Introduction
In this article, we are going to talk about the most effective medicine to treat cold and flu-related symptoms like:
- sneezing
- running nose
- itchy & watery eyes (lacrimation)
- nasal congestion or stiffness.
The pharmacy shops have shelves filled with these big brands of OTC drugs for treating cold-related symptoms. Most of these medicines are being advertised heavily as they bear the brand name of a big pharma company that can afford the cost of marketing its product.
Over a decade, I have tried a lot of medicines to ease my cold and flu-like symptoms. Like anybody, I used to get influenced by the advertisements of these big companies, hence, I took these medicines for a number of years. At times, I used to avoid doctors for convenience and used to head to an old experienced pharma shop in our area to get prescribed appropriate medicines to alleviate my annoying symptoms.
Although I have forgotten the names of most of the medicines that I tried for treating cold. But from the top of my head, I still recall the names of some of the highly advertised medicines that I took for a number of years, these include:
- Vicks Cold relieving medicine.
- Coldrain All in One tablet.
- Crocin Cold and Flu tablet.
- Theraflu Severe Cold tablet.
- Cheston Cold tablet.
- Zyncet Cold tablet.
- S Cold tablet.
I have tried all these medicines extensively since most of them were featured in television ads. They make claims of instant relief but believe me none of them had any significant impact on me. It may sound a bit brash but that is the truth.
I used to take the maximum dosage prescribed on the label to get immediate relief, yet I never experienced any notable relief even after taking it repeatedly for a number of days.
At that point, I used to give up on these popular pills and let my army of antibodies fight off the virus.
In another instance, I picked up the cold infection again and was prescribed a tablet by a pharmacy shop. I was given Livcet AM. It was a small, easy-to-swallow, sweet-looking triangular tablet orange in color.
By this time, I had lost my confidence in the credibility of the medicines known to relieve the symptoms of cold and flu.
I was prescribed to take Livcet AM along with another tablet by a pharmacy shop owner. I observed a substantial relief from my exasperating symptoms. I was so reluctant to give any sort of credit to the medicines that I thought that my antibodies did all the fighting as I felt quite normal after taking just one dose of that tablet combination.
The next time around, I again got cold and as I still had almost the entire strip of Livcet AM tablets with me, I again took one of these.
Earlier I took it with another tablet but this time I couldn’t locate the other tablet, hence I took just a single tablet of Livcet AM, in the hope that I’d feel somewhat better in the morning. It was nighttime when I took it.
By the time it was dawn, it never felt that I had a cold last night as I was feeling 100% normal. Though many of you might have started to believe that I am harping too much about Livcet AM, or am promoting it through this article.
This is not the case, you won’t find any affiliate links or anything that gives me any monetary credit toward the sales of this cold-treating medicine.
Coming back, I had never heard the name of this drug or the name of its pharmaceutical company.
It’s been about 2-3 years now, I am thoroughly convinced that this medicine actually works very well on the symptoms of cold and flu.
As we are still amidst COVID-19, whenever I feel as if I am about to catch a cold or flu, I take this pill in advance, and touch wood, this medicine has held up its reputation thus far.
This tablet has now become the preferred go-to medicine when anybody from our family catches mild to moderate infection or cold or flu-like symptoms.
It contains the salts: Levocetirizine (5mg) and Ambroxol (60mg) in just the right proportions. During this COVID-19 time, nobody wants to have a single symptom described in the checklist of an ongoing pandemic as it creates unnecessary doubt in the mind.
I have bought 3 strips of this drug, just in case, anybody in the family starts showing early symptoms of cold & flu. I think it has a bit to do with the timing. If the infection has spread like a web within the body, then, this pill may not be as effective. So, I try to administer this medicine the moment the body starts showing symptoms like sneezing, wheezing, running nose, etc.
Livcet AM has a good shelf life, costs less than Rs 90 for a 10 tablet strip, and above all, is the most effective medicine that we, as a family trust from an armamentarium of medicines that claims to relieve the symptoms of cold and flu.
It’s highly likely that there are other companies that might be using the same formula to manufacture similar drugs but they haven’t caught the attention of so many people as Livcet Am has. Maybe, it has something to do with the purity & the high quality of the salts that Livcet AM manufacturer uses or it could be as simple as GMP that the company follows.
I am not yet sure if it is an anti-biotic or not, but when my symptoms subside, I stop taking it. I never go into the hassles of taking it continually for 3 or 5 days. As said earlier, I am not sure if it is an antibiotic or not. Even if it is one, taking it once or twice a day makes me feel up and running and I don’t keep taking it for an extended period.
For many antibiotics, there are upcoming studies that suggest that there is no need to carry on taking the antibiotic medicines at a full stretch putting your liver to extra work in order to complete the full course. If you get back to normal health much before its prescribed course’s time, simply stop it.
This study is not conclusive and there are ongoing researchers that are working towards proving this theory.
The information that I’ve shared in this article has come from my personal experience. Since it is something that involves health and the use of a drug, I will read out the disclaimer loud and clear, especially for those with comorbid conditions and elderly people, every person responds differently to different drugs.
It’s an article that is opinionated towards a particular drug “Livcet AM” that has worked for me. Kindly do not take it as medical advice. If you want to experiment, do it at your own peril. I haven’t faced any issues, in fact, it has worked like a charm for me.
So, that’s all I have for you, folks. It’s August time in India and it is generally a breeding time for cold-inducing viruses. I thought this would be an ideal time to write a blog to help people suffering from mild to moderate symptoms related to cold and make a correct selection of OTC drugs.
Your first line of defense should be not to contract the infection at all. It can be done by maintaining good hand hygiene practices that will not provide any opportunity for the virus to enter your body.
This write-up is written for individuals who don’t like going to a doctor for mild medical conditions like a cold and try to self-medicate themselves back to normal selves. For such individuals, though I say this with caution, they can definitely give this tablet a try.
Citation
https://www.1mg.com/drugs/livcet-am-5mg-60mg-tablet-564645
Featured pic: Cartoon vector created by brgfx – www.freepik.com
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