'CAP' THAT PAIN! (Tesco Paracetamol Caplets)

Member Name: Wee_Jackie_163

Product:	Tesco Paracetamol Caplets
Date:	30/07/09 (79 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: BRILLIANT VALUE

Disadvantages: SEE REVIEW

I have several health problems and suffer from pain every day. I regularly use prescribed painkillers, but as these tend to make me feel drowsy and horrible, I will try other alternatives first - usually paracetamol - to try and ward off any pain as much as possible. This doesn't always work though, due to the levels of pain I suffer from and sometimes I do need to give in and take the good old 'prescribed jobs'. This happens more often that not, actually.

In addition to this though, my doctors have told me that a combination of two painkillers is more effective than taking just my prescribed painkiller, which I guess makes sense, so I do use a lot of paracetamol alongside my prescribed painkillers too.

Over the years, I have used just about every type of paracetamol available - everything from the 'dispersible' ones that require to be plonked into a glass of water and fizz away rather nicely, to huge 'chalky' looking tablets that resemble something a veterinary surgeon may shove up a horse's bottom...!

Due to the most disgusting taste of aforementioned 'chalky' tablets, I gave up on them long ago, and have quite comfortably settled into the routine of using 'caplets' or 'capsules' to administer my prescribed doses of paracetamol on a daily basis.

I now regularly buy supermarket-own branded paracetamol 'caplets' or 'capsules' alongside my weekly shop, as I find this is very convenient for me, and it ensures I never really run out of painkillers. I also find that they are usually very reasonably priced in all major supermarkets too!

The most recent offering on trial for my pains and twinges was the Tesco Paracetamol Caplets, in 500 mg caplets. For the benefit of this review, I will point out that box in the picture shown on the top of the Dooyoo page is different from the box I bought last week from my local Tesco store, but I do think that these caplets have had a bit of a recent 'face-lift' in terms of their packaging.

The little box contains two foil-backed 'sheets' of caplets with 8 caplets on each 'sheet'. These 'sheets' are foil-backed to allow you to push your caplet through the foil and I find that this is quite hygienic and sterile. I prefer this type of packaging rather than having 'loose' tablets in a little bottle. No I'm not a clean freak lol - and nor do I have 'OCD' type qualities either, I just like things to be clean when it comes to my healthcare and medication... perhaps this little 'quirk' of mine is due to my three-month stay in an NHS hospital a few years ago?! Hmmm...

What I find is that these little caplets are on a par with other Paracetamol products available on the market. In my own personal experience, this means that when it comes to the extreme pain and spasms caused by my health problems, I don't find that these are much good in controlling pain of that strength.

For other pains that contribute to the deep great joy that ARE my health problems though - yes, a little relief can be gained from these little tabs, but for those big painful 'stabbing' type pains, they aren't much good, which is a bit of a shame.

That said though, for other 'everyday' problems, such as headache, aches and pains and colds and flu and the like, I find that these are fabulous! They not only stop a headache in its tracks (most of the time) but chase it off completely.

This came as a bit of a surprise to me if I am being honest, mainly because I have tried cheaper paracetamol in the past and found it did nothing. I was therefore of the opinion that cheaper painkilling products were all pretty useless, based on this experience.

That was until I started using supermarket own branded paracetamol products and my opinion swiftly changed! The Tesco paracetamol caplets are no exception to this, and I find that for little aches and headaches they are very effective. I do find that they are also quite quick in terms of gaining relief - another trait that surprised me.

The box which contains these Tesco caplets informs me that they can be used for the relief of mild to moderate pain - which is what I would agree with, as mentioned previously. The packaging informs me that they can be used to gain relief from headache, migraine, neuralgia, toothache, sore throat and period pain. They can also be used for the symptomatic relief of rheumatic and muscular aches and pains, sciatica, lumbago, joint swelling and stiffness, influenza, feverish colds etc.

I think the Tesco paracetamol have been quite true in what they are saying - they are being honest about the levels of pain relief we can expect to achieve and I personally appreciate that. Having been 'roped' into buying all manner of more 'upmarket' painkillers over the years, I respect the fact that these little caplets are not claiming to remove all traces of every type of pain and therefore my expectations for these little caplets are met.

The box of 16 caplets cost me under 40 pence from my local Tesco supermarket which I think offers excellent value.

All in all, I would highly recommend these little caplets. They won't tackle every type of pain, but Tesco have been quite upfront about this lol so I cannot deduct any stars for that. These are a little gem and I wouldn't be without them at all! These really do deserve top marks from me!

Summary: FIVE STAR PAIN RELIEF FOR MILD/MODERATE ACHES AND PAINS!