Dextromethorphan and Nausea: What Users Say

• Sha...
• Taken for less than 1 month
• July 11, 2021

For Cough "I had a sinus infection and took the antibiotics along with Mucinex D, and it cleared right up. However, I had a lingering dry cough (probably unrelated, but who knows?). I picked up some Delsym for the dry cough, along with Benadryl before bed, and slept like a baby. I took another dose of Delsym before work and didn't cough nearly as much as I had been. It didn't make me drowsy, dizzy, nauseous, 'high', nor did it give me diarrhea or stomach cramps. Everyone reacts to medication differently, and I am not by any means downplaying anyone who had such horrible side effects! I just wanted to share that some good can come for some with this medication."

• JoS...
• Taken for less than 1 month
• January 16, 2020

For Cough "I bought Delsym as it was recommended by a family member for my bad cough. I took the correct dosage, and within 1 hour, I was nauseous. It has been 24 hours, and I'm still nauseous. I also feel shaky with a rapid heartbeat. Please be aware this medication has major side effects."

• Cel...
• Taken for less than 1 month
• November 6, 2018

For Cough "I’ve taken Delsym and Delsym Max Strength, and after a day or two, it does start to loosen up the tight congestion in my lungs. The only problem with it is it causes me extreme stomach distress. It doesn’t matter if I take it on an empty stomach or not, but about 15 minutes after taking a dose, I experience extreme nausea. About 30-60 minutes later, I will have to run to the bathroom; I’m not going to go into detail, but to say the least, I don’t go in there and puke. I’m not sure if I have a sensitivity to something in it or if it’s normal to experience this. I don’t take cough medicine often, but I don’t remember having this severe of side effects from other brands, but I digress. If you chose Delsym, especially Max Strength, be prepared to possibly trade your cough for bathroom troubles."

• wom...
• Taken for less than 1 month
• February 12, 2020

For Cough "I took Delsym last evening and began to feel strange. Then I felt anxious, nauseous, had a full-on panic attack with screaming. I rehearsed calling 911 in case. I had visionary hallucinations... I can't believe this med is on the market. I rode it out, and it was a bad trip! DO NOT TAKE!"

• Nev...
• December 9, 2017

For Cough "The first time I took Delsym (a couple of years ago), I landed in the ER because I thought I was dying: severe nausea, chills, sweats, shakes, dizziness, shortness of breath, and the dreaded diarrhea. I didn't make the connection that it was the Delsym until it happened to me again a couple of days ago. Almost identical symptoms as the first time, but this time instead of just nausea, I was also vomiting profusely. I'm glad it works for others, but please don't 'poo-poo' (pun intended) those whose experience was less-than-pleasant. We're all different, and what works for one won't work for another."

• zpa...
• Taken for less than 1 month
• February 9, 2018

For Cough "Took only 2 doses for a cough and have been feeling nauseous and weak for going on 3 days now. Vomited on the second day. Horrible drug that, from all the other reviews I'm seeing, should not be sold! I have never had any reaction to any cold medicine anywhere close to anything like this before. Avoid!"

• BBS...
• Taken for less than 1 month
• December 27, 2018

For Cough "Took a dose of Delsym at 10:30 pm. Awoke at 3 am with diarrhea and dizziness. At 7:30 am: headache, dizziness, nausea, and pupils were dilated. Now, 18 hours later, still dizzy, headache with dilated pupils."

• GGa...
• Taken for less than 1 month
• April 29, 2018

For Cough "I get bronchitis at least once or twice a year, and this is the only medicine to help my cough. My coughing keeps me up at night, my ribs hurt, and this medicine gives me some relief. I get no gas, nausea, or poops from it! Most medicines do cause those above symptoms listed, and with this, I have none."

• Emm...
• Taken for 1 to 6 months
• May 25, 2019

For Cough "I have taken Delsym ever since I was young (for colds). I have asthma, so a cold isn’t just a cold for me, but every time I have taken it has resulted in nausea, vomiting, extreme dizziness, fast heartbeat, and shakiness for about 2 days. I later learned that the ingredient called dextromethorphan was causing this. Anytime I take anything with this, it happens. Idk if I’m sensitive to it or allergic."

• eni...
• Taken for less than 1 month
• December 10, 2016

For Cough "I read all these reviews and decided to try it, thinking it might work, but I was wrong. Do. Not. Take it. First of all, it barely helped my cough at all, some tea and honey could've done better than this. In fact, I think my cough got even worse. That part that was most upsetting was when I woke up feeling nauseous. I ignored it, and the next day took it again, and I got EXTREMELY lightheaded, just crazy dizzy. And then I got the diarrhea afterward... I just felt confused and out of it. This medicine is absolute trash, and I don't recommend taking it at all. I usually don't even write reviews either, so that should tell you something."

• kyr...
• February 25, 2017

For Cough "First off, it tasted awful. Secondly, I thought I was dying on my bathroom floor an hour after taking it. It gave me chills, extreme nausea, diarrhea, and dizziness. Double-checked the expiration date to see if that had something to do with it, nope. My cough is calm, but it's not worth fighting nausea and dizziness four hours later. I will never take this medicine again."

• KKa...
• Taken for less than 1 month
• March 19, 2018

For Cough "I had a dry cough and asked a pharmacist what would be the best to take. He suggested this Delsym, so I bought it. Less than an hour later, a wave of dizziness hit me. I was not sure what was going on. Then, I began to feel like I was going to vomit. I threw up from 7 pm until 8 am. I had extreme anxiety, shook, my stomach cramped, and gurgled. At one point, I thought I was having a toxic reaction. This is hour 16, and I am still shaking, my pupils are still dilated, and I'm utterly exhausted. I'm not sure how it's even legal to sell this OTC."

