If someone made it for me, I'd happily drink it. And I'd buy it again, but not because it's terribly effective: just because it's there.

Summary: