winter cold...coughs...ideas?

[lucydad]

All,

My daughter brought us a virus over Christmas, then passed to my wife, then me.  It is a pretty nasty bug and finishes with endless coughing. Seems nothing much helps:  over the counter, etc.  My ribs hurt, and sleeping has been tough.  Now the cough going on for over a week.  My daughter and wife took over two weeks each to get mainly healed up and normal.  The energy drain is very high.  Its rare I get one of these viruses.

So, any suggestions from the sages out there?  Ideas to stop the cough, or accelerate the healing? 

thanks,
LD

[oldbike54]

 Greg , it sounds like you need a REAL doctor .

 Dusty

[George_S]

I had it and was sick for several weeks. Was bronchitis. Went to Dr. and got a chest x-ray, a couple steroid pills, an inhaler and codeine cough medicine.  It still was a long tough fight. Cough took 5 weeks to go away. Wife has it now, coughing for two weeks, now getting a tiny bit better each day. This is a rough one.

[CalVin2007]

  Yep, Greg...most folks around here who've caught that nasty thing have ended up with a prescription of Prednisone to stop the incessant coughing. It lasts a l o n g time,this one. 

   Terry

[canuguzzi]

Get checked, you might have pneumonia.

[Gliderjohn]

My have has being dealing with something similar the last 11 days. Finally appears to be improving. There is some nasty stuff out there.
GliderJohn

[shaka]

You should go to your doc right away and find out what you got. Oftentimes its a secondary bacterial infection (secondary to the initial viral infection) and so treatable with antibiotics. you should probably have a chest xray, too, to rule out pneumonia.

[Perazzimx14]

My old boss who normally smoked 2 or 3 packs of Pall Mall non-filters and drank Canadian whiskey when he got a cold would buy 2 packs of Kool non-filters and drink a 1/5th of Vodka. He lived way up into is 50's

[Texas Turnip]

My girlfriend had a nasty cough so I rubbed her chest with Vicks. It didn't help her, but I felt good.

Tex

[vstevens]

Hope you get to the doctor soon... but humor is a great remedy...

My girlfriend had a nasty cough so I rubbed her chest with Vicks. It didn't help her, but I felt good.

Tex

HA, HA, HA!

My old boss who normally smoked 2 or 3 packs of Pall Mall non-filters and drank Canadian whiskey when he got a cold would buy 2 packs of Kool non-filters and drink a 1/5th of Vodka. He lived way up into is 50's

LOL!  Can't wait to tell these at work! 

[PJPR01]

Rest up Greg...hope you feel better soon! 

[rocker59]

codeine cough medicine.   

This.

[ccoli]

I prefer a snifter of B&B, a nice comfortable lounge chair, a nice warm blanket and some movies to fade in and out of.

After a while, if nothing works, I find that Scotch works fairly well.  At least you won't care anymore.

[LowRyter]

My old boss who normally smoked 2 or 3 packs of Pall Mall non-filters and drank Canadian whiskey when he got a cold would buy 2 packs of Kool non-filters and drink a 1/5th of Vodka. He lived way up into is 50's

 

[Orange Guzzi]

Zinc, lots of zinc.  It treats the cause not the symptoms.  Zicam nose swabs and lozenges.  Kill the cause, shorten the duration.  I take zinc capsules daily.

[lucydad]

Went to Dr. Sawbones, she said no indication of anything other than bronchitis.  Gave me codeine cough stuff, and told me to slow down and rest.  Sleep is really elusive. Yeah, whatever this is: once entrenched, it does not like to let go.  Sheesh.  Ms. LD gave me the zinc stuff too and essential oils.

Thanks, and that was a good laugh too! 

[Perazzimx14]

Went to Dr. Sawbones, she said no indication of anything other than bronchitis.  Gave me codeine cough stuff, and told me to slow down and rest.  Sleep is really elusive. Yeah, whatever this is: once entrenched, it does not like to let go.  Sheesh.  Ms. LD gave me the zinc stuff too and essential oils.

Thanks, and that was a good laugh too!

A glug of codeine cough syrup and sleep will no longer be elusive.