• sky...
• July 2, 2017

For Cough "DO NOT TRY IT. I know some of you have had good experiences, and some have had bad ones. There have been more bad ones than there are good, I know that much. I took this medicine for my dry cough that I was having. I felt fine for a little while, went to sleep. And then about an hour after going to sleep, I woke up in a full-blown panic attack. I felt like I was going to black out, I kept having hot flashes and severe stomach pain. The feeling of throwing up was pretty bad too, but it never happened. I was shaking and almost went to the hospital."

• Con...
• November 10, 2015

For Cough "I had purchased Delsym nighttime strength for a cold. The first night it worked great, the second night I got the worst pain in my upper abs, then came nausea, followed by actually throwing up and a small bout of diarrhea. I am not sure if it was the lack of food contents in my stomach or what, but it was a horrible experience."

• Mom...
• December 30, 2019

For Cough "My 8 yr old was having a dry, hacking cough after the flu. Used Robitussin, it helped a little. Bought Delsym children's and gave her 5 ml. She was complaining of a headache and stomach ache within an hr! She couldn't eat dinner, says she feels like throwing up. I'm rubbing her belly now and reading reviews now. Don't use this medication!"

• Non...
• Taken for 1 to 2 years
• April 3, 2018

For Cough "I take Delsym when I get sick and have a cough if I don't go to the doctor. It does work great. Stops my cough completely. Can cause nausea if taken on an empty stomach. My only problem with it is I can't go to sleep all the way. I end up in a drowsy state, kind of like when you've just started to fall asleep-still kind of aware of surroundings. This cycles pretty much all night with wakefulness about every hour. The night seems to last for days, and my alarm going off is a relief. Not too tired the next day, but not an enjoyable feeling for me, although a night of all-night coughing is more miserable. So pros and cons for its use. In the daytime, it can cause tiredness but does knock out the cough."

• Liv...
• January 12, 2017

For Cough "I took this late at night expecting it to work, and I should have read the reviews first. It didn't stop my cough at all, and I think it made it worse. I ended up just sucking on a cough drop, which worked better than this. It is now 5:30 am, and my stomach feels twisted, like I'm going to vomit, but I don't have anything to vomit because I haven't eaten anything, and it has to be the cough syrup because I have had the cough drops before. I'm never going to use this medicine again."

• Mik...
• Taken for less than 1 month
• January 26, 2020

For Cough "Do not take this!!! I started taking this during the tail end of my flu because my symptoms were mainly just coughing with phlegm. It gave me nausea, which I thought was attributed to the flu, but after taking it a couple more times, I noticed I was extremely nervous with anxiety. I stopped taking it for 2 days, then took it again to see if it really was Delsym causing me severe anxiety. I became super anxious right after 1 hour of taking it, and it took about a day and a half to wear off, and I only took the regular Delsym and not the 12-hour one. Please be aware!!! It did suppress my cough and thinned my mucus, but I'd rather deal with the coughing and mucus than the severe nervousness I dealt with."

• Rig...
• Taken for less than 1 month
• April 11, 2016

For Cough "Don't take it! First, it doesn't work. Second, I had stomach pain starting about 15 minutes after I took it. Sick stomach for hours. Then about 5 hours in, I started throwing up violently. Delsym is the only thing I had in my stomach."

• sen...
• Taken for less than 1 month
• February 13, 2018

For Cough "I bought this for a dry, nagging cough. It worked great for the cough. I took the 12-hour version. I did, however, stay up for several hours with a rapid heartbeat and nausea. It's been 16 hours, and I still feel shaky and a bit loopy from the medication."

• Lin...
• Taken for less than 1 month
• October 4, 2016

For Cough "I am so confused about the explosive diarrhea reviews. Long story short, I got something last week that was more than just a common cold. Started with the usual scratchy throat, but by day 3, the cough was so unbearable that I later found out at urgent care I cracked a rib from coughing so hard. They gave me RX cough syrup, which I only took once since the codeine in it made me throw up violently (not fun with a cracked rib). Picked up some Delsym around 1 am at the pharmacy and actually slept for about 6 hours. Had to go to work the next morning and took my Delsym with me. Didn't need to take another dose until about noon. I truly feel like this medicine saved my other ribs from my own abuse! Try it once before assuming you'll poop your pants."

• Chi...
• Taken for less than 1 month
• December 3, 2018

For Cough "This product is no good. I purchased for myself. Have a bad cough due to cold/sick. I'm not a smoker. It didn't help at all. I didn't stop coughing. It did make me feel nauseous, though. If I could, I would have rated it a zero or negative ten."

• Sho...
• Taken for less than 1 month
• February 22, 2020

For Cough "I took this because my family flew into town and I couldn’t stop coughing. I got a terrible headache and got very dizzy and nauseous. After the nauseousness passed, I was straight tripping. I can’t believe this stuff is legal. Don’t take it unless you have absolutely no other choice whatsoever."

• Nan...
• Taken for less than 1 month
• February 3, 2019

For Cough "I started taking this medicine a week ago for a sinus infection-related cough. I noticed more anxiety and doing a lot of running to the bathroom. I thought it was from just being sick and taking an antibiotic. Tonight I took a dose, and within 30 minutes, I experienced extreme nausea. I found this site, and it all makes sense now! No more Delsym for me!"

• Fec...
• March 7, 2017

For Cough "Did absolutely nothing to alleviate my cough. And now I am feeling slightly nauseated. I actually think my cough was better before taking it, as at least the hacking was removing phlegm. Now it's a useless dry cough that is just as painful to my poor abused ribs. Thankfully, I haven't noticed any warning signs of diarrhea. Hopefully, it'll stay that way. Overall, this product was an unsatisfying waste of my money and time."