Medicine - same ingredients but different pricing.

[Glaucus]

Not far wrong BUT some do work but they do so by providing specific symptomatic relief. The paracetamol will essentially work as an anti-pyretic to reduce your temperature but nothing else in this case. Most others contain things like pseudoephedrine, pholcodine, and caffeine which will help to alleviate symptoms such as blocked noses, coughs and tiredness. In the vast majority of cases they won't help much and the cold will run it's course.

Wow such generalization.
So you not going to take antibiotics or another million medications, that are proved to work.
Also painkillers do work, they kill pain, they aren't made to cure the underlying problem.

Such nonsense.

 

[shadow_boxer]

Wow such generalization.
So you not going to take antibiotics or another million medications, that are proved to work.
Also painkillers do work, they kill pain, they aren't made to cure the underlying problem.

Such nonsense.

I never mentioned anything about painkillers or antibiotics!

I said that some do work for some people with specific ingredients targeted for certain symptoms when they have the flu or cold but in my professional experience a significant proportion will have little to no effect, which funily enough is the guidance recommended by NICE for self-limiting upper respiratory tract infections.

 

[Xordium]

Not far wrong BUT some do work but they do so by providing specific symptomatic relief. The paracetamol will essentially work as an anti-pyretic to reduce your temperature but nothing else in this case. Most others contain things like pseudoephedrine, pholcodine, and caffeine which will help to alleviate symptoms such as blocked noses, coughs and tiredness. In the vast majority of cases they won't help much and the cold will run it's course.

Medicine revolves around the treatment and alleviation of symptoms ...

And paracetamol will do more than you say because of its prostaglandin inhibitory properties.

 

[Cleeecooo]

I'd buy the more expensive one every time. It heals you faster*. FACT.













*Ofcourse, this is only due to the placebo it gives

 

[Jolteh]

Wow such generalization.
So you not going to take antibiotics or another million medications, that are proved to work.
Also painkillers do work, they kill pain, they aren't made to cure the underlying problem.

Such nonsense.

Antibiotics for a cold or flu? Which are both viruses?

 

[RDM]

Not far wrong BUT some do work but they do so by providing specific symptomatic relief. The paracetamol will essentially work as an anti-pyretic to reduce your temperature but nothing else in this case. Most others contain things like pseudoephedrine, pholcodine, and caffeine which will help to alleviate symptoms such as blocked noses, coughs and tiredness. In the vast majority of cases they won't help much and the cold will run it's course.

I would much rather have a five day cold with reduced symptoms than a five day cold with full symptoms...

 

[decmatt]

I buy the cheap stuff, but have always been confused to the difference that dispersible and swallow asprin gives :S surely asprin is asprin regardless of how it is taken...

 

[Angilion]

In some cases, the ingredients are the same, but packaged in a different form or slightly modified to aid delivery:

Packaging - liquid capsules are broken down and the contents absorbed quicker than tablets.

Chemical alteration - ibuprofen lysinate (or lysine depending on the branding) is absorbed faster than standard acid ibuprofen.

True, but you can usually still get like for like. For example, Nurofen Express is ibuprofen lysine and filler. Wilkinson's ibuprofen lysine is, unsurprisingly, ibuprofen lysine and filler. Exactly the same dose of ibuprofen lysine in each and the filler is inert in both cases. In the Nurofen box it's £3.29 for 16 tablets. In the Wilko's own brand box it's 98p for 16 tablets.

Having said that, I still buy Beecham's powders for a cold. I know that it's just aspirin and caffeine and I could buy generic aspirin and generic caffeine for a fraction of the price (or take a couple of aspirin with a cup of coffee), but Beecham's powders works better. I know it's a placebo effect, but it still works. I think it's the smell, which is a primitive sense not greatly affected by rational thought or knowledge.

 

[EdwardTeach]

What would the generic version of Lemsip Max Sinus be?

This contains Paracetamol, Caffeine and Phenylephrine hydrochloride.

Reason I ask is because I've purchased some today after coming down with a rather nasty dose of the manflu!
The Phenylephrine stuff is supposed to be a decongestant which presumably is not in your average 40p tub of generic paracetamol?

Have I been conned?

no, but you can buy own brand lemsip equivalents or get phenylalanine in tablets'much more cheaply than buying lemsip.

personally I prefer the flavour of lemsip!