Covonia Dry & Tickly Cough Sugar Free Oral Solution - 150ml

For the cough that produces nothing but keeps you awake: Covonia Dry & Tickly coats the throat with glycerol to soothe the irritation that triggers a dry, tickly cough and a sore throat. Non-drowsy, sugar free and suitable from 1 year. 150ml bottle.

A dry cough has no phlegm to shift, so an expectorant is the wrong tool. What helps is a demulcent: a thick, soothing liquid that lines the throat and calms the tickle for a while, which is exactly what glycerol does. It's the same principle as honey and lemon, in a measured, stable form that keeps in the cupboard.

Adults and children over 12: two 5ml spoonfuls. Children over 1 year: one 5ml spoonful. Up to four times a day, for up to five days. Sip slowly and don't wash it down straight away, so it stays on the throat.

Sweetened with sorbitol and maltitol rather than sugar, so it suits diabetes and children's teeth, but not hereditary fructose intolerance. Not for babies under 1. A cough that lasts more than three weeks, or comes with breathlessness, chest pain or blood, needs a GP. The original linctus is the sugar version.