Benzonatate Dosages: Your GoodRx Guide
Key takeaways:
Benzonatate (Tessalon) is a prescription medication that can help relieve a cough. It’s approved for adults and children over age 10.
Benzonatate comes as oral capsules that should be swallowed whole. The typical dosage is 100 mg to 200 mg up to three times a day as needed. The maximum benzonatate dose is 600 mg per day.
Taking too much benzonatate can be harmful in both adults and children. Get medical help immediately if you or a loved one takes more than the recommended dose.
Benzonatate is available as a lower-cost generic. You can find it for less than $11.31 at certain pharmacies with a free GoodRx discount.
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Table of contents
Benzonatate (Tessalon) is a commonly prescribed cough suppressant. It lowers your urge to cough by numbing certain areas of your respiratory tract.
Below, we’ll review typical benzonatate dosages for adults and children older than 10 years old. Keep in mind that your healthcare provider may prescribe different dosages than what’s listed below. In this case, it’s best to follow your provider’s recommendations.
What dosage forms does benzonatate come in?
Benzonatate is available as 100 mg, 150 mg, and 200 mg liquid-filled capsules.
You should swallow the capsule whole right away when you take it. Don’t break, cut, or crush the capsules. You also shouldn’t hold them in your mouth, chew, or suck on them. If the capsule is damaged and the medication releases in your mouth, it can numb your mouth and throat. This can make it hard to eat or swallow, and can raise your risk of choking.
What’s the typical benzonatate dosage for adults?
Benzonatate is only approved to treat cough symptoms. The recommended benzonatate dosage is 100 mg to 200 mg by mouth up to three times each day. You can also take benzonatate as needed for cough — you don’t need to take it on a regular schedule for it to work. It usually takes about 15 to 20 minutes for benzonatate to start working, and it should last for 3 to 8 hours.
You shouldn’t take more than 200 mg of benzonatate at a time. The maximum recommended benzonatate dosage is 600 mg per day.
What’s the typical benzonatate dosage for children?
For children, benzonatate is only approved for those over the age of 10. This is for safety reasons that we’ll discuss later.
The recommended benzonatate dosage for children over age 10 is the same as for adults. Your child can take 100 mg or 200 mg by mouth up to three times per day as needed for cough.
Your child can take a maximum of 200 mg of benzonatate for each dose. Make sure they don’t take any more than 600 mg per day. Otherwise, the medication can have dangerous side effects.
What happens if you miss a dose of benzonatate?
Since you don’t have to take benzonatate on a fixed schedule, missing a dose isn’t a big deal. If you forget to take your dose of benzonatate, you’ll likely notice your cough return. You can take another dose when you remember or if your symptoms return. Just don’t take more than 200 mg at a time or more than 600 mg in a day.
What should you do if you take too much benzonatate?
Taking too much benzonatate can be dangerous. Young children are at higher risk of accidental ingestion because the medication may look appealing to them. They may mistake the round, liquid-filled capsules for candy.
Accidental ingestion of benzonatate in children younger than 10 years of age can be fatal. Even as few as 1 or 2 capsules can be life-threatening to young toddlers. This is why children younger than age 10 shouldn’t take this medication. Be sure to store benzonatate in a child-resistant container kept out of reach of children.
For adults and children over age 10, it can also be dangerous to take too much benzonatate. You may feel restless and have tremors (involuntary, shaky body movements). More serious, life-threatening problems like seizures, cardiac arrest, and coma are also possible. It’s possible for death to occur within an hour of taking too much benzonatate, so emergency medical care is extremely important if this happens.
If you think you or a loved one has taken too much benzonatate or have overdose symptoms, call 911 or seek medical attention right away.
How to save on benzonatate
There are many ways to save on benzonatate, which is available as both a brand-name and generic medication.
Save with GoodRx. GoodRx can help you save over 80% off the average retail price of the generic version. Generic benzonatate’s price at certain pharmacies is less than $11.31 with a free GoodRx discount.
Save with patient assistance programs.If you’re uninsured or underinsured, you may be eligible for Tessalon’s patient assistance program, which offers the medication free of cost.
The bottom line
Benzonatate is a prescription cough suppressant approved for adults and children over the age of 10. The recommended dosage is 100 mg to 200 mg up to three times a day as needed for cough. Be sure to swallow the capsule whole — don’t hold it in your mouth or break it open.
You shouldn’t take more than 600 mg of benzonatate in a day. Too much benzonatate can be life-threatening. Seek medical care right away if you or a loved one take more than the recommended dose.
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References
Chartwell Rx LLC. (2023). Benzonatate [package insert].
Minhaj, F. S., et al. (2021). A description of the clinical course of severe benzonatate poisonings reported in the literature and to NPDS: A systematic review supplemented with NPDS cases. Human and Experimental Toxicology.
NuCare Pharmaceuticals Inc. (2023). Benzonatate [package insert].
U.S. Food and Drug Administration. (2010). FDA drug safety communication: Death resulting from overdose after accidental ingestion of Tessalon (benzonatate) by children under 10 years of age.
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