Best chest cold remedies?

[FMCoug]

Okay so I picked up a nasty chest cough this weekend while in Colorado. I CANNOT be sick right now with everything I have going on. So what are everybody's surefire remedies? I have a tendency to have these thing settle into my chest and turn into bronchitis or worse.

[Mrs. Funk]

Steam treatment to open up air passages (at least temporarily). Shut the bathroom door and run the shower at its hottest setting for while (with you not in it, obviously) to make your own steam room. Sit in the room 5–10 minutes. My dad did this for us when we got croup as kids.

Get better and good luck.

[FMCoug]

Steam treatment to open up air passages (at least temporarily). Shut the bathroom door and run the shower at its hottest setting for while (with you not in it, obviously) to make your own steam room. Sit in the room 5–10 minutes. My dad did this for us when we got croup as kids.

Get better and good luck.

That's a good one. In our TX house we built I put in a steam shower. Miss that but this works good too. Actually did this in the hotel bathroom in CO the other morning to make it through my day of presentations.

[Mrs. Funk]

That's a good one. In our TX house we built I put in a steam shower. Miss that but this works good too. Actually did this in the hotel bathroom in CO the other morning to make it through my day of presentations.

Yeah, it's the poor man's steam shower.

[Shaka]

I had some luck with Mucinex DM in conjunction with a liquid cough medicine. Sort of doubling up on the cough part of the medication but it worked. This stuff is usually kept behind the counter at the pharmacy.

[hostile]

That's a good one. In our TX house we built I put in a steam shower. Miss that but this works good too. Actually did this in the hotel bathroom in CO the other morning to make it through my day of presentations.

We put a steam shower in our house and have used it several times for our children - it works great. One other thing that my mom recommends is to rub Vicks vaporrub on your feet at night and then sleep with a pair of socks on your feet. This really helps our kids as well when they have chest congestions/cough.

[ERCougar]

No one has ever been able to prove any benefit to narcotic cough medicines, beyond what you'd get from drinking an equivalent amount of water (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). I still write for Phenergan with codeine for people, not really for any cough benefit, but because of the antihistamine effect (dries things up a little bit), the induced drowsiness so they can get some sleep, and the little buzz from the codeine that I figure that they deserve if they're really sick. We couldn't write for this in residency because it apparently has street value for its ability to bring people down from a crack high.

There was a study on kids that showed a benefit to a tablespoon of honey, believe it or not--worth a shot on a adults too, I guess. The best interventions you can do yourself are:
-lots and lots and lots of water
-humidifier in your room at night
-more water

Albuterol inhalers can help bronchitis, but those are obviously by prescription.
I think tessalon perles can help somewhat, but those are also prescription-only. Your doctor may be willing to call in a script for you without seeing you.

By the way, good doctors don't write antibiotics for uncomplicated bronchitis anymore (unless you're an annoying patient). They don't help.

[wuapinmon]

No one has ever been able to prove any benefit to narcotic cough medicines, beyond what you'd get from drinking an equivalent amount of water (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). I still write for Phenergan with codeine for people, not really for any cough benefit, but because of the antihistamine effect (dries things up a little bit), the induced drowsiness so they can get some sleep, and the little buzz from the codeine that I figure that they deserve if they're really sick. We couldn't write for this in residency because it apparently has street value for its ability to bring people down from a crack high.

There was a study on kids that showed a benefit to a tablespoon of honey, believe it or not--worth a shot on a adults too, I guess. The best interventions you can do yourself are:
-lots and lots and lots of water
-humidifier in your room at night
-more water

Albuterol inhalers can help bronchitis, but those are obviously by prescription.
I think tessalon perles can help somewhat, but those are also prescription-only. Your doctor may be willing to call in a script for you without seeing you.

By the way, good doctors don't write antibiotics for uncomplicated bronchitis anymore (unless you're an annoying patient). They don't help.

I had some stuff once called Vi-Q-Tussin when I had pneumonia. It made my tongue go numb, I got a buzz like no other, and I didn't cough at all. Was it all in my head, or was there an anti-tussive quality to the syrup? I remember the bottle said something like "refill prohibited by federal law" on the label.

[ERCougar]

I had some stuff once called Vi-Q-Tussin when I had pneumonia. It made my tongue go numb, I got a buzz like no other, and I didn't cough at all. Was it all in my head, or was there an anti-tussive quality to the syrup? I remember the bottle said something like "refill prohibited by federal law" on the label.

I imagine that would have some hydrocodone in it. I was careful with how I worded things, because I'm not totally convinced they don't work--some people swear by them--just that no one has been able to prove a benefit.

[Mrs. Funk]

I imagine that would have some hydrocodone in it. I was careful with how I worded things, because I'm not totally convinced they don't work--some people swear by them--just that no one has been able to prove a benefit.

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.

[Green Monstah]

Second Mucinex. It makes the thick mucus in your chest more runny. You still have to hock it out of there, but at least it will come up.

[Soccermom]

We put a steam shower in our house and have used it several times for our children - it works great. One other thing that my mom recommends is to rub Vicks vaporrub on your feet at night and then sleep with a pair of socks on your feet. This really helps our kids as well when they have chest congestions/cough.

We just did the vapo rub on my son's feet the other day because of a lingering cough. It made things much better.

[old_gregg]

i have had a delicious nyquil cocktail (poor man's jager) every night for the past week. nyquil, tums, and excedrin seem to cure every ailment i've ever had.

[Shaka]

We just did the vapo rub on my son's feet the other day because of a lingering cough. It made things much better.

I hear this stuff can also cure toenail fungus.

[SuperGabers]

Put some Windex on it.