And breathe.... (Sudafed)

Member Name: valve90210

Product:	Sudafed
Date:	09/10/08 (67 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Effective decongestant

Disadvantages: For some reason gives me terrible nightmares and bad sleep.

I'm sure everyone has at one time or another suffered from a really bad cold and had really bad nasal congestion. It's thoroughly unpleasant and worst of all it feels like there is nothing you can do to help it because blowing your nose doesn't seem to help. At times like these a good decongestant is required. Step up Sudafed. In my experience it is a very effective treatment which will have you breathing quite clearly again in good time. And for many people it really is a god send when they have a cold.

However my experiences with it, while finding it effective, are not particularly pleasant. I'm not sure exactly why or what causes it, maybe an allergic reaction to one of the ingredients or something, but if I take Sudafed (or indeed other generic decongestants) at night, I suffer from horrible really vivid nightmares, the type that when you wake up you feel like they are real, that the horrible events you've just experienced have all been real. My whole body feels like it has been on the go all night and I am physically exhausted. As I'm sure you can imagine, this is not exactly how you want to feel when you've just woken up, and most certainly not at times when you are likely to be taking decongestants..ie when you have a horrible cold!!!

I asked my parents if I had ever had sudafed when I was a child and if I had had any reactions like this, to which they replied that when I was much younger I had indeed had Sudafed and I had had nightmares and slept very badly then too, so bad infact that they stopped giving me Sudafed. I wish I had asked them about it before I took it again recently (having moved away from home) as I would have avoided it.

These days if I am bunged up I just douse myself in Vicks Vapour rub and let that do it's job. It's not quite as effective as Sudafed can be but it doesn't give me the horrible nightmares so I from my point of view it's better.

I'd recommend Sudafed but be aware that it may have advierse reactions. (I'm giving it three stars because that is what it is worth for me, if you don't suffer the same side effects then it is worth 4 or even 5 stars as it is really quite effective)

Summary: a good product but not for me!!!