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What can I do about this cough?
Drez
Registered User regular
Registered User regular
I know the ultimate answer is "go to the doctor" which I am working on doing today if possible (just moved here, dunno what's open on the weekend and not keep to go to a hospital), but I'm looking for some kind of magical panacea if anyone has any ideas for me. I'd also like your layman opinion on what I've put my body through and whether or not I am feeling worse than I am because of all the crap that happened this week.
Long story short: I woke up Tuesday pretty damn sick. I thought this was probably because I ran from 33rd and 6th to 42nd and 8th in about 9 minutes with my coat half open in the freezing cold - I had to catch a bus to a birthday party. I'm not what you would call "athletic" or "in shape" or "aerodynamic" so that was a painful sprint, and then I spent 10-15 minutes barely able to breathe after that. So I wasn't terribly surprised that I felt weak, with a massive headache, cough, fever, and runny nose the next day.
Luckily (or unluckily, depending on your point of view), my vacation was through Wednesday, so I had two extra days to rest. I pretty much felt terrible through Thursday morning, though minutely better as time passed.
Thursday I went to work for an hour and a half and got sent home lest I be patient zero at my job (not that others aren't sick, but I looked and felt like shit). Unfortunately, due to other circumstances and with no notice whatsoever, I had to move all my stuff out of my old apartment into my new apartment - my deadline was Friday. So I ended up exerting a lot of effort Thursday night, moving about 15 heavy boxes and bags from one apartment to another, almost entirely by myself.
On Friday, I decided I needed a PTO day so I took another day off. My boss knew I wasn't feeling well AND needed to complete my move so he was on board with me taking a day off. On Friday, I ended up moving the rest of my stuff by myself, in the snow. I had to make two trips and it was about 20 heavy boxes/bags in total.
I have been unable to sleep consistently over the last four nights. The first night (Tuesday), I basically hallucinated for 14 hours straight thanks to the fever. The next night, I didn't even get to bed until Midnight. I was able to sleep but I slept funny and my arm has been killing me since then. Thursday, my cough kept me awake all night. Same as last night - it's a rather violent, loud, and painful cough.
I've been stuffing myself with cough drops and taking Advil Cold & Sinus as sparingly as I can, which gives me temporary relief, but it's fleeting at best and doesn't seem to help me sleep through the night.
So, anyway, am I just weak from all the exertion this week of moving and so I haven't been able to naturally heal properly? Do I really need to go to the doctor here, or does anyone have any other recommendations for dealing with this damned cold/cough?
I'm worried because everyone keeps talking about the flu and all this.
I really hate going to the doctor.
Long story short: I woke up Tuesday pretty damn sick. I thought this was probably because I ran from 33rd and 6th to 42nd and 8th in about 9 minutes with my coat half open in the freezing cold - I had to catch a bus to a birthday party. I'm not what you would call "athletic" or "in shape" or "aerodynamic" so that was a painful sprint, and then I spent 10-15 minutes barely able to breathe after that. So I wasn't terribly surprised that I felt weak, with a massive headache, cough, fever, and runny nose the next day.
Luckily (or unluckily, depending on your point of view), my vacation was through Wednesday, so I had two extra days to rest. I pretty much felt terrible through Thursday morning, though minutely better as time passed.
Thursday I went to work for an hour and a half and got sent home lest I be patient zero at my job (not that others aren't sick, but I looked and felt like shit). Unfortunately, due to other circumstances and with no notice whatsoever, I had to move all my stuff out of my old apartment into my new apartment - my deadline was Friday. So I ended up exerting a lot of effort Thursday night, moving about 15 heavy boxes and bags from one apartment to another, almost entirely by myself.
On Friday, I decided I needed a PTO day so I took another day off. My boss knew I wasn't feeling well AND needed to complete my move so he was on board with me taking a day off. On Friday, I ended up moving the rest of my stuff by myself, in the snow. I had to make two trips and it was about 20 heavy boxes/bags in total.
I have been unable to sleep consistently over the last four nights. The first night (Tuesday), I basically hallucinated for 14 hours straight thanks to the fever. The next night, I didn't even get to bed until Midnight. I was able to sleep but I slept funny and my arm has been killing me since then. Thursday, my cough kept me awake all night. Same as last night - it's a rather violent, loud, and painful cough.
I've been stuffing myself with cough drops and taking Advil Cold & Sinus as sparingly as I can, which gives me temporary relief, but it's fleeting at best and doesn't seem to help me sleep through the night.
So, anyway, am I just weak from all the exertion this week of moving and so I haven't been able to naturally heal properly? Do I really need to go to the doctor here, or does anyone have any other recommendations for dealing with this damned cold/cough?
