Friday, March 28, 2008

Cough suppressant

The cold I got last weekend was mild, but every afternoon a dry little cough starts up and just won't stop! After a sleepless night of coughing, I saw my doctor, who gave me a codeine cough syrup. There's not really that much codeine in the cough syrup, and it's been only slightly effective.

It occurred to me that there must be a folk-remedy cough suppressant. To my utter shock, I discovered that there's plenty of research to show that theobromine, an ingredient in dark chocolate, is more effective than codeine cough syrup in suppressing the cough reflex.

Needless to say, I wasted no time checking this out. The recommended dosage is 50 g (2 ounces). So I melted two squares of unsweetened dark baking chocolate, added a little Grade B maple syrup (long story), and am eating it. Full report tomorrow morning.

1 comment:

  1. Just for the record, theobromine is the compound in chocolate & coffee that is metabolized into the drug, theophylline, which is an antispasmodic and bronchdilator that used to be used widely in the treatment of asthma.

    It makes sense that it would be useful in controlling a spasmodic cough.

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