Bad Dry Cough , Tried Everything, 19 Baht Fixed It

[balo]

I had some sort of flu for the last 2 weeks , I feel better now but could not get rid of a terrible dry cough .

So I went to the local pharmacy and asked for a cough syrup , I tried several but they had no effect on me.

My coughing was the same , keeping me awake at night .

Then a Thai suggested me to buy a bottle of Brown Mixture by Tiger Medical , its sold at 7 eleven for 19 baht. Yes 19 baht.

Its a bottle with a green label written in Thai / Chinese and a red tiger.

To my surprise I could see that the mixture contained 0.6 mg Opium !!

Anyway it worked , the cough stays away for hours and I can sleep now !

And I have wasted 500 baht on diffrernt tablets and syrup .

Amazing Thailand. Next time I know what to do.

Edited February 1, 2012 by balo

[Jayman]

maybe you could post a picture of the box or the label on the bottle.

[edwardandtubs]

Placebo effect.

[Sheryl]

Brown mixture has been around for ages, I often used it 30 years ago when working in a very dusty refugee camp on the border.

I didn't realize it still had trace amounts of opium, though. This is the cough supressant agent - opiates in very low doses, much less than needed for pain relief, are effective in suppressing the cough reflex. .

the rest of the ingrediants are expectorants.

there is no harm in suppressing a completely dry cough in someone with no lower respiratory infection. In cases where there is some congestion, it is important to get the phlegm out, but for sanity's sake I think a mild cough suppressant at night only is allowable, just make an effort to really cough out all the gunk first thing after you get up. hot liquids help that along greatly.

Cough supression becomes dangerous when it leads to secretions accumulating in the lower respiratory tract - can cause or worsen pneumonia. Nature gave us the cost reflux precisely so that stuff like that would be expelled from the body. But of course air pollution and allergens can set off a dry cough that isn't serving any purpose other than as a warning that something not good is being inhaled.

[WarpSpeed]

Yes this is the next step of the floods IMO. The very same crap, sewage and such that came with the floods never got washed away and has dried and is now becoming suspended in the air along with the pollution and causing untold illness and a good rinsing rain is required to begin with.

There is definitely an epidemic of sorts with this cough I've heard more of it around then ever before in my 10 years here and my entire family has it as well. And as Sheryl mentions it is necessary to get it to break up and come out not just suppress it so I give my family an expectorant during the day and suppressant during the night so we can sleep as rest is just as important.

I believe it already develops into a lower respiratory tract infection or bronchitis by the time it gets to this point and medical advice should be sought for an antibiotic prescription and follow up.

On the OP my wife takes that stuff and swears by it too but I'm concerned about the addictive narcotic effects of the Opium and continued use.

Edited February 2, 2012 by WarpSpeed

[Carib]

If one googles : รูปยาแก้ไอน้ำดำ you will see what it looks like.

[naboo]

I had what seems like the same cough, lasted about three weeks, keeping me up at night. Totally dry and would come in fits lasting 15 minutes or so, then nothing for an hour or 3. It disappeared for a few days then came back, with phlegm. Much better.

Now has gone completely, but I do get a bit wheezy from time to time and am currently using an inhaler (Ventolin) to relieve this as it can be quite severe. Its been about 6 weeks since the onset, but I'm getting back to normal. Nasty thing.

[naboo]

If one googles : รูปยาแก้ไอน้ำดำ you will see what it looks like.

[Carib]

If one googles : รูปยาแก้ไอน้ำดำ you will see what it looks like.

That is the one without the red tiger mentioned by the op, could be just as effective, not sure

[Totster]

I have used the (chinese) expectorant a few times, very cheap from the pharmacy with very good results.

totster:D

[FlorC]

I've been using it for years , whenever I get a dry cough what won't go away.

Usually it is around 24 B for the 120ml bottle and has a long expiring date.

I can't take too much , or I will get stomach pain , but it is good stuff.

If you take it before you go to sleep , you sleep deeper too.

Took it to europe , asked in the farmacy there, but they didn't sell it because the opium.

There the anti-cough medicine costs 3 to 8 euro for something that doesn't work !

