In France, we practice a lot of self-medication:8 out of 10 French people buy drugs without a prescription. And yet, not all over-the-counter medications are necessarily good… The magazine 60 million consumers rightly pondered the question. In one study, its experts analyzed cold, cough and flu medications that are mindlessly bought as soon as the chills, runny nose or scratchy throat hit. In total, 61 drugs were screened.
Results ? Overall, 28 over-the-counter treatments were reported…. banish from our medicine cabinet! The reason:they have too many contraindications and adverse effects... Here is the list of all those that 60 million consumers advise to ban.
> Influenza:Actifed influenza states, Doli influenza state, Fervex Pheniramine adult without sugar.
> Sore throat:Colludol, Drill honey rosat, Drill tetracaine, Hexaspray, Humex sore throat, Maxilase sore throat, Strepsils Lidocaine, Strefen without orange sugar.
> Constipation:Contalax, Dragees Fuca, Pursennide.
> Diarrhea:Ercefuryl.
> Cough:Bronchokod fatty cough without sugar adults, Exomuc fatty cough orange, Fluimucil orange, Humex dry cough oxomemazine caramel, Mucomyst fatty cough orange, Toplexil without sugar, Neo-Codion
On the other hand, the study advises other drugs that it has classified in the category "to be preferred", because they are effective and without side effects... These are:
> Intestinal disorders:Imodiumcaps, Gaviscon mint or Maalox without sugar.
> Cough:Vicks Vaporub, or Clarix dry cough, Humex adult dry cough dextromethorphan apricot.
But let's also put it into perspective, some, like Gilles Bonnefond, the president of the Union of Dispensary Pharmacists' Unions (USPO), invite us not to fall into psychosis either. Drugs "can obviously be dangerous if misused, but otherwise they are effective since, by definition, a drug is an active substance “, he explains. For him, dangerousness is only a question of precaution:"They obviously require precautions:the pharmacist must ask the question of a possible cardiac pathology, of course he does not recommend the same drugs if he is dealing with a child or a pregnant woman… ". So we know what to do the next time we are tempted by one of these drugs:ask your pharmacist for advice.
