What will make a nonproductive cough, productive!?

Question

I have tried it all, Tussin, Guifessin, etc. What have you found if anything creates a productive cough? Ive had a dry hacking burning cough for 4 days now, and its really annoying. I wouldnt mind coughing if I was coughing something up. Thx!

Answer 1

A steam bath - best if you can put a little eucalyptus or tea tree oil on a rag in a tub with the shower on as hot as it will go. Sit on the edge of the tub - you want your face as close to the running water as you can get and breath in the steam deeply. Sit for 15-20 mins and you will be impressed by how much looser your cough is. I do it with my kids even - morning and night for a stubborn cough or congestion, I've never had to do it more than 3 times.

Peace!

Answer 2

I would recommend going to the store and buying an over the counter product with JUST the ingredient dextromethorphan in it. This is a cough suppressant and will suppress your cough through the coughing center in the brain. Guaifenesin (which is in the Mucinex products over the counter) is an expectorant, which causes you to cough up any mucous if you already have a productive cough. In your case, you have a dry cough, and the guaifenesin will either not help or make the irritation worse since you do not have the mucous to cough up (The Mucinex products make you cough more, they do not suppress your cough at all).

I'm not sure what other symptoms you have with the cough, if any, but there are many combo products out there and if you go to your local pharmacy they would be able to help. Just go to the Pharmacist and explain your symtpoms (and also if you have high blood pressure, diabetes, or any other disease states they might need to know about) and they would be able to point you to the right product right away.

If you have a dry cough with no other symptoms, I would recommend trying a product called Delsym. It works for 12 hours (which is great if you need a good nights sleep) and contains the most dextromethorphan of any over the counter product. It can be a little pricer than the robitussins, but I hear it works great if you need to suppress a nasty dry cough!

Hope this helps!

Answer 3

Non Productive Cough

Answer 4

Find an expectorant like Mucinex, instead of a cough suppressant. Suppressants just stomp your urge to cough, but do nothing for actually getting rid of it.

Answer 5

poor you! that's awful...i'm getting over a chest infection myself and i've found that robitusson - the expectorant for chest congestion (not with a decongestant) has worked...the pharmasist told me that i should take it only during the day and then a cough medicine with codine for nights - otherwise i'd be up all night! i hope this helps a little - talk to your pharmasist - they help a lot - i also have asthma so the inhailers they recomended helped too - they're great...and if that doesn't work see your doctor - the last thing you want is a chest infection!!!

Answer 6

If the medications arent working then your cough isnt caused by a build up of fluid, which suggests there might be a more serious issue at hand.

Go see your doctor.

Answer 7

usually a non productive cough is not good news go to the doc !

Answer 8

I would say an expectorant, but you have already tried those...try mucinex, if the otc aren't working, check with your doctor, it could be something other than what you think it is or you may need something stronger, per prescription...good luck

Answer 9

Fluids!! You need to drink at least 10 8oz glasses of water a day with a resp infection this will thin secretions.

Answer 10

Drink lots of water.