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What is your failsafe remedy when coughing all night?


Liz CA
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Dh is suggesting (while giggling) I should resort to NyQuil knowing full and well that I would pass out for two days. I do not possess the necessary enzyme to metabolize alcohol.

I cannot go to the guest bed because canine training has been sorely lacking and the dog is sleeping there now unashamedly and she does not want to listen to me coughing all night either.

 

I am open to all suggestions as long as I have the ingredients on hand cause I am not leaving the house at this hour. :(

 

 

I suppose I have the recliner left but ...um not super comfortable.

 

Edited by Liz CA
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I use the red Chloraseptic Sore Throat cough drops.  There is liquid inside them with something numbing.  I try to keep the same one all night, holding between tongue and roof of mouth.  Plus a variety of nasal sprays (xylitol spray, oil of oregano spray, silver spray, etc)

 

ETA, the above only applies for cough that comes from junk dripping into the throat.  Cough that comes from the bronchial area producing mucus - I had a trick but I can't remember what it was (herbal stuff).  Cough that comes from the lungs due to wheezing - albuterol plus all of the above (herbal stuff plus cough drops).

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If you want to get mediciney, then you can ask the doctor for a prescription for tessalon perles. It has a strange name for a medicine, but it does work to knock out a cough at night. When I used it, I went from almost puking during coughing and coughing so hard I was gasping for breath and felt like someone had punched me in the guts, to sleeping calmly the next night without a hitch (after taking the meds.)

 

You have to tell a doctor that you can't get any sleep and are desperate for some REST and then they give it to you. I only heard about it because I have a friend who is a nurse practitioner and she mentioned it over lunch one day. I said, "Why has a doctor never offered this before!!??" She said, "Did you tell the doctor you couldn't sleep?" And I hadn't. I have told doctors when I'm sick and I've been given antibiotics, but if you don't expressly say that you're not getting any sleep at night, they don't mention the tessalon. I had no idea that doctors had this stuff up their sleeve that I could have been getting all along. All those nights of exhaustion and coughing until my ribs almost broke...

 

Wow. Sorry for whining. :). Short answer: tessalon perles.

Edited by Garga
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I use the red Chloraseptic Sore Throat cough drops.  There is liquid inside them with something numbing.  I try to keep the same one all night, holding between tongue and roof of mouth.  Plus a variety of nasal sprays (xylitol spray, oil of oregano spray, silver spray, etc)

 

ETA, the above only applies for cough that comes from junk dripping into the throat.  Cough that comes from the bronchial area producing mucus - I had a trick but I can't remember what it was (herbal stuff).  Cough that comes from the lungs due to wheezing - albuterol plus all of the above (herbal stuff plus cough drops).

 

It's a "cold" type virus and is somewhat productive - probably coming from the bronchial system. No wheezing or shortness of breath. I do have some silver on hand but in liquid - not spray form. I could dilute it with water in a spray bottle...

 

albuterol

 

 

That's probably not helpful.  What DO you have on hand? Any essential oils? Caffeine? Thyme? Honey? Lemon? Flaxseed?  

 

Tight cough? Productive racking cough?

 

It's a somewhat productive cough. I have peppermint, rosehip essential oils. I have lemon, caffeine, thyme and even flaxseed.

I have tried ginger tea and while it soothes for a little bit, it does not suppress it all night.

I thought I was largely over this since I felt like the flu on Saturday. I slept most of the weekend and felt better. Then this hit me on Tuesday morning.

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If you want to get mediciney, then you can ask the doctor for a prescription for tessalon perles. It has a strange name for a medicine, but it does work to knock out a cough at night. When I used it, I went from almost puking during coughing and coughing so hard I was gasping for breath and felt like someone had punched me in the guts, to sleeping calmly the next night without a hitch (aftering taking the meds.)

 

You have to tell a doctor that you can't get any sleep and are desperate for some REST and then they give it to you. I only heard about it because I have a friend who is a nurse practitioner and she mentioned it over lunch one day. I said, "Why has a doctor never offered this before!!??" She said, "Did you tell the doctor you couldn't sleep?" And I hadn't. I have told doctors when I'm sick and I've been given antibiotics, but if you don't expressly say that you're not getting any sleep at night, they don't mention the tessalon. I had no idea that doctors had this stuff up their sleeve that I could have been getting all along. All those nights of exhaustion and coughing until my ribs almost broke...

