Stay away from the light! (Sudafed Non-Drowsy Dual Relief Capsules)

Member Name: Tracy_1127

Product:	Sudafed Non-Drowsy Dual Relief Capsules
Date:	29/12/08 (338 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: unblock the nose to a degree

Disadvantages: don't unblock it enough and don't help with pain

Well it's that time of year again, while everyone else celebrates Xmas I always get a heavy cold. This year has been no exception. My colds always follow a similar pattern, a week before the cold hits I get asthma attacks and have to increase the amount of preventative I take each day until the cold hits. This year it started on Xmas day.

When I first start with a cold I rummage through the medicine drawer at home and figure out what we have a supply of and what we don't. I've tried every single "cold and flu" and "all in one" remedy going and have had no relief from any of them so this year I decided to give Sudafed Dual Relief a fair try.

Sudafed Dual Relief contains 300mg paracetamol, 25mg caffeine and 5 mg phenylephrine hydrochloride per capsule. The phenylephrine hydrochloride is the decongestant and the amount in this version isn't as high as in the original Sudafed.

The paracetamol and caffeine are found in alot of headache tablets and work to decrease pain and fever but the decongestant is the ingredient I wanted to put to the test.

I find when I have a blocked nose it affects my eyes and if I so much as glance in the direction of a weak light my eyes stream tears down my face. This is, as you can imagine, a problem because it stops me being able to see as I do things. I hoped the decongestant would remedy this.

The decongestant reduces swelling in the nasal passages, as the advert says it isn't snot (yuck!) that blocks your nose when you have a cold it's the swelling. So, I popped a couple out of the packet, they are green and yellow capsules and the dose is 2 with a glass of water every 4-6 hours for adults and half that for children aged 6-12.

It only mentions on the pack that you should not take these if pregnant or you have severe liver or kidney disease, but the leaflet is a bit more forthcoming and advises you not to use them if you have high blood pressure, heart problems, an overactive thyroid, are taking any anti-depressants or drugs containing paracetamol or if you've ever had a bad reaction to any of the ingredients. As these contain paracetamol it is vital not to take too many and if you do get to a hospital fast.

Side effects mentioned are allergic rashes, palpitations, increase or decrease of heart rate, nausea and vomiting, difficulty sleeping and tingling and coolness of the skin.

I found these capsules do actually help with the blocked nose, not perhaps as much as the original but they do make a difference and allow you to be able to blow your nose properly. The pain relief side of the capsules didn't make any difference at all and I still had a banging headache and aching around my ribs and the decongestant didn't stop my eye problems and I found I still couldn't look at any sort of light without tears runnng down my cheeks but being able to breathe slightly through my nose was a good result.

I did have trouble sleeping but as I didn't take any of these for a few hours before I went to bed I think that was more down to the cold than the capsules. Another side effect I'd like to mention is dehydration, I was so thirsty and dehydrated whilst taking these I drank pints of water. I normally drink quite alot of water but this pushed it up to ridiculous amounts and I couldn't quench my thirst for days. I'm sure that was a reaction to both the cold and the capsules.

Overall though I think these do help with the blocked nose effect, the original Sudafed are probably better as they contain more decongestant but any sort of unblocking of the nose is a relief when you have a cold. I'd prefer these to be drowsy inducing in order to get some rest but they are non-drowsy so you can still drive etc while taking them.

I do recommend them but they only get 3 stars because they don't help with pain and don't unblock the nose as well as the original.

Summary: Recommended but the original are better