“The medicines which are being marketed for cough treatments are not the most effective medicines for cough” reported by ‘John Hopkins’ on the surprise new guidelines from the ‘American College of Chest Physicians’.The pulmonary specialists summed up the findings as comprehensive guidelines for treating various types of cough in the John Hopkins latest “Lung Disorders Health Alert”.

One of the reasons for people seeking treatment is cough. According to ACCP guidelines many of the key ingredients in the medications taken for cough and cold are not effective for the cough caused by common cold. The new guidelines also point out that the cough expectorants and suppressants just won’t work. Even though certain old allergy and pain medicines that are not advertised as cough busters, they are more effective in treating coughs.

An ACCP expert panel found that “guaifenesin” which is an expectorant found in popular cough medicines such as “Robitussin” and “Mucinex” are not effective in controlling cough caused by common cold, after analyzing the studies done from 1980-2004 on cough and common cold. “Guaifenesin” is believed to thin mucus and make it easier to cough up phlegm. Four studies which compared guaifenesin with a placebo in which two studies showed that the cough medicine was effective and another two studies showed that it was not. This was not enough evidence to say the drug is effective for treating cough with common cold as concluded by ACCP.

According to ACCP guidelines two other common cough medications such as “dextromethorphan” and “codeine” also are not effective for treating cough caused by colds. Experts found that an overdose of both ‘dextromethorphan’ and ‘codeine’ are ineffective.

But the panel noted that neither of these two is effective in case of cough with common cold but may help people with chronic bronchitis to get short-term relief from coughing. They also found that the ‘Zinc’ and ‘Echinacea’ are also ineffective for common cold cough.

The ACCP panel found some products to that can help calm coughs. They found that ‘Antihistamine’ and decongestant medicines that contain “brompheniramine” and “pseudo- ephedrine” could be effective. These medicines can make drowsy because it contains older antihistamines. The panel said that another treatment is the pain reliever naproxen has been shown to decrease the severity and frequency of coughing. The panel concluded that the newer non-sedating antihistamines do not reduce cough.

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