Cough cures

[Gazpacho]

Any tips on dealing with a lingering hacking cough? I had the flu (even though I got the vaccine wtf) with a fever and some other symptoms, but they mostly went away. The cough has gotten increasingly worse though. I need to take ibuprofen now because my chest muscles are strained and hurt each time. My head and ears hurt from the coughing, and needless to say my throat is irritated. It's worst lying down, so sleeping is difficult. I was up a whole night coughing and the other nights could only sleep 2 hours at a time because of the cough, so it's indirectly made me exhausted too.

The doctor prescribed an inhaler, a steroid pill, and some cough syrup that was supposed to put me to sleep. He said that there really aren't any quick effective solutions.

I've been downing Throat Coat tea, chicken noodle soup, honey, and the whole CVS cold medicine aisle.

I even ordered a bottle of Buckley's online and swallowed that satanic salty sour stinky sewage-esque spoonful that's the spitting image of semen. But despite that solitary sojourn into the cesspool of suffering I'm still searching for some superior salve to silence my sonances.

 

[Spun Silver]

Ah, an area I have vast experience in.

Gargling with salt water. For some reason one never wants to do it, but it works.

Sleeping with the head raised reduces coughing, I have no idea why. Some people have to sleep upright but for me an extra pillow was enough.

Codeine is magic.

And, as the doctor who finally cured me said, "treating the underlying condition." He had had the same problem and, as he said, it made life not worth living. In his case and mine, it was allergies that made us susceptible to infections - I used to get the world's worst cough almost every winter. I never get it any more, knock on wood. This may not be your issue but if it is, it's easy to treat with flonase and other anti-allergens.

Good luck.

 

[IceAlisa]

I have just read that dark chocolate demonstrated more effectiveness in treating chronic cough than codeine. Worth trying!

 

[clairecloutier]

Personally for me, an inhaler is the most effective treatment. I'm glad the doctor prescribed one for you--give it a try. Codeine syrup helps too.

 

[judiz]

I read in several places that pineapple juice can help ease coughing

 

[ballettmaus]

Onion Juice. You cut up a couple of oinions, pour honey over it, cover it and let it rest. The honey causes the onion to produce juice, and the oils from the onion are supposed to losen the cough. I always had a bad cough with any cold as a child and this was what my mom gave me. Don't drink a whole lot of it, but several times over the day about a finger or so.

Hope you find something that helps!

 

[nlloyd]

Also enduring a horrible cough and was just making myself a throat coat tea when I read this. One other thing that causes/exacerbates coughs is acid reflux (or silent reflux). Sleeping with a raised upper torso, avoiding foods that trigger acid, and at worst taking prescription antacids can help.

Sorry you're struggling with this.

 

[kedrin]

Sorry you're dealing with this. If you feel well enough, light exercise. I had a cough that lingered for weeks. Once I starting riding my bike to work every day, it went away in a few days. Good luck!

 

[Rob]

I have had it since mid-Feb. Had a tight chest, cough, headache, fever. I started getting better, then got a classic cold that turned into bronchitis. Hycodin cough medicine is really the only thing that lets me sleep.

 

[Anita18]

Not sure if your doctor has already suggested this, but when I cough, it usually comes from sinus issues. The mucus drips down and irritates my throat. Whenever I feel any sort of cold coming on (or a sinus headache), I'll do a sinus rinse with a neti pot and it usually helps. If it's an actual cold, I'll do the rinse every other day until it's gone. Helped A LOT the last time I had a cold, because the cold before that resulted in a bad lingering cough that almost made me vomit a few time.

 

[Prancer]

You cough because something is in your respiratory system is impeding your air flow and your body is trying to clear the airway. The impediment can be be excess mucus, inflammation, something you've inhaled, etc.

If you want to stop coughing, you need to find out what is in your respiratory system that shouldn't be there and get rid of it. Since you just had a respiratory infection, chances are that you have residual inflammation. That's what the inhaler and the steroid are for and nothing you can use will work more effectively than those two things. The cough syrup quiets the cough reflex; take it at night so you can sleep (which also helps with the inflammation--the more you can sleep, the better), but don't take it during the day because you need to cough to clear out your respiratory tract. The less you sleep, the more tired you will get and the more you will stress your respiratory system, which will create more inflammation. This is likely why your cough is getting worse.

Most OTC stuff will do nothing to help you. Some of it will make you worse. The one OTC medication I would suggest is that you might want to take 600 mg guaifenesin, but really, the best thing to do is take what your doctor gave you.

Drinking black or green tea also helps a little, as they contain small amounts of an ingredient similar to theophylline, a bronchodilator sometimes used to treat asthma in people who can't use steroids. The effect of tea is very mild, but it can help you breathe more comfortably when used with medications.

Signed,
Lifelong asthmatic and perpetual cougher

 

[skatemommy]

Whiskey heated with lemon and honey. Old gypsy remedy! Hope you feel better.

