Benzonatate for Cough User Reviews (Page 2)

• Anonymous
• February 24, 2020

"I had a slight cough going into the doctor's to get checked out for flu-like symptoms. The doctor prescribed me these useless pills and an inhaler when my cough wasn’t terrible. Two days later, here I am with an even worse cough while taking these. I think it made my cough worse, if anything."

• Deb...
• Taken for less than 1 month
• December 16, 2019

Benzonatate "The Tessalon pills are great! I’ve been coughing for a month and having difficulty with sleeping. The last 4 nights, I have slept through the night. It seems to work best for me if I take one around an hour to an hour and a half before bedtime. Finally getting some rest."

• Mom...
• June 3, 2020

"Do NOT take Benzonatate!! After taking a Z-pack that didn't work for bronchitis 2 1/2 months ago, I was finally prescribed amoxicillin but also Benzonatate. By day 5, I woke up feeling awful, took the Benzonate twice that day, and by early evening, I had chest pain, felt like I was being choked, it was painful to breathe, and I had to lay down. I've tested negative for COVID and for the antibodies. I rested for a few hours that evening and started feeling a little better. I obviously stopped taking the Benzonate, and by the next day, I started feeling so much better. Never have I experienced anything like this. If you are on this drug, please stop taking it and opt for something proven to be safer."

• Bin...
• Taken for less than 1 month
• November 13, 2019

Benzonatate "I can't imagine a doctor actually prescribing this for an adult, this is a child-level drug. I actually had an Urgent Care refuse to prescribe something stronger after three days of coughing and congestion on this medication. Now, in 10-degree weather, I have to go to my car after sitting in the urgent care for an hour and getting bad medical advice from 20-year-old unlicensed medical staff."

• tal...
• July 18, 2011

Benzonatate "I have used this medicine for almost a year (as needed) within my arsenal of other medicine to treat my bronchitis. It is extremely effective. I use the max dosage of 200 mg. As far as I can tell, I have had no side effects from this medication and usually I'm very sensitive to many medicines."

• kir...
• Taken for less than 1 month
• June 6, 2014

Benzonatate "For me, these are wonderful - IF I don't have to drive anywhere, or work. I've been on every other cough suppression & this definitely works the best for coughing fits! They also give me a 'sedated' feeling, but not to the point where I need to go to sleep."

• Tri...
• Taken for 1 to 6 months
• January 5, 2024

"I was prescribed this medication in Nov ‘23. However, my prescription insurance would not cover it, so I paid for it. I had been coughing so hard that I pulled muscles in my chest, but thanks to this little pill, the coughing has been substantially reduced. With this medication, I can sleep all night without the non-stop horrific coughing spasms. Even if insurance doesn’t cover the cost of this medication, it’s well worth doing a self-pay for the remarkable relief."

• Anonymous
• Taken for less than 1 month
• June 7, 2023

"This medication is absolutely useless! It doesn’t help with coughing whatsoever. The only medicine that has ever helped for extreme coughing (a cough that literally keeps you awake the entire night) is codeine cough syrup. Of course, doctors no longer prescribe that cough syrup because they fear you’ll get addicted to a three-day supply of medication! Now I get to spend the next 12 hours sitting in an emergency room with my daughter because she has chest pain from continually coughing."

• Per...
• August 25, 2016

Benzonatate "Have been prescribed this med twice before. First two times worked like magic. Just swept the urge to cough away. This time, years later, same story. After 8 days of continuous wracking coughs and 20 hours a day in bed, gave up on OTC-DM tablets and went for better help. After 1 perle, the coughing has subsided. No side effects. Bliss."

• Sor...
• March 25, 2019

Benzonatate "Bronchitis. I'm also a smoker for almost 30 years. Was hacking due to mucus in my esophagus/bronchi that I could *not* clear out. My stomach, back, sides, throat, and chest were in agony from useless coughing. Urgent care gave me these... along with the steroid and Levaquin I asked for. I had never had nor heard of this medicine. I didn't expect much. Says to take three times a day. Well, you know I took one perle and within half an hour later-blessed relief? No coughing. Three hours or so later, I started coughing. Had to dose again. Again... after half an hour of hacking-*poof* cough is gone. In my honest opinion, this pill is fabulous!! It should be available OTC because everyone should be able to get this relief when needed. I have experienced no side effects from it thus far. I have never experienced any cough relief like this. I used to lament the discontinuation of the old Vicks44 because that was the best cough relief I'd ever had. This stuff right here? Superb."

• Bar...
• Taken for less than 1 month
• January 11, 2016

Benzonatate "This is the second bronchitis episode (6 months apart) that I have used Tessalon Perles. They are like a miracle that let me stop coughing so severely and also sleep at night! I tried taking just 1 when first prescribed and didn't notice any improvement, so I've found 2 at each dose works miracles for me!"

• Sim...
• Taken for less than 1 month
• June 27, 2016

Benzonatate "I've had asthma since I was a baby. All colds since I was a baby have ended up turning into bronchitis or pneumonia. I am 29 now, and asthma only flares up once or twice a year from a bad cold. The only thing that has ever helped my cough was codeine cough syrup... It's a miracle drug. (Aside from inhalers, but that never stops the cough.) However, after 2 weeks of horrible bronchitis with coughing fits so bad I am dry heaving, I went back to the doc and told him I needed something that didn't make me drowsy so I could actually function during the day without coughing. He gave me Tessalon Perles. I just took one dose, 100 mg, an hour ago, and my coughing has virtually stopped even laying down. Thank goodness for a non-narcotic med that works!"

