compound cough treatments
Last reviewed 01/2018
Compound cough treatments are a curious development of the drug industry with the apparent philosophy "more is better". Here the "more" is a variety of treatments for cough combined into one package.
The trouble is that often the treatments are mutually contraindicatory - for example an expectorant promoting the movement of the sputum, with a cough suppressant stopping it being coughed up. The fact that these compounds are not downright dangerous is based solely on the very limited efficacy of any of the individual compounds.
It is in some instances important to actively discourage these treatments in some patients with poor lung function before any actual damage can be done.