Thursday, December 10, 2009

The side effects of Coldease

My officemate felt that she was going to have a cold this morning, so she bought Coldease, the latest cold medicine out in the Philippine market. I've heard a radio commercial of theirs days back and advertisement banners have been plastered in EDSA. It said that you should take Coldease before you actually get a cold (or something to that effect).

Got no photo of it, but it's a soft gel capsule which, according to the label, is made of herbal ingredients. Everyone's switching to natural (just like Lucy Torres... er...), so I guess the makers of this one, Unilab, is just itching to jump into the bandwagon.

Thing is, on the fine print, it's got loads of side effects. To enumerate:

- nausea
- dizziness
- vomiting
- abdominal pain
- tingling sensation of the tongue
- diarrhea
- headache

Skin irritations, like rashes, and other allergic reactions may also occur.

There's a disclaimer, though, that Coldease should not be taken for more than two weeks to minimize side effects. So they may or may not happen to you when you take it.

So far, my officemate hasn't been complaining of anything related to the aforementioned side effects. I guess it just struck me as weird that one herbal medicine could have such a number of side effects.

Maybe I'll ask my doctor about this one first, in case I get a cold.

5 comments:

  1. Those side effects are scary and yes definitely weird! I mean for simple cold, you end up with those side effects. I would rather go for water/orange juice therapy

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  2. True that. And it's sold in drugstores, so meaning it's approved by the BFAD...

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  3. I'm not related to the pharmaceutical industry but this much I know: the main ingredient of the Coldease capsule is the plant, Echinacea purpurea (Eastern purple coneflower or Purple coneflower).

    It's not true that if it's herbal one wouldn't have any side effects. Remember that a lot of people are allergic to pollen? or some vegetables?

    Those who experience allergic reactions to echinacea are typically those who are allergic to related plants in the daisy family, which includes ragweed, chrysanthemums, marigolds, and daisies. Also, people with asthma or atopy (a genetic tendency toward allergic reactions) may be more likely to have an allergic reaction when taking echinacea.

    Hope this helps.

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  4. Hello,
    I've been taking cold ease whenever I have a cold, and so far, so good. I used buy Echinacea from the US and I'm glad we have it here now. It's better than Zinc or Vitamin C. I do not recall having experienced any side effects and I can attest this is one herbal medicine you should try :)

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  5. i've also been using coldease whenever i have a cold, and it really helps. my cold just lasts 3-4 days. at lease you're warned about the possible side-effects. other medicines also have side-effects if you read the package inserts.

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