Question regarding cough suppressants.

[Paracelsus]

As far as I know, cough suppressants are medicines used for symptomatic treatment of dry, unproductive cough. They include codeine and dextromethorphan (DXM). Theoretically, they make the cough less painful.

One of the first commonly used cough suppressants was codeine.
SWIM remembers when he was in high school he once got transfered (moved to another high school) and it was a bad experience to SWIM. Out of nowhere, a VERY bad dry cough tortured SWIM more than a month, starting with the first day at the new school. SWIM was in prefect health, but every 30 minutes he had to cough very hard for a minute or so. There was no organic reason for his cough. So SWIMs dad decided to give lil' swimmy codeine (later, swim found out that it was actually dihydrocodeine), medicinal dosage of course. It did NOTHING.

I have also read a lot of suggestions that DXM may not work as a cough suppressant. (try looking in the DXM forum). DXM didn't work for SWIM, too.

My question is: Are there any cough suppressants that actually WORK? If so, please post...

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[Forthesevenlakes]

SWIM thinks theres a few antitussives that arent opiates or codeine. Didn't SWIY post about one of these recently asking if they had recreational potential? Has SWIM tried any opiates other than DHC for his cough? One opiate may not work as well as another for SWIY. SWIM believes that DXM and opiates inhibit coughing through different mechanisms, although he can't remember exactly. Maybe SWIY just has extremely resilient coughs? Both opiates and DXM work for SWIM, very well. He's "cured" coughs that had gone for days just by a single DXM trip or codeine buzz =]

[Paracelsus]

I know i posted about oxeladine, but that is antitussive only and SWIM decided not to use it (even just for cough), because there were some replies in SWIMs thread that stated that oxeladine is a carcinogen.

I guess its just hopeless, SWIMs cough really sucks. It could be due to stress and depression, and those aren't organic causes. So SWIM thinks it would be better to see a psychiatrist rather than to try to fight the symptoms.

[Forthesevenlakes]

Interesting idea, stress, depression and anxiety can cause a variety of physical symptoms, and SWIM has never heard of them causing a cough, but it sounds plausible. It could be a type of learned response to some kind of stressor, a reflexive or repetitive behavior. So SWIY is right, a psychiatrist could help remove the underlying issues if those are whats causing the cough, rather than just treating the symptoms.