 

[Gazpacho]

Thanks for your tips! Last night I took some sleeping medications, more than I probably should have, and elevated my head. I was able to fall asleep before waking up a few hours later coughing again. Better than nothing I suppose. I also tried to down another dose of Buckley's but this time just could not do it!

Onion Juice. You cut up a couple of oinions, pour honey over it, cover it and let it rest. The honey causes the onion to produce juice, and the oils from the onion are supposed to losen the cough. I always had a bad cough with any cold as a child and this was what my mom gave me. Don't drink a whole lot of it, but several times over the day about a finger or so.

Can you elaborate on this? How do you collect the juice, and are you supposed to mix it in with the honey?

 

[algonquin]

Thanks for your tips! Last night I took some sleeping medications, more than I probably should have, and elevated my head. I was able to fall asleep before waking up a few hours later coughing again. Better than nothing I suppose. I also tried to down another dose of Buckley's but this time just could not do it!?

Take some honey with Buckley's, it helps to get it down. Hope that you feel better. I have had that hacking cough a few times, not fun, not fun at all.

 

[ballettmaus]

Can you elaborate on this? How do you collect the juice, and are you supposed to mix it in with the honey?

Sorry, I wasn't clearer. It all goes into a bowl, so the juice pools at the bottom and then you can either extract it by pouring a little bit into a glass or you can use a spoon/laddle. Also, you don't need to cut tiny onion pieces, cutting it in half and then slicing it and separating the layers is sufficient. Then pour honey over it, mix the onion and the honey, put a lid on it (or a plate or something) It's kind of hard to tell how much honey. It depends on the size of the onions and how many you use. But when you mix it (with a spook is okay), you want the majority of the onion pieces to touch the honey. The best time to do it is before you head to bed so you have juice in the morning. It'll a reach a point when the onion will have run dry but you'll notice when the juice gets less.

Hope that helps. Also hope that the juice will help! Always helped me

 

[hanca]

This is an old cure from my country. It is all natural, it smells vile but it usually does the trick. Saying that, I am usually using it only as a last resort.

Cut an onion into small bits, put it into a glass jar (jam jar) which can be shut with a lid. Pour honey (about two table spoons) over the onion. Shut the jar. The honey will make the onion lose the juice. The juice will mix with the honey. Every few hours take a big spoon or two of the mixture (liquid honey with onion juice. You don't need to be eating the onion bits.) Try not to breathe it because it smells bad, but it doesn't taste as bad. It tastes quite sweet. By the evening you should use all the liquid, so bin the remainder of the onion, and the following day start with step one (cut fresh onion and add more honey). When not using it, keep the glass closed because you don't want your home to smell.

Otherwise there are a few other remedies. Here people rub Vicks (mentol cream) on their chest and at the back between the shoulder blades.

My parents used to give me very warm/hot oil pad on my chest. Warm up normal cooking oil, check that it is bearable temperature -as hot as possible without burning yourself, take some old cloth, soak the oil into the cloth, put it on your chest, then comes some plastic bag on top of it (because you don't want to mess up everything from the oil), then comes some very old Tshirt and on top any normal clothes. You usually wear it for the night. It keeps warm very long.

But I found out that wearing a folded towel on your chest if you are at home should give you enough heat, which could help with the cough.

There is also some remedy which we used to buy in pharmacy. I don't remember what it was, but it came in a tin and it was exactly the consistency and look of mud. The tin was placed in hot/boiling water to make it warm and then my parents spread it on my chest. It kept warm for a long time and the heat was supposed to help.

Anyway, those last few remedies are all based on putting heat on your chest, so perhaps instead of messing with hot oil or weird mud-like substance, you may as well stick there the heating pad that you can buy from a pharmacy. That will give you heat and it is much cleaner. Don't do it for the night because you could burn yourself. For the night I would suggest you use just the towel to give you heat.

 

[hanca]

OMG, ballettmaus, are we by any chance originally from the same country? I can't believe that we came with the same suggestion - onion with honey. My parents gave it to me frequently when I was a child and had bad cough.

 

[BigB08822]

I feel your pain. When I get sick I usually start with a burning throat that then moves to bad sinus congestion and ends with a cough. The cough is the worst part of it all because it can last for weeks. I will "feel" fine but any physical activity will set the coughing off and I can't stop. Sleeping is never easy, I spend the entire night coughing and am half awake/asleep. I do find that trying to raise my head helps but my problem is I push my pillow away as I fall asleep and then the coughing begins. I just try and find an over the counter cough medicine and keep it by the bed. It usually works for a while and allows me a little bit of sleep.

 

[once_upon]

As a asthma patient in the throes of an extremely annoying episode triggered by an upper respiratory illness, I second all that Prancer said.

