Cough reliever in pregnancy and children

As with all other medicines, the possible damage to the unborn child must be taken into account when taking cough medicine. In general, herbal preparations are considered to be better tolerated, but since there is often little or no study data for use during pregnancy, they should not be taken uncritically. Experience to date with the use of ACC during pregnancy has shown no discernible risk for all stages of pregnancy and lactation.

The data on the use of Bromhexine and Ambroxol is mainly based on long market experience and it can be assumed that Bromhexine does not cause any harm to the child. However, there are different recommendations for the use of the above-mentioned drugs, which is why self-medication is not recommended in any case and a doctor should be consulted. When using herbal cough removers in children with coughs, it must be noted that the essential oils can often cause allergic reactions and narrowing of the bronchi. To prevent breathing difficulties, these products should only be used cautiously on children.

Cough suppressant

The cough suppressants are used for unproductive irritable coughs to reduce cough attacks regardless of the cause. Before the medicinal cough suppressants are presented, the herbal cough suppressants should first be considered. The most important of these are extracts of coltsfoot, mallow, Icelandic moss and marshmallow root, which produce a light film of mucus that is said to lower the cough reflex or at least provide irritation relief.

However, the effectiveness of these preparations is controversial. However, in children they are a good alternative to the medicinal preparations. An essential component of the drug-based cough-relieving therapy is the use of opioids.

These act centrally, which means that they inhibit the reflex center for coughing in the brainstem. The group of cough suppressants includes codeine, as well as the derivatives hydrocodone and dextromethorphan and noscapine. Side effects of this group of substances are constipation and occasionally nausea.

Only very rarely do respiratory problems occur as side effects; in these cases, there are often already underlying diseases with weakening of the respiratory tract. Codeine has a slight addictive potential, which is why it is often used as a substitute drug in the drug scene. Dextromethorphan, which is a popular alternative to codeine also because of its lower addictive potential, is on a par with codeine in terms of effectiveness.

However, both drugs primarily reduce the frequency of coughing and, to a lesser extent, the intensity of coughing. These drugs are not yet subject to the narcotics law.Hydrocodone, on the other hand, has a stronger attenuation of coughing than codeine and is also subject to narcotics controls due to its greater addictive potential. It is particularly suitable for the use of chesty cough in cancer patients.

The chemical difference to the already mentioned drugs is noscapine, which has a good cough suppressing effect, but in contrast to the classical opioids, it does not have an analgesic or euphoric effect. The centrally acting drugs mentioned so far have more or less been assigned to the group of opioids, but there are some other centrally acting drugs that can be used as cough suppressants. These include antihistamines, which are also used to treat allergies.

Peripherally effective cough suppressants attack at different sites to relieve the irritation of the throat. However, the drugs in this field are usually poorly investigated by clinical studies or associated with considerable problems. Chronic cough associated with bronchial asthma or chronic obstructive pulmonary disease prohibit the use of centrally acting cough suppressants of the opioid family because the opioid-typical side effect of respiratory depression carries too high a risk for these patients. It is also important to note that the opioids have a sedative effect, which reduces road safety.