Sleep through the worst of it! (Night Nurse Liquid)

Member Name: jodiestokes

Product:	Night Nurse Liquid
Date:	23/10/09 (129 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: ~

Disadvantages: ~

~~ Introduction ~~

Night Nurse is a non prescription medicine used to relive the symptoms of colds and flu, including tickly, unproductive coughs, runny nose, fever, headache, aches and pains and sore throats. If there's one thing I hate more than liver and onion gravy, that's being Ill. I think it's amazing how we always just forget how bad flu really is. Tuesday morning there was no escape, Mr Flu had come to visit and he was in no hurry to leave. I soon felt myself wondering around like a comatosed zombie unable to see, speak, hear or think past the basics.

I think that flu is similar to climbing the tallest mountain in the world, half way through the day you find it almost impossible to breathe like you had just hit high altitude, every now and then comes with its very own mini panic attack as you find yourself gasping for air. Your lungs feel like they might implode as they rattle away and your head spins with the lack of oxygen. Eyes gazing at a mist of white flies as the snow pelts down and the infection takes over. Your body is tired and aching from head to foot like you had been climbing for days only to end up having a fist fight with a pre-menstrual Pola bear half way up the mountain of flu. Your skin feels every touch comes with a tear, like frost bite without the chill. Within hours you're staring down at smaller tissue mountains all around you where you didn't have the strength to find a bin and there you are sat at the top of the tallest mountain burning hot one minute and freezing cold the next wishing you had just picked a normal hobby. You want to cry but you don't have the strength. The mucus takes over like snow drift and just when you think you can't take anymore, you do.

Tuesday night was hell; I awoke half an hour on the dot for around four hours and that is all the sleep I had. When you're ill all you want is a good night's rest to calm the body and to sleep through the nightmare, so not much luck on that front. Wednesday morning I begged my wonderfully attentive fiancée to please buy me some night nurse. Now it has to be said I don't recall ever thinking night nurse was a top product, maybe it's the rather attractive name that had me pining, I'm not sure, I just wanted some decent sleep and the title sounded like it might add me in my plight.

~~ Use and Ingredients ~~

Night Nurse contains three main active ingredients which are Paracetamol, promethazine and dextromethorphan.

Paracetamol is a simple painkilling medicine used to relieve mild to moderate pain and fever. paracetamol works to relieve pain and reduce fever. It is thought paracetamol reduces fever by affecting an area of the brain that regulates our body temperature. The paracetamol in night nurse helps relieve aches, pains, sore throats and fever associated with colds and flu.

Dextromethorphan is a type of medicine called a cough suppressant. It is used to suppress a dry, tickly, unproductive cough. It works by reducing the nerve signals sent from a part of the brain called the coughing centre to the muscles that produce coughing. Dextromethorphan can be used to block the cough reflex in situations where the cough serves no purpose, ie when no plegm is being coughed up.

Promethazine is a type of medicine called a sedating antihistamine. It enters the brain in sufficient quantities to cause drowsiness, and this sedative effect may also help suppress a cough. Promethazine also drys nasal secretions, by stopping a natural body chemical called histamine from binding to its receptors.

The combination of active ingredients in this medicine helps relieve aches, pains and fever, as well as a runny nose and tickly coughs associated with colds and flu. The medicine has a mild sedative effect and this, together with the relief from symptoms, can help restful sleep.

~~ Packaging, cost and availability ~~

Night Nurse comes in a brown glass 160ml bottle containing the green mixture. The bottle has a child proof white lid which can be fairly tricky to get into when you are zapped of the usual strength. You also receive a small measuring cup in the pack. The mixture looks fairly toxic with its bright green colour and although it doesn't taste very nice, it tastes as though it might just do the job due to its potency. The bottle comes in a cardboard box with all the relevant information and a users leaflet inside.
You should expect to pay around the £5 mark for this product from most pharmacists as well as online.

~~ Overall opinion ~~

Aches and pains:

Before taking the medicine, my ears hurt, my head was really thick and painful and my body felt as though I had lost in a really brutal fight. After about half an hour of taking the mixture you will find it start to kick in. I noticed that my headache had completely gone meaning that the thickness had died with it which enabled me to think clearer and negotiate the kettle for a well earned cup of tea. My ears still hurt a little but not quite as much as they had and my body felt as though it had done a hard day's work rather than ten rounds with Mike Tyson. All in all I felt so much more at ease.

Coughing and sneezing:

I'd say I still coughed alot but with far more ease. My breathing was so difficult prior to taking the medicine so I was incredibly relived just to be able to breathe without gasping for air. I found my nose was still blocked and the mucus (I hate that word and all that it stands for lol) about the same but blowing my nose was far less painful. The tickleyness of my cough had certainly subsided which certainly made me feel far more comfortable. I found that tissue mountain could be reduced to tissue pile which eased frustration and meant the need to cough and blow my nose had certainly reduced.

Fever:

I hate the hot and cold flushes of flu, one minute you have enough clothing on to hike around the Antarctic, the next you're wrestling to pull it all off like you just sat on the sun. Night nurse really did help just to balance the temperature and keep me feeling warm and cosy.

Sleep:

I really felt that this product had very little chance of sending me to sleep feeling as bad as I did. I was totally amazed to find myself feeling so relaxed with my head nodding in front of the TV and my eyes gently closing to the rhythm of my new found breath. Before I could say "What a rubbish day" I was fast a kip in front of the box. I did wake up once but soon drifted back which was absolute heaven after feeling so awful.

The cons:

Of all the flu remedies I have tried, Night Nurse has to be my favourite. It does have a couple of flaws but not many. The fact that it doesn't put a superman cape on and fly to your door is one of them. The child proof lid is fiddly and hard to open when your arms feel like they have been hit repeatedly with hammers after the flu ache kicks in. It doesn't cure your cold or flu either and it tastes pretty vile.There are also a million and one do's and don't's in the warnings section of this product and obviously a must read before buying.

In conclusion:

It strikes me as bizarre in this day and age of medical advances that we still don't have a cure for flu or the common cold but there are ways to relive the symptoms and in my opinion Night Nurse is an absolute must have for illness. All those aches and pains dulled, the nightmare of coughing, spluttering and sneezing reduced and a sleep made for a king. Just the best nights sleep I have had in a long time.

~~ Additional information ~~

To check out the do's and don'ts for this product or just further information you can visit the superliving pharmacey website which lists all the information in full.

http://www.superliving.co.uk

Thank you for reading!

Summary: Super duper!