Worst Christmas ever...

[oyceter]

The cold I had TWO WEEKS AGO is still here, and in fact I think the medicine I took for it last night made the cough so bad that I couldn't fall asleep until 6. Was supposed to go to CB's family yesterday night, was too tired, am too tired now, and think I will just spend entire weekend sleeping in. Ugh. Had antibiotics called in by doctor yesterday, but I think the pharmacies are all closed now, and I am too sleepy to drive right now. Also, I think I gave it to CB, who is apparently feeling a lot worse right now and sleeping in while his whole family is out.

I'm not even that annoyed about missing holiday festivities; I'm more just grateful for a three-day weekend for sleep.

Nyquil not working, codeine cough syrup not really working, have to sleep with cough drops in my mouth or I can't sleep at all (I can feel my teeth rotting away), Sudafed helps the congestion but not the cough. Any home remedies? Have been drinking a honey-lemon hot water mix for ages, which does help, and I want to get a humidifier as soon as I am in shape to be seen outside the house.

SO SICK AND TIRED OF THIS STUPID COLD PPL. OMG MAKE IT GO AWAY.

Comments

[sophisted]

I was sick with some kind of respiratory infection for 3 months earlier this year. I couldn't afford a doctor or an antibiotic, so I turned to old-timey remedies and one in particular really worked. If you can get to a natural food store and pick up some apple cider vinegar with mother of vinegar (that means it has to be raw and unpasteurized), you mix two table spoons of the stuff with 8 oz of water and drink it. Do this 3 times daily. Lemon juice or honey helps mask the flavor of the vinegar. It will knock your cold right out.

[littlebutfierce]

I'm so sorry you're still so sick!! I hope you feel better soon!!!

[jjhunter]

Homemade ginger tea's pretty good - slice ginger and boil it, then strain the results into a cup and drink. Might not hurt to add a little lemon or something to taste, but it's the ginger that will help.

*sends cold-be-gone wishes in your general direction*

[sara]

Oooh, yeah, we've been getting this "hot ginger" stuff from the local Vietnamese grocery, it comes in an orange box and it helps. I think it's basically ginger and sugar but it's in little packets and it's lovely.

(Also good as a hangover cure. IJS.)

[mme_hardy]

If you add a judicious amount of dried hot peppers, it's even better.

GO AWAY OYCE'S COLD.

[(Anonymous)]

Careful with the ginger tea, though, if you have any problems with your gallbladder. I developed a taste for ginger tea for a while, and it seems to have made gallbladder issues I hadn't even realized I had come to the forefront.

-LG

[sara]

We had one like that, just recently; it is finally letting up but it's taken a month. So much sympathy.

[estara]

If you can do it, try inhalation - if you don't have a special set-up for that it simply helps to hold your head over a pot of steaming water and cover it and your head with a towel so you breathe in the steam via nose and mouth.

Should you have oils like mint or eucalyptus or camphor that would help even more. You can do that repeatedly but it would even help to just do it with plain steaming water.

Dittoing the ginger lemon tea recommendation. Maybe use honey to sweeten it instead of sugar, that seems to be nicer for my throat.

And if you have to sleep with cough drops, can't you get sugar free ones? I sometimes have to do that too.

Wishing you lots of health for now and the New Year!

[chomiji]

Actually, the sugar is part of what make cough drops work: it's called a demulcent. Honey works on the same principal. So I don't believe sugar-free ones would work as well.

[loligo]

I generally get good results with sugar-free cough drops; there's something else in there that gives it that same sort of mouth-feel, but it doesn't leave fuzzy little sweaters of plaque all over my teeth. I don't like sugared cough drops even during the day, for that reason, much less to sleep with at night (which I too have been doing for the past week).

Hot lemonade

[mme_hardy]

Boil water. Add juice of half a lemon and sugar in the proportions you'd use for lemonade. Add whole cloves; cinnamon stick if you like it.

Even better as a "hot toddy", to which you add scotch or distilled liquor of your choice.

[daedala]

Aww, feel better soon!

Heated milk with a quarter-teaspoon each of turmeric and ginger is tasty and feels like it ought to do something. :)

P.S. And some sugar.

[shana]

Boil water. Right now I have a pot on the stove, which I add water to every time I go into the kitchen. (My mother has a nasty cough.) Turn it off before you go to bed, unless it is a HUGE pot and you have it on very low heat.

Try to sleep in a more upright position, either propped up on pillows or in a chair or on the couch.

Drink lots of fluids; it's easy to get dehydrated. If you have vitamin C, take lots of it.

[kore]

I combined two of these remedies and inhaling steam off a truckload of ginger that had been boiling for a while really helped. That sounds miserable, I hope the antibiotics knock it out!

[rachelmanija]

Ugh, I'm sorry. I especially hate the unable to breathe without cough drop in mouth thing. (I told you how I ate a bunch of ants because of that once, right?)

Add whiskey to the honey-lemon-hot water mixture. It should be in four equal parts. Drink right before going to bed.

[rachelmanija]

PS. I would really, really hate to miss you, but if you ended feeling so sick that you're dreading the trip, put it off. I have a fair amount of break time next quarter.

[chomiji]

People have given you some good home remedies here.

I'll add: saltwater gargle (½ teaspoon salt to one cup warm water).

Push fluids: stay hydrated. This also helps make your secretions more liquid and less irritating to your throat.

Drink non-fatty hot soups with onion and garlic. (Yup, the old Jewish chicken soup remedy.)

If your cough is essentially dry (nonproductive: you are just hacking away without actually coughing anything up) see whether you can get an urgent care clinic or some such to prescribe generic benzonatate (brand name: Tessalon Perles). It's a pill that acts by desensitizing your irritated airways. It works really well for most people in this situation.

[heresluck]

I have no home remedies that people haven't already suggested -- though I second the recommendation for standing over a pot of simmering water with a towel over your head to trap the steam; less convenient than a humidifier, but a good stopgap until you feel up to going out for one.

At any rate, I hope you're feeling better soon, or at least that you can get the cough sufficiently under control to get some decent sleep, 'cause that can't be helping.

[trinker]

Hope things are improving, and sad that I'm not close by enough to bring you hot & sour soup

[lady_ganesh]

That is rotten. My go-to is either the honey-lemon or tea, so I'm afraid I'm not useful. I hope things kick in soon!