Metchosin, your physician friend who advised you to use an expectorant for a cough must be as old as I am...but may not read as much. Extensive clinical studies done on expectorants (the most common is guaifenesin, formerly called glyceryl guaiacolate, the main ingredient in plain Robitussin and other Robitussin branded products) have shown that they have no effect on cough or sputum production.

If you want to keep things flowing, the best expectorant to take is...[drum roll]...water.

Rapaire, I'm not sure why dextromethorphan would interact with your prescribed medication, but not codeine and hydrocodone, since they're all derivatives of morphine.

And John, you're correct that most of those OTC medications are back on the shelves...but they've been reformulated without phenylpropanolamine.

Speaking of OTC medicines in general, one of my big complaints is the development of "brand families" of medications. Back in the old days when I was first in practice (way back in the early 80's), there was Tylenol, Dimetapp, Sudafed, Actifed, etc., and I knew what was in each one. A few of them did have "families", but each different one had a specific suffix: Robitussin, Robitussin-DM, Robitussin-CF, for example. Nowadays, if my patient tells me they've been giving their child "Tylenol" I don't know if it's plain acetaminophen, or a decongestant, or an antihistamine/decongestant combination, or what. Another example of marketing trumping common sense and safety.

Aloha,
Mark