Best chest cold remedies?

[FMCoug]

Went with the CUF cocktail last night. Vapo rub on the feet, Mucinex DM, Nyquil ... cough is at least much more productive today ...

[NorthwestUteFan]

(IOW, if you take guaifenesin pills, all of your benefit can be chalked up to the glass of water you used to swallow the pill).

Back when I worked in the hospital I knew many docs and nurses who would swear by the 'hang a bag to kick the cold' method. When they would feel the cold or flu symptoms coming on, they would give themselves an IV and pump in 500mL or 1L of ringer's, and would feel better soon thereafter. I tried it a few times and felt a noticeable improvement.

This lends credence to your statment that hydration is the best cure for for cold and congestion symptoms.

Also some literature claims guaifenesin thins mucus by increasing diffusion of water into the bronchi. This doesn't treat the underlying cause in any way, but it assists with the removal of mucus from the airways. This at least makes it easier to breathe. I never understood why people suffering from chest congestion would want to STOP the coughing. I would rather get the stuff out!

[FMCoug]

The foot thing is really strange but seems to work. Was starting to cough a lot worse with tightening in the chest, etc. Went and put more on the feet and sure enough I am back to productive coughs about 10 minutes later.

[Shaka]

For toenail fungus? I have also heard soaking in Listening works.

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[KillerDog]

I have issues with my chest ever since I let chest congestion get out of hand on my mission and in college. As a result, I have a sure fire method. I'm no doctor but my recommendations seem to coincide with what the doc says above.

1) Nyquil or Theraflu every night to make sure your chest cold doesn't affect your ability to sleep.

2) Constant stream of hot water with lots of honey and lemon in it all day long. If you don't feel water logged you aren't getting enough. If you aren't sweating a little, it isn't hot enough and if you like the taste, you aren't using enough honey.

3) Humidifier in your room at night if you live in a low humidity location.

4) If your symptoms bother you in the day, take something with a nasal decongestant in it but don't take a cough suppressant, just keep drinking the nasty tea made of water, honey and lemon.

[statman]

I ended up with what my doctor called "walking pneumonia" - I asked him if there really was such a diagnosis - and he said "I just gave it, didn't I?"

It was a slowly building chest cold that got worse and worse over about two weeks until I ultimately spiked a fever and felt absolutley awful. So I went the doctor and got zpac. He told me to come back if I didn't feel significantly better in three days. The night of the second day I still kind of wished I was dying, but I woke up the next morning feeling much much better.

A week later, I've still been coughing my guts out every night when I go to bed and every morning when I get in the shower. But I've actually felt much better.

My wife and son have had the same bug, but without the fever, so they haven't gone to the doctor. We all got it about the same time, and with the antibiotic, I seem to be getting over it before them.

There are a couple nasty bugs going around right now. But I guess it's winter, so I wouldn't really expect less...

[statman]

The one occasion I had a bad enough cough to receive cough syrup with codeine, it seemed to make a huge difference. Or perhaps it just knocked me out so I could finally sleep without waking up every two minutes with a coughing fit.

In many (most?) states, cough syrup with codeine is a grandfathered drug that doesn't actually require a prescription - although good luck trying to find someone who will sell it to you! (FDA generally regulates opiates and other 'scheduled' rugs - codeine cough syrup IS grandfathered by the FDA - for it to be illegal in a state, the state must have passed a law specifically banning it). Most paharmacists don't even know this fact - and fewer still will actually stock it and sell it. Less than reputable pharmacies become legal drug dealers for heroin addicts who are inbetween fixes.

My wife used to work for a guy at a chain pharmacy that had a policy not to sell it. He did anyway, and sold it as "herbal & homeopathic remedies" on their system. The pharmacy manager got a direct cut of the profitability of the herbal crap they stocked and sold, so he sold as much of it as he could. He could sell a half pint of it for more than it cost to get a gallon. And he got about half the markup back in his next paycheck.

He was the only pharmacist at their store that would sell it (he was also the pharmacy manager). Local druggies would hang around outside the door waiting for his shift to start - they all knew his schedule. Kinda remeniscent of the heroin addicts waiting for Barksdale to bring the daily shipment of goods on The Wire. They'd get their 8 ounce bottle, and run out to the parking lot and chug it...

[FMCoug]

Okay since I started a hypochondriac / whine out about my cold thread ... one more symptom that is annoying the hell out of me. My tongue feels like I burned it. Roof of the mouth is very sensitive too. Swollen tastebuds on the tip of my tongue as well.

Part of the virus or maybe a side effect of some of the medicines? My wife made salsa last night and I can't even have any. It's seriously pissing me off.