The definition of an expectorant is one that increases production of mucous. The goal is to decrease viscosity of the mucous, thin it out, liquefy it, so that the person can cough it out. If the person is not a smoker, the ciliary cells will also help. There is controversial effectiveness for this as well because if you look at a bottle of robitussin, to get true expectoration, you have to drink 4oz of this liquid a day and that would make someone sick.
With Mucinex, however, we can get true expectoration as it’s in a much more concentrated tablet (up to 1200mg). One tablet twice a day would be the same as drinking 4oz of Robitussin. But remember, in order to get true expectoration, you must also drink plenty of water.
We previously mentioned antitussives when we mentioned narcotics cause they have antitussive properties. So instead of expectoration, it tells the body to not-cough. Some of our cough syrups have both an expectorant and an antitussive. The expectorant tells your body to liquefy everything and the antitussive makes it so you can’t cough it out (which is stupid).
- Stimulates increased production of mucous
- Decreases viscosity of mucous
- Facilitates removal of mucous through ciliary action and cough
- Controversial effectiveness w/ robitussin
