check this out. Something to think about

This is from Yahoo News! I cut the story down so it wasn't so long. I am going to get rid of the cough meds I have.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Over-the-counter cough medicines do little good and may harm children, U.S. experts said in new guidelines released on Monday.

"Cough is the number one reason why patients seek medical attention," Dr. Richard Irwin of the University of Massachusetts Medical School, who chaired the guidelines panel, said in a statement.
"There is no clinical evidence that over-the-counter cough expectorants or suppressants actually relieve cough," Irwin added.

Dr. Peter Dicpinigaitis, a panel member who runs a cough clinic at the Montefiore Medical Center in New York, said cough medications might help some patients. But they carry the risk of oversedation -- especially dangerous to children, he said in a telephone interview.

Under new guidelines, adults with acute cough or upper airway cough syndrome, commonly known as postnasal drip, should use an older variety of antihistamine with a decongestant.
And while coughs in children are worrisome and annoying, cough syrup is not the answer, Irwin said.

"Cough is very common in children. However, cough and cold medicines are not useful in children and can actually be harmful," he said. "In most cases, a cough that is unrelated to chronic lung conditions, environmental influences, or other specific factors, will resolve on its own."

The guidelines follow several studies that have suggested that nonprescription cough remedies do little more than offer comfort to desperate patients.

Researchers reported in July of 2004 that neither dextromethorphan, often listed on labels as DM, or diphenhydramine, an antihistamine, offered any more relief to children suffering from cough than sugar water.

The study, published in the journal Pediatrics, showed that children usually recovered quickly whatever the treatment.