UConn Cough and Cold 1

Patient comes in looking for a solution to her elderly (80 year old) mother’s her mother has a chesty cough with phlegm. Her mother has had a cold for the last several days. She brings up Mucinex D, which she always uses, and asks if this is okay to help alleviate her mother’s cough.  Be able to distinguish active ingredients in OTC products and recommend the correct OTC to treat their problem but will not exacerbate any conditions the patient has.

It is important to ask patient if their mother has high blood pressure.  She does because she is on lisinopril.

Recommend an OTC product that does not have psuedophedrine which can make high blood pressure worse.  This OTC could be Mucinex DM which uses dextramethrophan and guaifenesin which does not have any interactions with lisinopril and doesn’t affect high blood pressure.  So you woud not recommend Mucniex D for this patient.

Make sure to note that you could still use another OTC product.  The cough is not due to her heart medication, but due to a cold that she’s had for the last several days, so an OTC can and should be recommended to help alleviate her cough from a cold.