 

Wow. Sorry for whining. :). Short answer: tessalon perles.

 

I can relate. Why is it always so much worse at night?

 

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Well, what I've been doing the last two weeks is cup after cup of Throat Comfort tea (NOT Throat Coat--nasty stuff!), an entire bag of RIcola couch drops, Advil for the fever, Benadryl, and Tussin cough syrup. And coughing and coughing, and finally breaking down and taking a hot shower in the middle of the night. Last night was the first night in weeks that I haven't had to stand in the shower. I think I cracked a rib coughing. 

 

I am sorry to hear others fare no better. I do have Ricola here as well and will pop one in right now. Do you know what ingreds are in the Throat Comfort tea? Maybe I can brew something similar with what I have at home?

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I can relate. Why is it always so much worse at night?

 

The coughing starts when your body starts to slip into that deep breathing of sleep. That's when you hit the tickle in your lungs. If you breathe somewhat shallowly during the day you're fine, but lie down and breathe in and out very deeply and that unbearable tickle deeper in the lungs starts up.

 

Also, lying down can adjust where the mucus is and affect things as well. I used to stay up, coughing, and considering how I could Invent some sort of harness that I could attach to the ceiling so I could sleep upright.

 

But mostly, for me, it's the deep breathing that kicks in when you're falling asleep.

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I have used any tea on hand but especially like, as mentioned above, slippery elm with red raspberry leaf, mullein and elder. Separately, a cup of very warm water with spoonful of honey or two, and the juice of a lemon, or just wait and add to your tea.

It depends on how bad it is...we've used slightly baked onions slathered on the chest with light olive oil and held in place with an ankle or wrist wrap (you know what I mean).

Not sure you'd have essential oils on hand but I have used them for coughing, just having it on in the room with the right oils has improved my situation nearly 100%.

Vaporizer always helps me. Keep the room closed. Add the vapo-rub stuff to it, if yours has that.

A friend of mine swore that the 40 thieves blend of essential oils rubbed on her feet twice a day, morning and night, kept her well through flu season.

A fairly warm shower.

Fruit.

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The coughing starts when your body starts to slip into that deep breathing of sleep. That's when you hit the tickle in your lungs. If you breathe somewhat shallowly during the day you're fine, but lie down and breathe in and out very deeply and that unbearable tickle deeper in the lungs starts up.

 

Also, lying down can adjust where the mucus is and affect things as well. I used to stay up, coughing, and considering how I could Invent some sort of harness that I could attach to the ceiling so I could sleep upright.

 

But mostly, for me, it's the deep breathing that kicks in when you're falling asleep.

Yep, that's what I read a couple weeks ago when I was coughing every time I was almost asleep.

 

I ended up buying a cough suppressant syrup (it had only the suppressant, no antihistamine to make me groggy). I would suggest you get some tomorrow, the tickly cough in my throat went on much longer than I thought it would.

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Any cough suppressant without an anti-histimine should do the trick. I used mucinex last time I was sick, but I had to browse the aisle very carefully to make sure I got one that wouldn't increase my drowsiness. (Don't know why I bothered. Whatever I had wiped me completely out for a full week after the cough was gone anyway. So I was still going to be drowsy.)

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In addition to all of the above - I sleep on the couch when I have a bad cough like that. I bring down all of my pillows and use the couch pillows and strategically place them so I am reclined enough to fall asleep but upright enough to keep at least some of the coughing at bay. 

 

Also, hot water with honey and lemon helps. 

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Mucinex DM is the best thing ever.

 

Yep.

 

Delsym works for my teens who can't swallow the massive mucinex pill.

 

If we don't have those, I keep a six pack of straight up pineapple juice in the pantry.  The bromelien in pineapple juice is a natural anti-inflammatory.  I know people make tea out of it adding honey (also beneficial to a cough) and other things, but we just drink it straight up.  My DS swears he's noticed a difference after drinking pineapple juice when he's got a cold with a cough. 

Edited by Lady Marmalade
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Delysum works, but it makes me drowsy, so if I want to be able to get up in the morning, I can't take that.

 

Plain Mucinex helps some, but it only goes so far.

 

I get to coughing because of reflux. I can take extra Prilosec before I go to bed to stave it off, but I'm trying to wean myself off that stuff, not take more!

