Comfortably Numb (Strepsils Extra)

Member Name: collingwood21

Product:	Strepsils Extra
Date:	31/10/08 (688 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Very Effective, Taste pleasant

Disadvantages: Contain sugar, Only two flavours currently available

If I go anywhere near a university or college in the autumn, I seem to emerge with freshers' flu. It happened every single year that I was a student, and now I work in a university the inevitable has happened again - no sooner is it October than I have the latest bug doing the rounds. This particular one came on very quickly; I went from feeling fine at 4pm to being barely unable to swallow by the time I went to bed that evening. Having suffered a string of throat infections during my teens that led to the threat of having tonsils out, my first reaction when I feel a sore throat coming on is to reach for a mirror and a maglite to check for the telltale white spots on the back of my throat. Although this particular sore throat felt like agony (it stopped me eating, which counts as very serious in my books), there was thankfully no evidence of another infection cropping up - which rather amazed me, given the amount of pain I was in. I took a Strepsil lozenge at bedtime, but it did nothing to touch the pain and the result was a fairly sleepless night and me feeling pretty dreadful the next morning. And my throat still hurt like hell.

It was fairly obvious that I need something far more powerful than a common Strepsil. As Other Half was heading into town anyway, I gave him instructions to pick up "something stronger" from the pharmacy for my throat and hoped he would return with something useful. What he came back with was a product I had never heard of before - Strepsils Extra, an extra powerful version of the regular lozenge. They looked the same as regular Strepsils, and I can't say I noticed any great difference in the flavour, either. The ones I had were in cherry menthol (they are also available in blackcurrant menthol) and tasted quite sweet and not at all unpleasant, rather like a stronger version of cherry tunes. There was certainly nothing noticeably medicinal about the taste, which gets a thumbs up from me.

The results were far better than the regular lozenges, though. After taking one of the Strepsil Extras, my sore throat went from being so bad that I could barely swallow to feeling tender but able to eat; I would say that first tablet took away about 75% of the pain I was experiencing. The difference between these tablets and the regular sort of Strepsil is in the active ingredient. Regular Strepsils have two active ingredients (called amylmetacresol and dichlorobenzyl alcohol if you must know) that are both mild antiseptics which kill off the bacteria associated with sore throats. Strepsils Extra instead has hexylresorcinol, which is an antiseptic with a local anaesthetic affect - so as well as killing off the bacteria, your throat is numbed and you feel less pain. As much as a relief as this is for anyone with a sore throat, I should note that eating something containing a local anaesthetic is a little weird. As well as your throat being numbed, your mouth and tongue lose some sensation too. I don't mean dental anaesthetic dribbling-out-of-your-mouth numb, just that it feels very odd indeed if you try to eat or drink anything within about half an hour of taking one. Not that you would want to given the strength of the menthol flavour, mind! My throat stayed numbed for the next couple of hours, and it was only towards lunchtime that I began to feel in pain again. A second tablet after I had eaten nipped the pain in the bud, however, and left me with nothing but a slight feeling of discomfort in my throat. It only took one further tablet that day and one more the next for the sore throat to clear up entirely - a really excellent result.

Based on my experience, I wouldn't hesitate to recommend Strepsils Extra. They are very effective, good value for money at £4.59 for a pack of 36 lozenges (that's 12p each), and are not unpleasant to take - although they do contain sucrose, which doesn't make them very tooth friendly. As I won't be using them very often, though, I think the sugar in them is the least of my worries - they will certainly be forming part of my first aid kit in future! Before trying them yourself, you should however note the following points:

- Do not take more than 12 in 24 hours
- If symptoms persist, seek medical advice
- Not suitable for children under 6 years
- Not suitable for people with fructose intolerance or related metabolic disorders
- Check with a doctor or pharmacist if you are pregnant or breastfeeding

www.strepsils.com

Summary: Effective relief from sharper sore throats