When it was discovered that cough syrups were an effective drug in reducing the suffering caused by a chronic cough and colds, it seemed like one of those medical breakthroughs that would bring man one step closer to overcoming disease once and for all.
In the early 50s and 60s cough syrup was an essential drug that every house hold could not do without and they therefore made sure that they always had a bottle in the family medicine cabinet that could be used by anyone who might need it when they had a cough. It was also relatively affordable and was usually considered as the first treatment for coughs & colds before further medical help was sought.
While there were many popular kinds of cough syrup by far the most effective was codeine cough syrup, whose formula included two major elements namely; codeine and promethazine that acted together when taken to provide relief from a cough. Codeine's main purpose is to bring relief from pain while promethazine acts as an antihistamine.
As with any drug when you take it you will experience side effects that will usually not last very long and it is the same thing with cough syrup it has side effects like dizziness, feeling light headed and mood changes. However with time people found out that if you took a large dose of cough syrup you would experience a high almost similar to that of someone intoxicated by alcohol.
Abusing cough medicine became widespread among teenagers especially since it was not illegal or expensive and was readily available since just about every corner drug store sold it. Codeine cough syrup was the cough syrup of choice for them.
As the number of emergency cases of teens being rushed to hospital after an overdose, with severe vomiting or breathing problems after taking cough syrup increased doctors figured out abuse of the syrup was to blame. This surge in abusive use of the syrup caused its price to be very steep and hard to find.
The government also made a recommendation that codeine cough syrup could only bought with a prescription and pharmaceutical companies altered the concentration of codeine in cough syrups as well as making other cough syrups that did not contain codeine or promethazine to reduce the cases of abuse.
Cough syrup is a great medication for treating the effects of coughs and colds but every parent needs to keep an close eye on the family medicine cabinet to ensure it is not abused and also let kids know of the dangers of abusing it.
In the early 50s and 60s cough syrup was an essential drug that every house hold could not do without and they therefore made sure that they always had a bottle in the family medicine cabinet that could be used by anyone who might need it when they had a cough. It was also relatively affordable and was usually considered as the first treatment for coughs & colds before further medical help was sought.
While there were many popular kinds of cough syrup by far the most effective was codeine cough syrup, whose formula included two major elements namely; codeine and promethazine that acted together when taken to provide relief from a cough. Codeine's main purpose is to bring relief from pain while promethazine acts as an antihistamine.
As with any drug when you take it you will experience side effects that will usually not last very long and it is the same thing with cough syrup it has side effects like dizziness, feeling light headed and mood changes. However with time people found out that if you took a large dose of cough syrup you would experience a high almost similar to that of someone intoxicated by alcohol.
Abusing cough medicine became widespread among teenagers especially since it was not illegal or expensive and was readily available since just about every corner drug store sold it. Codeine cough syrup was the cough syrup of choice for them.
As the number of emergency cases of teens being rushed to hospital after an overdose, with severe vomiting or breathing problems after taking cough syrup increased doctors figured out abuse of the syrup was to blame. This surge in abusive use of the syrup caused its price to be very steep and hard to find.
The government also made a recommendation that codeine cough syrup could only bought with a prescription and pharmaceutical companies altered the concentration of codeine in cough syrups as well as making other cough syrups that did not contain codeine or promethazine to reduce the cases of abuse.
Cough syrup is a great medication for treating the effects of coughs and colds but every parent needs to keep an close eye on the family medicine cabinet to ensure it is not abused and also let kids know of the dangers of abusing it.
About the Author:
Jay Moses presents more interesting facts on the abuse of cough medicine and some famous people who have struggling with this addiction
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