Senega & Ammonia 200ml

Senega and Ammonia is a traditional Australian expectorant cough mixture for a chesty, productive cough. Rather than suppressing the cough, it works with it - loosening thick chest phlegm so it can be cleared more easily. This 200ml bottle contains senega root extract with ammonium bicarbonate and has been a staple of the family medicine cabinet for generations.

Why choose Senega and Ammonia?

The important distinction is expectorant, not suppressant. A dry, tickly cough with nothing to bring up is best calmed. A chesty cough with phlegm on it is doing a job, and stopping it can leave congestion sitting in the chest. This mixture is formulated for the second kind: it thins and loosens the mucus so each cough achieves more, which is why people describe it as making a cough feel more productive rather than quieter.

Each 10mL contains senega root soft extract equivalent to 250mg of dry senega root, plus 250mg of ammonium bicarbonate. Senega root has a long history of use as an expectorant, and the ammonium salt supports the same loosening action. The taste is famously assertive - that is the senega, and it is a reasonable trade for a mixture that has stayed on pharmacy shelves this long on results rather than flavour.

It suits a wide age range, which is part of the appeal for families. Adults and children 12 years and over take 10 to 20mL every four hours as needed; children 6 to 11 years take 5mL every four hours. It should not be given to children under 6, and for 6 to 11 year olds only on the advice of a doctor, pharmacist or nurse practitioner.

Key features

• Expectorant cough mixture - loosens and helps clear chest phlegm
• For chesty, productive coughs rather than dry tickly coughs
• Senega root soft extract equivalent to senega root dry 250mg per 10mL
• Ammonium bicarbonate 250mg per 10mL
• Suitable for adults and children 6 years and over
• 200mL bottle - shake well before use
• Traditional Australian formulation, long-established pharmacy medicine

Specifications

Common uses

This mixture earns its place during winter, when a cold has moved down onto the chest and the cough has turned thick and rattling. Households with school-age children tend to keep a bottle from autumn onwards, and it is equally common in remote-area and workplace medicine stock where getting to a pharmacy takes planning. Because it is a mixture rather than a tablet, it also suits anyone who struggles swallowing capsules. It sits with the rest of our home and family first aid supplies, and the wider first aid kits range holds the thermometers and everyday medicines that get used in the same week.