I'm worried because everyone keeps talking about the flu and all this.
I really hate going to the doctor.
Switch: SW-7690-2320-9238Steam/PSN/Xbox: Drezdar
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Feel better soon!
NO
But the official NHS advice for when they want to see a persistent cough is three fucking weeks. Coughs are buggers and hang around but rarely indicate anything particular egregious on their own.
I aint no doctor but this is what my wife was prescribed. Maybe it wasnt the flu.
Seems pretty standard if your flu has progressed enough that they will give you antibiotics.
But seriously, he prescribed an inhaler - Albuterol - and recommended Mucinex. I've Albuteroled myself so far and I'll Mucinex myself in a minute.
My blood pressure was super high again. Then at the end of the visit, it dropped - still a bit high but not Danger Zone high. He banned me from using psuedophedrine for life - he said I seem to be very sensitive to it and it's blood-pressure-raising side effects.
He said antibiotics wouldn't work. He said my lungs were clear and it seems entirely viral and that antibiotics wouldn't work because it's not bacterial.
He also said cough medicine wouldn't work, which made me go
Anyway, thanks for the help/advice.
Stay well and take it easy.
If it's a high throat cough you can at knock down the pain some with Chloraseptic spray, it numbs it a bit.
I've also had good results with Theraflu, drunk just before bed, but I'm not sure they actually make it anymore.
-Indiana Solo, runner of blades
for sleeping try and keep yourself propped up into a half-siting position with some extra pillows, lying down flat will make the coughing happen more often. and try some hot decaf tea while in bed, the heat can help to reduce coughing a bit.
you can try and knock yourself out a bit with some gravol or antihistamines if those have the drowsy side-effect on you. That's pretty much what the theraflu or similar hot tea drug things are, pain med+antihistamine+psuedophedrine+cough suppressant. But if your banned from using psuedophedrine, and the cough suppresant won't work on your broncitis, then you just need the sleep aid part.
Other then that it just sorta sucks and you'll be awake a few times overnight, find some good books to read until your sleepy again.
Yeah, position seems to be key. I was lying on my back earlier which was OK, and then I tried rolling over and I was immediately coughing. I am going to maybe try sleeping in this recliner chair I have - at about a 45 or 60 degree upright angle. I sat there briefly and it seemed decent.
@Belasco32 what is the name of those pearls we get for the kids when they have a vicious cough? They work awesome for bronchitis.
Though they never really worked for me. Strangely enough after trying a whole lot of remedies Dayquil seemed to work the best for me (combined with an Albuterol inhaler for the sudden attacks.) YMMV, since everyone has typically different reactions to various drugs.
Doc advised against NyQuil for some reason. I think maybe because my BP was 174/110 when I went - which went down when I was leaving (I was taking Advil Cold & Sinus and he thinks I am susceptible).
I still haven't been able to sleep much so I may just defy him and get some NyQuil. I need to fucking sleep already!
I'll check out those Perles. Is that what you were referring to @spool32 ?
Thanks, guys.
Another weird thing which sorta helped was snorting salt water. My doc thought that my cough was due to a lot of post-nasal drip so if I stopped the drip it could help get the cough under control, so the albuterol was for instant relief, dayquil for daily relief and the salt water to solve the problem once and for all. All told, it still lingered for almost two months before my body decided to stop producing massive amount of mucus.
Recipes for the salt water rinse can be found online. Just make sure you don't use iodized water cuz that stings like a motherfucker.
Or try some Gravol, that will also have a noticeable sleep-aid effect on most people.
I don't know what we'd do without those Perles in the house. They stop the muscle contraction that causes coughing, and they're used in hospitals to stop hiccups that can't be stopped any other way (yes, apparently that's a thing that happens). They're prescription only for a very good reason, if you accidentally break one in your mouth it's instant heart attack, but it reacts without issue in the stomach. They come in a generic, Benzonatate capsules and are dead cheap in our neck of the woods.
That sounds terrifying.
Codeine is the non "make sure you swallow this and don't lollygag with it" alternative of it.
Guaifenesin (Mucinex) is the OTC alternative, not as strong as the other two, but works damn well. Diphenhydramine (Benadryl) can also work as a cough suppressant.
Benzonatate affects the central nervous system, so it sort of just straight up kills if you OD on it. The mouth causes hyper-absorption. If you're not a good pill taker or are a kid, I probably wouldn't recommend it.
They're really gummy caplets... you'd have to bite down on it pretty hard, but like, we warned the kids pretty strenuously not to do it! Turns out "if you don't swallow this whole, it might actually kill you before an ambulance arrives" even concentrates the mind of a 12yr old.
but they're listening to every word I say
A few more days of this and I'm going to be like the machinist in The Machinist.