My husband and I have both been battling colds. I try not to take over the counter cold medicine because I tend to experience uncomfortable side effects from most of them. But this cold was a doozy, and I just HAD to take something. I found that Alka-Seltzer Plus Cold & Sinus Tablets relieved my symptoms for a short while with no side effects whatsoever, a good thing for me. But when I went to take some again, I discovered that my husband had taken the last dose with him to work. Uh-oh. What to do.

I found a box of Vicks DayQuil Sinus in the medicine chest, and hesitated, but it did say "antihistamine free" on the box, and anyway I was desperate. I couldn't breathe, I had a pounding headache with terrible sinus pressure. So I gave it a shot. Before I tell you about my experience, let me share what Vicks has to say about this product.

~ Product Description

Vicks DayQuil Non-Drowsy Sinus LiquiCaps, we are told on the box, relieve sinus headache, sinus pressure, and sinus congestion. The box contains 20 LiquiCaps, and since a dose is 2 caps, there are 10 doses in a box. The caps are medium large, and filled with an orange liquid. They come on a foil blister pack. I don't recall what I paid for these, but I see that drugstore.com is selling them for $6.24 on sale.

Active Ingredients are, per LiquiCap: Acetaminophen 325 mg. (pain reliever), and Pseudoephedrine HCI 30 mg. (nasal decongestant).

Inactive Ingredients: FD&C Yellow 6, Gelatin, Glycerin, Polyethylene Glycol, Povidone, Propylene Glycol, Purified Water, Sorbitol Special, Titanium Dioxide.

~ Directions for Use

Adults and children 12 years and over should take 2 LiquiCaps with water every 6 hours. For children under 12 years, ask a doctor before using. Do not exceed 4 doses per 24 hours. And something else to be aware of - if you are taking other DayQuil or Nyquil products, limit the total to 4 doses per 24 hours, rather than 6 doses.

~ Important Warnings and Cautions

As with all over the counter medicine there are important warnings and cautions. If you consume 3 or more alcoholic drinks every day, ask your doctor whether you should take acetaminophen or other pain relievers, as acetaminophen may cause liver damage. Do not use with other medicines containing acetaminophen. Also, do not use if you are now taking a prescription MAOI, or for 2 weeks after stopping the MAOI drug. Ask a doctor before use if you have heart disease, thyroid disease, diabetes, high blood pressure, or trouble urinating due to enlarged prostate gland.

~ My Experience

First of all I had to get two of the LiquiCaps out of their foil blister packs. Not an easy thing to do. They wouldn't push through, so I had to try and tear them out. There's a suggestion to "tear at notch", but it didn't work well for me. I ended up getting a pair of scissors and practically mangling them trying to get them out of the pack. Just what I needed with a raging headache and sinus pressure!

I finally got two LiquiCaps out, and took them with a glass of water. The caps are on the large size, but smooth and fairly easy to swallow. No problem there.

Now I waited eagerly for some blessed relief. Honestly, within about 15-20 minutes I could feel the pain lessening. After about a half hour I could tell it was kicking in, because the congestion was less, my headache felt better, and the sinus pressure was leaving. After 45 minutes my symptoms were virtually all gone. I could breathe normally, with no congestion. My headache was pretty much gone, and the sinus pressure was totally gone. Wonderful!

But the bad news, I could feel that "disconnected", out of it type feeling that I sometimes get with cold medicines. I most certainly didn't feel drowsy, because it seemed my heart rate had increased. I didn't really feel jittery per se, but just not normal. It was a good thing this was daytime, because there's no way I could sleep after taking this. I can see why they warn about not taking this if you have heart trouble or high blood pressure. My heart was beating faster than normal. My reactions seemed slow, and I had a hard time "thinking" normally. It's hard to describe, but it was very uncomfortable.

I went about my day and took care of some things around the house, and managed to do okay as long as I was busy and distracted. My cold and sinus symptoms were basically gone, so that helped. I would have liked to sit or lie down for a while to take it easy, maybe nap or doze, but NO WAY could I do that after taking the Vicks DayQuil Non-Drowsy Sinus LiquiCaps. They just made me feel "weird", a little jittery, and disconnected. I was watching the clock to see how long it was going to take for the medicine's effects to wear off. Six hours....

At about 5 hours after taking the Vicks DayQuil, I could sort of feel my symptoms just starting to return. Just slightly. After 6 hours, my cold symptoms were starting to come back, but not very badly. The side effects were lessened as well, but still noticeable. It probably took 7-8 hours for my symptoms to return full blown. By then the side effects were also mostly gone. I decided I wouldn't take these ever again, because the side effects bothered me too much.

~ Final Thoughts

Vicks DayQuil Non-Drowsy Sinus LiquiCaps really do a super job of quickly relieving sinus pressure, headache, and congestion. And the symptoms stay gone for a full six hours. That's the good thing. Unfortunately for me, I experienced uncomfortable side effects, so I won't be taking these again. But please keep in mind that I am very sensitive to these medicines and possible side effects, so this might not be your experience. But I am not able to recommend them, based on my personal experience.




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