Worst case: drink 7-up or Sprite.
Ticomaya wrote:Worst case: drink 7-up or Sprite.
Actually, when I have a cough, cold drinks make me cough more.
If it is a dry cough: don't take any cough drops with Eucalyptus
or Menthol, as they dry out your bronchial passages which results in more cough. Any other drops will do to encourage
saliva production.
If your cough is associated with the common cold: Hot milk
with honey will help loosen up the congestion. Drink as much
as possible.
I found an employee with fruit breezers cough drops... they helped alot.. the cough is just starting so I am trying to control it before it gets bad...
I haven't coughed in a little while now and my mouth tastes yummy!! :-)
had to go to work, so couldn't respond, but if you don't like ricola, hall's works almost as well. there's also some fancy cough drops with zinc in it in aluminum bags that taste ok, but can't think of the name. do drink liquids; if you have a cold, fluids should be good for you.
I hope it isn't the cough I've had for, I kid you not, the past 5 weeks. Yes, I've been to the doctor, yes, I've been on codeine. No, it's not a bacterial infection, hence no antibiotics. No, it's not strep. It's just an ugly virus.
Anyway, it has been less than fun. I live off cough drops, Halls Defense Vitamin C drops (watermelon flavor or the mixed citrus are tasty). The trick is, not only to not cough because you don't want to cough, but also because you don't want to cough later.
Huh?
What I mean is, sometimes it's coughing because you're sick, and then eventually, if the cough persists, it can be coughing because your throat is irritated. Why is your throat irritated? Well, it's because you've been coughing! And so it goes, around and around, a vicious cycle. Break the cycle or at least slow it down by doing whatever it takes to not cough.
Also, get yourself some decaf tea bags, just buy a box tonight after work and take it to work with you tomorrow. Most coffee machines have a way to make just hot water (ask, someone will know), or if there's a microwave just put water in for 3 minutes on high (2 if it's a powerful microwave, just try it out and see which setting works so that you can get boiling water) and make yourself tea. All day long, if you have to.
Tea is nice not only because the drink itself is soothing but personally I find hot beverages to be soothing when I'm sick. If you can, add honey, that's also soothing. A squirt of lemon juice is lovely, too, you can get a plastic thing of lemon juice (it looks kinda like a lemon) at the grocery store and just keep all that stuff with you at your desk. The juice will eventually go bad but none of the other stuff needs to be refrigerated, so maybe write a note to yourself to trash the thing of juice in a month if you haven't already finished it. If you have access to a fridge, put the opened thing of juice in there, it'll keep for months or until the expiration date on it.
jespah, sounds like you have bronchitis. that stuff takes a while to stop, but probably bothers other people more than the sufferer. main thing is not to pull a muscle from the coughing.
if you or CL smoke--i'm just mentioning this, have no idea if you do--twould be a good idea to quit.
Yes I do smoke :-( last time I got really sick I quit for 6 months... then got stressed out and started again.. I am sure if I get sick I will quit again... but right now I just have a tickle in my throat..knock on wood,.. don't wanna jinx myself..
yeah, well i know quitting's tuff. i just meant to say it's a good idea to quit until the cough stops.
cough
you may want to try the old remedy
...SALT WATER GARGLE...
Salt water gargle is good, warm or hot liquids are good, vitamins including c and zinc are good, honey helps. I read recently that chocolate can act as a cough suppresant. I got a neti pot (shewolf got one too) recently - it's a little pot you put a saline solution into and then you pour it into your nose. It feels really weird at first, but it helps me a lot.
Crazie what exactly can you not take?
Not to sound like an alarmist, but what crazielady is describing sounds a lot like the avian flu.
And so it begins.
littelek wrote : "I got a neti pot (shewolf got one too) recently - it's a little pot you put a saline solution into and then you pour it into your nose".
i use a nasal rinse almost every day (recommended by the ear, nose, throat clinic at our teaching hospital). i had a nasty sinus infection some years ago; antibiotics didn't get rid of it - but the saltwater rinse did. i use about a 1/4 tea- spoon of seasalt or pure pickling salt(don't use table salt) and about an 1/8 teaspoon of baking soda(cuts down on the irritation) in about half-a-cup of lukewarm water(use water that that has has gone through a filter or use destilled water). i use a 5cc syringe or just "snuff it up". not a pleasant theme (!), but it works. so far, no more sinus infections. hbg
ps. i can post the full instructions if required
I use a heaping 1/4 tsp sea salt (uniodized) in 8oz of filtered, luke warm water. I'd been on 10 days of antibiotics for an ear infection, but when I was off those, I felt like I still had something going on. I have been feeling better with the nasal flush. Was the baking soda recommended by your ENT, as well?
I'm not a smoker; neither is RP. The cough definitely started as bronchitis and may have been a touch of walking pneumonia for a while there. Now it's just a nagging cough.
Salt water is good.
gustavratzenhofer wrote:Not to sound like an alarmist, but what crazielady is describing sounds a lot like the avian flu.
And so it begins.
No, not the flu... this feels nothing like a flu.. I have no fever.. no sore throat... no headache... no stuffy nose.... just a chest cold.... right in my lungs.... it sucks...
But it is already starting to feel better...I slept from the time I got home from work yesterday until this morning.. waking up occasionally...
I am not even coughing anymore... I just have alot of congestion in my chest now....
So I have been drinking plenty of water... and I had a cup of OJ this morning....
But I am still a little tired and I want to go home and lay down... but I am at work.... and I answer the phones.. which I can barely do now... I may tell them that I can stay, but I can't answer the phones.. it hurts too much
People at work keep thinking I am really really sick cuz I have been straining my voice.... the quieter I talk, the less I cough and coughing hurts... so they all think I am coming down with laraingitus(sp??)... when In fact I can talk fine, but I am forcing myself to speak in whisper in fear of coughing.... Oh well... maybe they will send me home
littlek : yes , the baking soda is listed as one of the ingredients - simply to reduce irritating the nasal membranes(?) unnecessarily. also recommended NOT to use tapwater (chlorine and other stuff). hbg
littlek wrote:Crazie what exactly can you not take?
Anything with ancetapetamine(sp?) in it.. i.e. Tylenol or nyquil... Etc...
I think I may be getting a slight fever now... I hope this goes away before Saturday... I have that date in NH... errrr... Errr....
My chest already feels better and this cough seems to be almost gone.... I haven't coughed in a few hours now and it doesn't hurt as much... I also haven't had a cigarette in almost 24 hours... Since yesterday at like 3 pm.... so I am having withrdawls for that too.... which will cause me to cough more usually
But I don't have a sore throat, no headache, no sinus pressure(thank god), no runny nose, no stuffy nose...
So I am not quite sure what it is I have... just a chest cold maybe....
