For about two weeks now, I've been fighting what seemed to be either Springtime allergies or a cold. Last week was spent cooped up in a training room with 20 other people, half of them hacking and wheezing all over the place.

This week has brought me a cough that will take me to my knees. Crud's coming up, and that's good, but it's gotten to the point where it hurts to cough now. My short-term solution was a bag of Hall's drops, even just to fight it so I could sleep.

Mrs is not totally anti-Western medicine, but she and her dad put a lot of stock in the earthy / healthy / organic / greenie sort of healings. She made me some good echinacea tea yesterday, and put some fresh orange and organic honey into it. Good stuff, easy on the throat, but doesn't solve the problem.

Today I threw in the towel and went to the local express care shop. (Express? Not so much... plenty of patients, not enough Doc. Anyway....) Doc tagged it as allergic bronchitis and gave me a steroid, an inhaler, and some heavy duty (as in, hand-deliver-the-scrip-to-the-pharmacy) cough medicine for nighttime. "Thank you very much," says me!

Mrs called to check on me, and I told her what I've just told you. She launched into me about how the cough meds aren't going to help, will just make it worse, and so forth. Then a bit about the organic goods, and perhaps I should call her dad and talk with him. I politely declined, pressed the mute button, ranted for a moment, and then resumed the call.

The way I see it, this stuff will quell the cough so I can sleep. Win-win! Mrs does not agree.

So. Back to the question. "Cough suppressant: good, or evil?" And why?

It is pretty easy to tell someone to suck it up and endure the pain when it not them who is afflicted…

I typically use Mucinex-D to get me through the day when I have a cold/cough/congestion shit.

It's not just a suppressant, it is likely also an expectorant to help move that crap out of your airways.

Where did you wife get her medical degree?

Takes your damn medicine and get well. You paid good money for that care, now use it!

Hope you get better.

RMD

quote:

Originally posted by rduckwor:
It's not just a suppressant, it is likely also an expectorant

Boom! There's the point I should have made!

quote:

Originally posted by rduckwor:
Takes your damn medicine and get well.

Oh, I'll be taking it, even if I have to sneak to the garage like a closet alcoholic!
And thank you for the kind wishes. Two weeks of this is more than enough.

Not a doctor, but when I get a serious cough, the hand deliver script kind is all that will let me sleep. Take it as directed and get better.

A serious cough, even one that is due to allergy, crud, bronchitis,etc. is not to be taken lightly. I once coughed so long and hard that the area where the ribs attach to the breast bone became inflamed and each cough was extremely painful. I called my doc, apologized for being a wuss, and asked about it. He said don't apologize, he's had folks thinking it was a heart attack.

Short answer, see a professional and take your meds.

On the holistic side though, the wife and I have found that about a tablespoon of local honey per day reduces the allergies. I used to get allergy reactions that would lead to drainage that would lead to upper resp infections and the cough you described.

Go see your regular doc. You'll probably get a cough syrup with codeine. Your throat may be too irritated to heal, you've got to stop the cough.

Good luck, hope you feel better soon.

Whiskey

Once every 15 minutes

Repeat until you feel better

Then every 1/2 hour

You're welcome

Mike, I like your suggestion. At the risk of derailing my own thread, would you like to recommend a particular whiskey? (I know dirt about whiskey. So far.)

quote:

Originally posted by vthoky:
Mike, I like your suggestion. At the risk of derailing my own thread, would you like to recommend a particular whiskey? (I know dirt about whiskey. So far.)

Hahaha

I prefer The Macallan, it's about $70 a fifth and not for getting drunk on.

You can try anything for getting drunk.

Very good. Thank you.

quote:

Originally posted by dbuck47:
On the holistic side though, the wife and I have found that about a tablespoon of local honey per day reduces the allergies. I used to get allergy reactions that would lead to drainage that would lead to upper resp infections and the cough you described.

I'm down with local honey. No problem there!

We've never had sore throats that weren't helped by 50/50 honey and vinegar. Dark chocolate brings some relief if you let it melt in your mouth before swallowing.

take the meds, and the tea they're not going to act upon one another and the tea usually helps some.

quote:

Originally posted by vthoky:
Doc tagged it as allergic bronchitis and gave me a steroid, an inhaler, and some heavy duty (as in, hand-deliver-the-scrip-to-the-pharmacy) cough medicine for nighttime. "Thank you very much," says me!

And there you are.

You gave the old wives' tales stuff a couple weeks already - how was that working out?

quote:

"Cough suppressant: good, or evil?" And why?

I am not a doctor, but you already got a doctor's advice face to face. I'll go with that. Cough meds can be overkill but again, what you got prescribed was what a doc thought was best, after examining you.

Getting some rest is a good thing.

If it'll make the macrobiotic wholistic naturopatic folks happy, print up some "100Mg Kale" labels and stick them over the prescription med label. That'll lern 'em!

Hope you're feeling better soon!

Go with the one with a medical degree. Doctors aren't perfect, but they know more than most of us.

As another member advised, take your meds. I moved to a different state a few years ago. For the first 3 years I would have upper respiratory infections kick in about 3 times a year. Never had them before, I'm usually a pretty well person. Sounds like what your having. I've never had allergies before but doc says I have them now.

When sick a round of steroids, take them Exactly as described (a build up of dose then a build down). Mucinex - D and antibiotics.

Since all this started he also ended up putting me on Flonase and Singulair. Both for allergies. Well I didn't use them as often and during the time periods he suggested. So I continued to get sick as above.

I have in the past two years started the Flonase and Singulair as suggested during the months the doc suggested and I have had no infections or issues since then. Two years of no doc visits for respiratory issues. Doc also prescribed an inhaler. Advised to use it whenever I cut the yard, dust, vacuum and such. Only as a pre med before exposure. Not as a daily use. Also to use a dust mask when doing all those task. It has helped.

So yes take your meds. Also talk to your doc about some maintenance meds during the allergy seasons.

Get well. And WalMart has a generic OTC for Mucinex. It's 1/4 the price. It works I have used and compared the two. I use it instead of Mucinex.

Been said before: "Take your damn medicine and get well. You paid good money for that care, now use it!"
Use it before you get into a coughing spasm you can't stop and need an emergency room trip to get it stopped.

When I have severe allergies I cough a lot. Vicodin, and codeine are the only two things that worked.

But they are harder to get these days.

quote:

Originally posted by p113565:
Been said before: "Take your damn medicine and get well. You paid good money for that care, now use it!"
Use it before you get into a coughing spasm you can't stop and need an emergency room trip to get it stopped.

Very true.
I lit into a coughing fit in the waiting room this morning... about three coughs in, I went outside (so as not to freak out everybody else in the room). As I leaned against the column, squatted and wheezing, a voice came from behind my left shoulder: "Hey!"

My first thought: "Oh, crap."

The voice continued. "Here. I had that a couple of weeks ago. I know what you're facing." It was one of the ladies from the waiting room, handing me a starlight mint. It wasn't a Hall's drop or codeine cough meds, but it was a wonderful gesture and a huge (though temporary) help.

I've tried a few couch meds over the years. None have done much for the ouch but the ones with codeine at least helped me sleep instead of couching all night long.