Antitussives.. thin or promote productive of mucus??

[RN_jobhunting]

Hey all I'm confused. I know that antitussives suppress non-productive cough, so does that mean that they promote the production of mucus?

expectorants create a productive cough and therefore thins mucus... so would it be the opposite?

thanks

[TheSquire, DNP, APRN, NP]

Antitussives suppress the act of coughing. Mucolytics/expectorants thin secretions. You can commonly find both of them in the same over-the-counter medications, so they don't oppose each other. The reason that antitussives are avoided with productive cough, or given only hs, is that the body is removing the mucous for a reason, and so we want to make sure all the gunk gets coughed out.

[RN_jobhunting]

thanks.

the question is "Antitussive drugs are generally used to promote the production of mucus"

so False? they want to thin the mucus and not make more?

or True? they want to produce mucus to soothe the throat so you wont cough?

[TheSquire, DNP, APRN, NP]

My thought is False: productive cough should be encouraged to remove mucus, which is not possible when antitussives suppress the cough reflex; mucus production is not germane to the action of antitussives.