[anterian]

Codeine, a morphine (opium) analogue will suppress a cough without addiction risk. Personally, with a dry cough I prefer to use an expectorant like ammonium chloride. A very good Thai herbal preparation is MA-VAENG cough syrup based on the berries of solanum trilobatum.

[flap48]

It was the 0.6mg of opium that did the trick. There was a similar type cough medicine put out by one of the big drug companies in Australia some 45yrs ago and it cleared up all sorts of coughs in only a few days, it also had a small % of opium in it. A few years later i went back to the pharmacy one day to get the same cough syrup to clear up nasty cough i had aquired and i was told by the pharmacy that it was no longer available because the health regulators had put a ban on it because a lot of drug addicts had started buying up dozens of bottles and drinking them or mixing them with other stuff. That news really pissed me off because it was the best cough medicine that had ever been on the market.

My doctor put me onto it in the first place and told that the small % of opium was the thing that got rid of the coughs. As someone esle has already asked, if you can post a picture of the label on the bottle it would be a great help to the rest of us in getting some of it.

Thanks for the info, Don.

[Sheryl]

Codeine, a morphine (opium) analogue will suppress a cough without addiction risk. Personally, with a dry cough I prefer to use an expectorant like ammonium chloride. A very good Thai herbal preparation is MA-VAENG cough syrup based on the berries of solanum trilobatum.

Sorry but codeine is fully addictive.

The amounts needed to suppress a cough are very low (as is the opium in Brown Mixture) so addiction not a risk if used as directed, but it is perfectly possible if you swill enough of the stuff to get hooked and that is exactly what did happen in the West in the past which is why they finally banned it, leaving only expectorants which are useless for a really dry cough.

Codeine, opium = same mode of action with regard to cough suppression and both are addictive.

[cmsally]

Every time I get a cough it is from a sinus infection. A daily sinus rinse does wonders at clearing out the gunk and stopping any cough.

[KKK]

If one googles : รูปยาแก้ไอน้ำดำ you will see what it looks like.

Posting the link would have been better ......

[PoodMaiDai]

Stocking up. Thanks.

[PEP]

My mate says that that "Green Bottle" stuff with Opium is the best thing invented since sliced bread. His usual dose is 10 0r 12 bottles a day. No cough but a nice warm mood.

[Jayman]

I tried to get some as pictured above but am told that the company is having supply issues (maybe floods?).

In any case the red tiger brand seems to have the same exact ingredients and is also 19thb at 7/11

[balo]

maybe you could post a picture of the box or the label on the bottle.

They have changed the label now. Its black with a leopard on the front.

.http://th-th.faceboo...150388534994170

Edited February 7, 2012 by balo

[Jayman]

maybe you could post a picture of the box or the label on the bottle.

They have changed the label now. Its black with a leopard on the front.

I just bought some yesterday as per the picture that I accidentally double posted. It would seem that there are more than 1 brand of this magic elixir. The one I posted had he exact same ingredients in the same volumes as the one in the first pictured post.

[WarpSpeed]

Codeine, a morphine (opium) analogue will suppress a cough without addiction risk. Personally, with a dry cough I prefer to use an expectorant like ammonium chloride. A very good Thai herbal preparation is MA-VAENG cough syrup based on the berries of solanum trilobatum.

Sorry but codeine is fully addictive.

The amounts needed to suppress a cough are very low (as is the opium in Brown Mixture) so addiction not a risk if used as directed, but it is perfectly possible if you swill enough of the stuff to get hooked and that is exactly what did happen in the West in the past which is why they finally banned it, leaving only expectorants which are useless for a really dry cough.

Codeine, opium = same mode of action with regard to cough suppression and both are addictive.

Agree.... I was going to post a counter point anyways but Sheryl is on top again...

[WarpSpeed]

My mate says that that "Green Bottle" stuff with Opium is the best thing invented since sliced bread. His usual dose is 10 0r 12 bottles a day. No cough but a nice warm mood.

[anterian]

Codeine, a morphine (opium) analogue will suppress a cough without addiction risk. Personally, with a dry cough I prefer to use an expectorant like ammonium chloride. A very good Thai herbal preparation is MA-VAENG cough syrup based on the berries of solanum trilobatum.