In addition, I suspect that you need additional training on how to properly use it. Physicians and most nurses do not know or teach appropriate use. Pharmacists might be better at instruction, but in actuality a respiratory therapist or pulmonary nurse are best to do instruction.

I know how to use them - used to teach it - but even that hasn't help. Using nebulizer right now

 

[Prancer]

I know how to use them - used to teach it

The ALA has an instructional video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lrt1nJ3tVFI

Agree that most people are not taught how to properly use an inhaler. It's very important to hold the mist in your lungs before you exhale and, if you are prone to thrush, to rinse your mouth after use, but hardly anyone does either

 

[ballettmaus]

OMG, ballettmaus, are we by any chance originally from the same country? I can't believe that we came with the same suggestion - onion with honey. My parents gave it to me frequently when I was a child and had bad cough.

No idea but it sounds like even if it's not the same country it's close. Though it might be a European thing since I read something else not too long ago from someone from Portugal. They, too, used an onion but I don't recall with what.

 

[hanca]

No idea but it sounds like even if it's not the same country it's close. Though it might be a European thing since I read something else not too long ago from someone from Portugal. They, too, used an onion but I don't recall with what.

Weird. In the country I live now, no one has ever heart it. When I suggested to my husband, he looked at me as if I was trying to poison him! My colleagues at work has never heard about that either.

 

[judiz]

Has anyone mentioned rubbing Vick's Vapor Rub on the soles of your feet? I am also asthmatic and prone to bad coughing fits during URIs. The Vick's does seem to help sometimes

 

[attyfan]

I have just read that dark chocolate demonstrated more effectiveness in treating chronic cough than codeine. Worth trying!

I tried it yesterday with my cough ... I am coughing much less today! Certainly better for me than my usual treatment (hot tea, honey and either vodka or whiskey)

 

[dewey]

My Dad the ear-nose-throat doctor swears that the only thing that really works is a prescription with codeine. Don't bother with OTC cough syrups. Sorry, but if you're not coughing anything up, it's just residual irritation and inflammation, and you have to wait it out!

 

[vesperholly]

Codeine cough syrup is my drug of choice.

I also had success with taking an antacid. I had a cough and bad sore throat very low down in my throat (near where the hollow of your neck is) and I think the reason that particular med helped is that mild acid reflux was irritating my throat rather than sinus drip.

 

[mag]

As a asthma patient in the throes of an extremely annoying episode triggered by an upper respiratory illness, I second all that Prancer said.

In addition, I suspect that you need additional training on how to properly use it. Physicians and most nurses do not know or teach appropriate use. Pharmacists might be better at instruction, but in actuality a respiratory therapist or pulmonary nurse are best to do instruction.

I know how to use them - used to teach it - but even that hasn't help. Using nebulizer right now

This. Another asthma patient here ... coughing is my life Learning to use your inhaler properly is the key. Your public health department may also have someone on staff who could help.

I am assuming your doctor has checked for pneumonia? You can have pneumonia even if your doctor can't hear anything in your lungs. An X Ray is really best. You can also have pneumonia without a cough (although you have one so this doesn't apply.)

If your cough is caused by stuff dripping down the back of your throat from your sinuses, a good nasal spray can really help. Just don't use more than the recommended dosage because rebound is a concern.

 

[Wiery]

The post viral cough can be painful. Virus is gone, but the lung tissue is inflamed and damaged. I coughed up buckets of clear mucus, then went back to the doc and got a steriod inhaler. A humidifier helped, too.

I hope you feel better soon!

 

[hanca]

I have got something similar, but not quite cough. I had a very bad cold two weeks ago. The virus should be gone by now, but I feel dull pain and pressure on my sinuses and I can feel something dripping down at the back of my throat. That made me feel that I have also something on my chest but I am sure that would soon go if I managed to sort out the sinuses, nose, back of throat issue. And from time to time (perhaps twice per hour on average) I feel very sharp stabbing pain in the sinuses above my eyebrow, like deep in nose going upwards way beyond the nose. The pain is so sharp that it gets tears in my eye (it's inly on one the left side). Not quite sure what I can do about it. I don't feel ill enough to go to the doctor, surely there are people who need doctor much more. But it is not very pleasant. Any suggestions / home cures?

 

[Gazpacho]

The overall trajectory is positive, but there was a definite setback yesterday. My chest muscles are feeling the cumulative toll of the past 10 days. Some coughs cause a sharp pain. Codeine cough syrup doesn't seem to be working, at least not at the dose prescribed. Just trying to talk makes me feel like I'm out of breath.

I tried swallowing Buckley's with honey and gave up. I think people who swear by it have a Stockholm Syndrome ish effect

I have held off on taking the steroid pill (prednisone) that was prescribed because I had to take it twice in the past for allergic reactions, and both times it made me into a sobbing hysterical bitch.

I'm debating whether to take the prednisone or try the onion juice first. Hmm....