<p>The dreaded virus with killer cough has invaded our house!!! Started with my husband and son last week, spread to me over the weekend and now my 12 year old has it…! The cough lingers and lingers…took my 12 year old to the doctor yesterday - negative strep, likely just this nasty virus that is everywhere.</p>
<p>Do you have a sworn by cough remedy-soother??? We tried sucking on cough drops, suckers, gargling with salt water, honey in tea (yuck, D says), Mucinex…</p>
<p>Clean out those nostrils ( yuck!), there are some contraptions that help, hot showers and breathing in that steam, mucinex and delsym. Once the phlegm is pretty much gone and the cough is just the reflex that is lingering, a day of codeine takes care of it.</p>
<p>ok…this weird…but i have a friend who swears by it. I have never tried it. She got it after researching cough remedies on the web.
Go out and buy some Vicks Vapo Rub. Put it on your feet before you go to sleep and cover with socks.<br>
If i ever did this, i would need to send dear h to another room…lol.
Me? I do umcka. Look it up. I get it at Whole foods but it’s also available online. I get the alcohol free drops.</p>
<p>I have that thing. I live on Mucinex DM, though sometimes it feels like I’m drowning in mucous.</p>
<p>Be aware there are basically two levels of remedies. I have familiarity with both. The first is basic drugstore stuff. It’s all about the same, though you might find one of those nighttime cold remedies helps because the alcohol in it will help you sleep. Those remedies can dull the cough urge but can’t make it go away if the urge is strong.</p>
<p>Note that much of the urge to cough is from post-nasal drip. The throat lining can get very irritated and thus tea with honey and other soothing drops gives minor relief.</p>
<p>The next level is codeine and its narcotic prescription allies. I’ve had this way too many times: a cough that can’t be controlled by regular medicine and which requires prescription medication for relief. That stuff knocks you down like a beating in a bar. I’ve had to be x-rayed for broken ribs because of severe coughing and don’t recommend anyone leap to codeine. </p>
<p>BTW, there is a much dissension about whether one should blow one’s nose. When you do, you push mucous up and there is speculation about the effects that has in your head. I’m pro-blowing because when you feel like death would be an improvement any relief is worth chasing, even a moment or two of clear air.</p>
<p>Also btw, there is dissension about the low-grade fevers that seem to accompany these viruses. Some doctors believe you should let them go and others that you should try to break them - try alternating tylenol and ibruprofen to avoid reaching max dosages. I find the relief from breaking a fever is worth it.</p>
<p>Finally, the physicians I speak to say this thing really hangs on. My experience agrees. You will be weaker and less perceptive than you believe so be careful driving.</p>
<p>^^^ Yeah, all that.</p>
<p>I’m not a big fan of OTC drugs unless I’m treating one specific symptom. Mucinex is one that does seem to work decently. Post nasal drip is the culprit, no doubt. But how to get rid of that? </p>
<p>Definitely using ibuprofen, definitely doing steamy showers. I guess we just have to wait it out. But yep, I hear too that the cough with this virus is really lingering…</p>
<p>If you need to expell some phlegm, try leaning your head over (almost upside down) as far as you can while coughing.</p>
<p>Your youngest might want to try my younger D’s favorite remedy for sore/itchy throats and cough. Rocket popsicles. They are shaped like a rocket and red, white and blue. When she is sick we go through a lot of popsicles.</p>
<p>I also concur with vapor rub on the feet and wear socks. </p>
<p>I added two non believers last year to this method. Give it a try.</p>
<p>Depends on whether or not it is a productive or non-productive cough.</p>
<p>For a non-productive cough, where all you have is that annoying tickle and no big mucous build up it can go on for months. Anything to just basically numb the tickle- ice chips, popsicles; chloraseptic, Rx tussionex, etc. These are horrible coughs to have, I have had them last for months.</p>
<p>My girls wouldn’t drink the hot tea with honey. They do like hot lemonade…seems to soothe them for a little bit.</p>
<p>My allergist recommended hot lemonade once when I had terrible bronchitis that wouldn’t go away. I thought it helped.</p>
<p>Keeping the throat and vocal tissues moist also helps. I also like Riccola herbal cough drops. Alternate sipping lemonade and the Riccola. Also–no cold liquids, only warm or hot.</p>
<p>oooh, so sorry for you - I have had this, over and over. A few times it was so bad that I had chest x-rays, and once a CAT scan because I coughed so much that I had pain in my side. 
So if desperate, I use codeine but only to sleep and only for a few days. Otherwise ricola drops, tea, lots of water, chicken soup. A couple of times I got rx prednisone pills (which I really hate) and a nasal inhaler type thing, which I do think helped somewhat. There used to be a really great rx decongestant, but it was withdrawn from the market due to one of those potentially deadly ingredients, and I find most otc are not helpful. I hope you feel better.</p>
<p>PS: I thought vicks vapo rub was for your chest. Those icy hot patches on the back may help a little.</p>
<p>This is my grandmother’s remedy… take a handkerchief, put some salt in the middle, fold it up and tie it around neck. I do it at night. I think it helps.</p>
<p>A friend from my high school years had a family homemade cough medicine: tea, honey and brandy. Seemed to work fine for them. I’ve made it too. Not as good but the script of cough syrup with codeine. Again, not pc…but it works.</p>
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<p>anothermom2, this happened to me last year! I went to a doctor and she sent me to the ER thinking that I was going to have to have my gallbladder removed! No, it was muscle spasm from having gotten over a cough (the week before I was coughing a lot). I get these stubborn coughs that begin with a cold, and then linger because of allergies that keep the post nasal drip going. The ONLY cure for me is a few days of codeine. In fact, my doctor writes a RX with one renewal. I do not finish the first bottle, so I keep some codeine on hand for the next cold (this way I do not need to see a MD for every cold).</p>
<p>For a seriously debilitating cough, the only thing that works great for me is codeine, and I’m not averse to taking it once in a while. However, if you can’t or won’t get codeine, try the Robitussin cough. That works ok.</p>
<p>My doctors are from the purist school of no medicine. To get codeine out of them I have to really turn on the histrionics. Sometimes it annoys me.</p>
<p>Had the cough…forever. A couple of teaspoons of DARK honey calmed this cough throughout the day.</p>
<p>I have asthma and sometimes get colds that then never leave. When my abdominal muscles are sore from coughing and I am worried I am going to get a hernia- then I go to the dr.
Before that though I take steam baths- drink lots of fluids ( inc cognac 
) and do chest percussions. ( it loosens stuff- either do it with a cupped hand or a teacup/small bowl)- or have someone else do it- both front and back.</p>
<p>I’ve been doing honey in tea, but am getting tea-logged! May try some honey straight…</p>
<p>I second cough syrup with codeine.</p>