Cough Medicine May Be Dangerous, But it Also Doesn't Work

Everybody's talking about drugs today. Under pressure from the FDA, Johnson & Johnson and Wyeth today announced recalls of cough and cold medicines for kids under two citing safety concerns. The safety of these medications has been under scrutiny for a few years. As a parent, I'm obviously happy that possibly dangerous drugs are being looked at.

But what excites me even more is that all this attention might unveil the truth about these medicines, which took me three years of motherhood to figure out: whatever you think about the safety of chemicals like dextromethorphan -- the main ingredient in Robitussin and other syrups -- THEY DON'T WORK. At least they never did much for my kids.

When daughter number 1, the one that can't handle being sick, had a cough, she was determined to be miserable -- and force me to miserable with her -- all night long, cough syrup or none. The syrups seemed to have no effect on her whatsoever. Once I made the mistake of giving her one of the antihistamines in a Robitussin or Pediacare (I blessedly can't remember which). She was bouncing off the walls until dawn.

The only thing that has ever helped my little Tazmanian devil is Benadryl. The stuff seems to help her drift off and stay that way without the hyperactive side effect of those horrible antihistamines. I'm glad I finally learned my lesson and I only stock B and tylenol for headache now. I just wish this nugget of knowledge had come with my baby instruction manual.