Sorry but codeine is fully addictive.

The amounts needed to suppress a cough are very low (as is the opium in Brown Mixture) so addiction not a risk if used as directed, but it is perfectly possible if you swill enough of the stuff to get hooked and that is exactly what did happen in the West in the past which is why they finally banned it, leaving only expectorants which are useless for a really dry cough.

Codeine, opium = same mode of action with regard to cough suppression and both are addictive.

Agree.... I was going to post a counter point anyways but Sheryl is on top again...

"Codeine is currently the most widely-used opiate in the world,^[15][30] and is one of the most commonly used drugs overall according to numerous reports by organizations including the World Health Organization and its League of Nations predecessor agency. It is one of the most effective orally administered opioid analgesics and has a wide safety margin. "

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Codeine

Many drugs may be abused recreationally and can in such cases become addictive. I was addressing my remarks to hopefully a sensible person, not a potential junkie.

[WarpSpeed]

Codeine, a morphine (opium) analogue will suppress a cough without addiction risk. Personally, with a dry cough I prefer to use an expectorant like ammonium chloride. A very good Thai herbal preparation is MA-VAENG cough syrup based on the berries of solanum trilobatum.

Sorry but codeine is fully addictive.

The amounts needed to suppress a cough are very low (as is the opium in Brown Mixture) so addiction not a risk if used as directed, but it is perfectly possible if you swill enough of the stuff to get hooked and that is exactly what did happen in the West in the past which is why they finally banned it, leaving only expectorants which are useless for a really dry cough.

Codeine, opium = same mode of action with regard to cough suppression and both are addictive.

Agree.... I was going to post a counter point anyways but Sheryl is on top again...

"Codeine is currently the most widely-used opiate in the world,^[15][30] and is one of the most commonly used drugs overall according to numerous reports by organizations including the World Health Organization and its League of Nations predecessor agency. It is one of the most effective orally administered opioid analgesics and has a wide safety margin. "

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Codeine

Many drugs may be abused recreationally and can in such cases become addictive. I was addressing my remarks to hopefully a sensible person, not a potential junkie.

Addictive behavior manifests itself in people who have no idea they're "potential junkies" until they become addicted which is why if they suspect any such possibility education is their best friend and deterrent not misinformation.. You sated it was NOT addictive suggesting in any amount or circumstance and that was incorrect and misleading..

[wpcoe]

Sadly, codeine is the only effective remedy I've found for the (infrequent, thankfully) intense headaches I get.

In 'the good old days" I used to buy aspirin or acetaminphen with codeine in Canada ("222's"), Hong Kong, or New Zealand, but pretty much world-wide now it's prescription only. And, here in Thailand when I see a doctor they seem to recoil as if I'm a desperate, lying junkie when I ask specifically for it.

The closest OTC I've found is tramadol, but more than easing the pain, it mainly spaces me out so much that I don't care as much about the pain. I am aware tramadol also is addictive.

[Samuimike1]

The Red Tiger ist Red Leopard browne mixture.

[jamhar]

After days of coughing, your lungs become irritated. the irratation causes you to cough, thereby starting a positive feedback situation. You have to break that feedback cycle.

Codine normally works for me in the US but codine is hard to get that here, so maybe this is a good fallback position

As one of the previous poster mentioned, I'll just need 10 to 12 bottles a day

[Neeranam]

Warning - I was given dextropthorphan by my doctor for a dry cough. After taking it I felt very stoned and looked up the drug and found out that it was used recreationally as a hallucinogen!

[Lickey]

About 2 years ago i had a dry explosive cough, tried the lot,drugs, herbal, nothing would stop it, in the end, i could only walk 10mtrs being breathless, the chest pain made me think id broken some ribs, x-rays showed i had bruised the lung casings, and also some blood clots, luckily i got treatment in time,

I agree with others, its best not to supress a dry cough, i learnt my lesson! i bought a nebulizer and use a saline solution, check the web, its good, 10 mins morn, 10 mins night, or as much as you want, no probs, after all, seamen breathe salt air all the time, and this really loosens the mucus/pleghm/snot whatever you want to call it, i used to suffer every dry season, but not any more.