• MrR...
• Taken for less than 1 month
• February 21, 2020

"Have been prescribed benzonatate twice. Took one 100 mg pill every 4 hours. Completely useless. A dry, unproductive cough that plagued me for days and days just kept right on going. Eventually took some left-over cough prescription with codeine in it that we had in the house. Stopped the cough in less than an hour. Benzonatate is worthless. Don't waste your time. If your doctor prescribes this, skip it. It isn't even worth an $8 prescription co-pay."

• afa...
• January 1, 2008

Benzonatate "I have trouble finding something non-narcotic to help with my cough. I don't do well with most over-the-counter cold medicines for one reason or another. This medication worked great! It did make me a little sleepy but otherwise did the trick. I could tell after about 4 hours the effect wearing off."

• Bef...
• April 4, 2016

Benzonatate "Just started using Tessalon Perles while having a horrible cough from bronchitis. Very shortly after taking the first dose, I am hardly coughing at all! That's awesome, as last night I was coughing so much I woke up with no voice! Not having any side effects from it, as others have reported. Love it!!"

• Sno...
• Taken for less than 1 month
• June 19, 2024

Benzonatate "On day 7 of experiencing COVID symptoms, my non-productive cough became increasingly worse to the point of nausea. My anterior trachea felt this constant sensation of burning and itching. I was having shallow, labored breathing, trying not to take in too large of a breath as to further irritate my airway and induce coughing. Up to this point, I had not gotten a full night's sleep nor could I sleep laying down. My prescribing provider (200mg po x 3/day) cautioned me that this medication could take a full 2 days before seeing the effects. It took 8 hours for a single dose of the medication to work for me, but once it kicked in, I finally fell asleep and slept a full night, laying flat! This medication is not an opioid cough suppressant, so I can still take an expectorant such as Mucinex and have a normal, healthy deep cough to expel any accumulated mucus from post-nasal drip to clear my trachea and not have that triggering catalyst coughing effect!"

• LeF...
• November 14, 2016

Benzonatate "Made the cough completely vanish, but had a pretty bad headache coupled with constant drowsiness and light dizziness. Definitely worth it, but awful when I have to get a lot done at night (which I often do). Overall: They get the job done, but ultimately you must weigh the cough vs. the side effects."

• Anonymous
• August 2, 2012

"My doc told me I had an upper respiratory infection and prescribed the Z-pack and benzonatate for the coughing. My cough was severe and had already lasted a week with it. My abs were super sore from coughing so much. The first time I took this, it seemed to work. I barely coughed the next few hours. When I took it again, though, it didn't do anything. In fact, it made me cough more than if I hadn't taken it. I kept taking it before I went to work, and it would cause me to have coughing fits, and now my ribs hurt."

• Anonymous
• October 24, 2009

Benzonatate "My cough kept recurring for weeks. It returned two days ago and kept me in bed. I picked up my prescription for Tessalon Perles 100 mg this morning and took one, and immediately stopped coughing. I have taken 3 more throughout the day and have not coughed. It worked amazingly well."

• Chr...
• January 31, 2020

"It does not help. I feel like the pharmaceutical companies are pushing the doctors to prescribe this medicine to their patients so they get more money. Why else would they not just give us the good old liquid cough syrup that has codeine in it? These new pills suck!"

• Von...
• January 4, 2016

Benzonatate "I was prescribed this for a cough. My sister is a respiratory therapist of 25 years. She said it's really bad to stop the mucus from being coughed up and suppressing the mucus to settle into your lungs. She said a lot of people end up getting pneumonia when they take it for long periods of time."

• Cou...
• Taken for less than 1 month
• June 1, 2023

"This pill is a joke. First time got prescribed the pill to suppress my cough. However, it did nothing. The pill is doing nothing, and you're better off just swallowing a piece of Skittle candy. The only thing that is good about this pill is how pretty it looks. Kaiser prescribed this nonsense pill to me. Wasted my time waiting in line to pick up this garbage pill. I am coughing like crazy, and I cannot sleep. If you overdose on this pill, it can kill you. But it does nothing to help with your coughing. Why bother even taking it? Why are you prescribing a pearl pill to me instead of a good-quality cough syrup? I think even old-fashioned Coca-Cola works better than your little pearl."

• Ano...
• Taken for less than 1 month
• April 7, 2025

"Has been very effective in stopping my cough due to post sinus nasal drip from a severe upper respiratory infection. I have been taking 200 mg capsules up to three times a day (as needed), always with at least eight ounces of water. I find that my coughing is greatly reduced within 15 minutes, and by 30 minutes, I have no cough at all. Its effectiveness is slightly more than six hours per dosage."

• sha...
• January 3, 2015

Benzonatate "I was sick for a few days, and the constant coughing was making my chest hurt. I thought I had bronchitis or something worse, so I ended up going to the ER. The doctor prescribed Tessalon Perle. I figured it was a 'magic' pill after hearing about the side effects. Cool! I took one. I did notice the cough was reduced but still there. I did sleep better that night after taking one pill. By the next day, my cough was gone. I did have a lot of green mucus, so I took Tylenol Severe Cold. I did cough, but it was to bring up all that mucus. I feel better after two days and four pills later."

• Sic...
• December 21, 2016

Benzonatate "I have had my respiratory virus for quite some time, which had turned into an infection. I was up all night coughing and with a tickle in my throat. Could not even get a quick nap in, I was coughing so much. I decided to bust out the Tessalon Pearls my doc prescribed me a year or so back after trying DayQuil and NyQuil Severe, which didn't seem to be working whatsoever for my cough. I took a 100-milligram Pearl, and within 20 minutes, the urge to cough reduced by at least 50%. I'm amazed at how quickly it works and can't wait to fall asleep for the first time in days. I would suggest trying this before going to the more sedative narcotic or cough syrup, definitely worth it and way less symptoms and side effects."