tips on helping a cough?

Answer 1

The thing with a cough is discovering what is causing the cough and treating that. Just taking cough medicine can be pointless and frequently doesn't work anyway.

Do you have allergies, runny nose, post nasal drip? If so, take some claritin or the generic. Get a prescription for Singulair, some people need both combined. Allergies and post nasal drip can cause a lot of coughing and just taking the cough medicine does nothing to treat the cause.

Are you asthmatic? That causes a lot of coughing, but the problem is constricted airways and you need breathing medication. Once you relieve the problem, the cough will go away.

Do you have a simple infection, upper respiratory tract infection or similar? Well, you might need some antibiotics to clear this up. In the mean time, in this case the cough medicine might be beneficial, with the codeine based formulas, prescription only, work the best.

Do you have acid reflux? This is a common cause of coughing and can be easily treated with some over the counter zantac or prilosec, or even tums. As the acid makes it way up into the esophagus it causes irritation and can trigger the cough as a reflex. Get rid of the acid, get rid of the cough.

There can be other reasons but maybe one of these will help you out.

Answer 2

You can try Delsym, although recent studies have shown that dextromathorpan doesn't work well on some people. It's always helped me, though. If the cough is keeping you from sleeping, you should get a prescription for cough syrup with codeine; it's the most effective. For tonight, if you have any pain medication containing codeine, take one of those.

However, if your cough is productive, you don't want to stifle the cough too much because you need to get rid of that gunk. Use a cool mist humidifier, or place some pots of water near the heat vents in your bedroom to help moisturize the air. Drink plenty of fluids, sipping on them throughout the day to keep your throat moist.

You can also suck on menthol cough drops, but be sure you don't aspirate one when you're coughing; take it out of your mouth while you cough.

Answer 3

If it's a phlegm cough - no more dairy until it goes away. Dairy products of any kind make the body produce more and thicker phlegm which means for fun stuff to cough up.

Answer 4

The best way to stop a really bad cough is to get some medicine from your doctor that has hydrocodone in it. Other than that, steam or a vaporizer and vicks usually works somewhat.

Answer 5

YOu can try Mucinex if it is a productive cough. If it is a non-productive cough, try Delsum. Unfortunately, it is cough season-especially if you are in a colder climate. The spring weather will clear it up!

Answer 6

Well my grandmother would tell me to drink baking soda and water and that would help sometimes but for any type of medicine i would recommend cold liver oil pills because they work really fast

Answer 7

hot tea, lemon and honey.