 

Medicinally, Zyrtec (or the generic) is what works the best for me, which is weird because I'm pretty certain it's related to reflux not allergies, but it works.

 

The Vapo-rub under socks works really great, too! And you get quicker relief, IMO, than oral medicines. Sometimes, I do both.

 

If I wake up from the coughing, I'll do the sock-thing and/or the Zyrtec, but I have to get in a more upright position (which means the couch, cause we don't have a recliner) until that stuff kicks in and I can lay back down in bed.

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I use the red Chloraseptic Sore Throat cough drops.  There is liquid inside them with something numbing.  I try to keep the same one all night, holding between tongue and roof of mouth.  Plus a variety of nasal sprays (xylitol spray, oil of oregano spray, silver spray, etc)

 

ETA, the above only applies for cough that comes from junk dripping into the throat.  Cough that comes from the bronchial area producing mucus - I had a trick but I can't remember what it was (herbal stuff).  Cough that comes from the lungs due to wheezing - albuterol plus all of the above (herbal stuff plus cough drops).

 

This is what I've been doing except I hold it in my cheek because I'm so worried about choking on it in my sleep.  

 

Nyquil didn't help me sleep or stop coughing.

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Codeine cough syrup.  Nyquil knocks those of us who do process alcohol okay because it contains Benadryl, not because of the alcohol.

 

Nyquil doesn't contain Benedryl.  It contains Doxylamine succinate 12.5 mg (Antihistamine).  I WISH it contained Benedryl because it might actually work on me.  Benedryl is diphenhydramine and I take 1/2 a dose pretty much daily.

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It's a "cold" type virus and is somewhat productive - probably coming from the bronchial system. No wheezing or shortness of breath. I do have some silver on hand but in liquid - not spray form. I could dilute it with water in a spray bottle...

 

 

It's a somewhat productive cough. I have peppermint, rosehip essential oils. I have lemon, caffeine, thyme and even flaxseed.

I have tried ginger tea and while it soothes for a little bit, it does not suppress it all night.

I thought I was largely over this since I felt like the flu on Saturday. I slept most of the weekend and felt better. Then this hit me on Tuesday morning.

 

Sorry, I got sidetracked by a sick kid last night...

 

First, I would have taken a few teaspoons of dried thyme and steeped that as a tea for ten minutes.  Thyme acts both as a smooth muscle relaxant and as an anti-inflammatory.  Thyme is used a lot more in Germany/Austria than it  is here, but it's effective.

 

At the same time, I would have added a few tablespoons of flaxseeds to a cup of water in a mug and let gel up good and thick. I would have added a few tablespoons each of  honey and lemon, and mixed.  It's a very soothing gel for an irritated cough. After I finished my thyme tea, I would take a tablespoon of the flaxseed mix.

 

Finally, I would put some peppermint oil, properly diluted with a carrier, onto the soles of my feet and cover those with a pair of socks and also put some into the palms of my hands and breathed for a bit if I felt any tightness or congestion in my nose or chest.

 

Caffeine is good for a tight cough. It's a mild bronchiodialator.

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How are you feeling today, Liz? Were you able to get any sleep last night? :grouphug:

 

I do feel somewhat better but still coughed last night. I am running to the health food store for some Throat Comfort Tea and perhaps some Vick's since I found out I was out when I wanted to do my "magic socks" last night. :)

But prairiemama mentioned that I can also use peppermint oil and I have that here.

This too will pass...

 

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I do feel somewhat better but still coughed last night. I am running to the health food store for some Throat Comfort Tea and perhaps some Vick's since I found out I was out when I wanted to do my "magic socks" last night. :)

But prairiemama mentioned that I can also use peppermint oil and I have that here.

This too will pass...

 

When you have a cough, every night feels like forever. :grouphug:

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Nyquil doesn't contain Benedryl. It contains Doxylamine succinate 12.5 mg (Antihistamine). I WISH it contained Benedryl because it might actually work on me. Benedryl is diphenhydramine and I take 1/2 a dose pretty much daily.

Yeah, I can take a full dose of Benadryl and be ok the next day. I took a full dose of NyQuil a couple weeks ago and I was completely groggy and barely functioning all the next day. That's why I ended up buying a syrup that was only cough suppressant. That was a much better experience.
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