Rest up and feel better.

[HDGoose]

Vick methol chest rub. Put it on your feet, liberal, put on socks, go to bed. Worked for me when OTC stuff didn't work.

[Sasquatch Jim]

booze.   It makes you feel better and helps you sleep so your body can cure itself.

[Triple Jim]

Many times after a cold I've had that persistent, weeks-long cough that makes me sleep upright, away from the rest of the family so the constant coughing doesn't keep them awake too.  Eventually I learned that the cough is caused by a sinus infection that's causing post-nasal drip, irritating my throat.  If it's more than a few days long, the virus is gone and bacteria took over.  If it's a sinus infection, a doctor will see it, and an antibiotic will fix it.  Cough syrups, and any other remedies that are supposed to attack the cough do nothing, since the cause of the problem is not in the throat.

[not-fishing]

A glug of codeine cough syrup and sleep will no longer be elusive.

Rest up and feel better.

REST!

This year's cold / flu has been a nasty one.  Being the older / chubbier brother when I start to feel sick I say Hell with It and go to bed.  I've spent enough years working construction outdoors in the rain, mud, sleet, snow  Being of Social Security Age makes me a lot more careful about getting enough REST.

This year I was hammered by the flu but not half as bad as my 5 year younger, in shape brother.  He ended up with pneumonia.

Now for a sleeping aid I use 6 Mississippi's of cheap 90+ proof with a small amount of flavoring juice/coffee or not.  The trick is to limit them to less than three "medicines" per night.

I really wish I could get a shipment of "leaves" to chew on from my family members down in Peru.

[George_S]

booze.   It makes you feel better and helps you sleep so your body can cure itself.

Very similar to codeine cough medicine. My wife's first choice, and she's a nurse that says stay away from drugs. Allows you to sleep and stop coughing.

[PJPR01]

Many times after a cold I've had that persistent, weeks-long cough that makes me sleep upright, away from the rest of the family so the constant coughing doesn't keep them awake too.  Eventually I learned that the cough is caused by a sinus infection that's causing post-nasal drip, irritating my throat.  If it's more than a few days long, the virus is gone and bacteria took over.  If it's a sinus infection, a doctor will see it, and an antibiotic will fix it.  Cough syrups, and any other remedies that are supposed to attack the cough do nothing, since the cause of the problem is not in the throat.

Spot on diagnostic!

A couple of Tylenol PM plus a glass of Malbec, a Clint Eastwood Western and you should be good to doze for a good 10-12 hours!   

[malik]

A ginger tea relieves the throat - you can just grate root ginger into a glass add boiling water, sugar/honey & stir or to get more of the ginger's heat, grate the ginger into a pot, add water, simmer a while, then strain & add sweetener. 

Another thing I do with that type of cold, is to heavily lace my cooking with black pepper.

Hope you shrug if off soon.

Mal

[Cool Runnings]

Went to Dr. Sawbones, she said no indication of anything other than bronchitis.  Gave me codeine cough stuff, and told me to slow down and rest.  Sleep is really elusive. Yeah, whatever this is: once entrenched, it does not like to let go.  Sheesh.  Ms. LD gave me the zinc stuff too and essential oils.

Thanks, and that was a good laugh too!

promethazine-codeine

[DucatiSSsp]

A ginger tea relieves the throat - you can just grate root ginger into a glass add boiling water, sugar/honey & stir or to get more of the ginger's heat, grate the ginger into a pot, add water, simmer a while, then strain & add sweetener. 

Another thing I do with that type of cold, is to heavily lace my cooking with black pepper.

Hope you shrug if off soon.

Mal

Zinc, lots of zinc.  It treats the cause not the symptoms.  Zicam nose swabs and lozenges.  Kill the cause, shorten the duration.  I take zinc capsules daily.

These two things will usually do the trick. Have to take Zicam right when you think you might be coming down w/ something for it to work.  Ginger soothes the throat and stomach.  Usually end up taking Niquil to sleep at night if i get the real bad crud.  I also like to eat spicy thai/chinese food when i'm sick....seems to help.