Actifed Cold & Allergy - Don't bother
Written: Mar 05 '03 (Updated Mar 06 '03)
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Small dosage
Cons: It doesn't work very well.
The Bottom Line: If you just need to treat a runny nose this might work, otherwise, try something else.
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| Kittyokc's Full Review: Cold & Allergy Tablet |
Finding an allergy/cold medicine that would work for my 14 year old daughter has been quite a challenge. For years, Dimetapp worked great for my kids, but as the years went on, it seemed to work less and less. I usually take Benadryl Allergy/Sinus for my allergies and sinus problems and it does work for my daughter too, but it does make her very tired, so it's not something I can give her in the morning before school, so we needed to find one that wouldn't make her tired, but would relieve her allergy and cold symptoms.
I had taken Actifed as a child for my allergies and it helped then, so I figured I would give it a shot and picked up a box of Actifed Cold & Allergy to see if it could help her. According to the box, it temporarily relieves the standard allergy and cold symptoms, runny nose, itchy and watery eyes, sneezing and nasal congestion.
Dosage
Children 12 years to adult take only one tablet, children 6 to under 12 take a half a tablet and it's recommended to consult your child's doctor before giving it to a child under the age of six. They are supposed to last for four to six hours before having to take more, but you are not to exceed four dosages in a 24 hour period.
My daughter was extremely happy to hear that she only had to take one tablet, since she hates to take pills. She was also happy to see how small the tablets were compared to other ones she's taken.
Warnings
Of course, just like all medicines, Actifed Cold & Allergy has all the standard warnings that you find on cold medicines. It may cause drowsiness, avoid alcohol, be careful while driving, etc. It also says to ask your doctor before taking if you have high blood pressure, heart disease, thyroid disease, diabetes, glaucoma, if you're taking a MAOI inhibitor, etc. All of these warnings seem to be quite standard for any cold medicine that I have seen.
Active Ingredients
There are only two active ingredients listed for Actifed Cold & Allergy, a nasal decongestant -Pseudoephedrine HCI and an antihistamine - Triprolidine HCI.
Pseudoephedrine HCI seems to be the standard decongestant in most cold medicines and the antihistamine Triprolidine, I haven't heard much about.
Does it work?
I would have to say no. For my daughter, it started to control her runny nose and sneezing after about 20 to 25 minutes, which was a little longer that I would have liked. It relieved very little of her congestion and her itchy runny nose started up again about three and a half hours later, so it didn't even relieve those symptoms for the full time period before she could take it again. When it was OK for her to take another dose, I figured I'd give the medicine one more chance, maybe her cold is just really stubborn and the second dose would help more. I was wrong, it was the same thing all over, it helped her runny nose after a little while, but hardly did anything for her congestion.
For now, whenever her allergies or sinuses act up, she's back to taking the Benadryl Allergy/Sinus until we can finally find an allergy/cold medicine that won't make her too tired.
Recommended:
No
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Epinions.com ID:
Kittyokc
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Member: Kathy
Location: Oklahoma
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