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Can anyone advise me how to get rid of this cough quickly

(38 Posts)
etheltbags1 Sun 28-Sep-14 13:13:50

Ive had a nasty cold for a week and Ive been off work as I just cannot do my job while coughing, ive also got a croaky voice. The pharmacist just points out different medicines costing a fortune but says there is no cure of the common cold. My cough is tight and dry and I think that's what is making my voice go harsh, if I had a 'productive ' cough it would feel better.
Any remedies, old tested and tried or new untried, I don't mind.
Ive tried herbal teas etc. I need to be back at work as Im losing money.

vampirequeen Sun 28-Sep-14 13:18:21

I don't have a cure but it might be worth seeing your gp as I've had a similar cough for around 6 weeks now. It's gradually improving but I reckon it will be around for another 4 weeks.

Perhaps the doctor might be able to give you something to make it go away faster.

shysal Sun 28-Sep-14 13:30:39

I have tried and advocated various cough mixtures over the years. Recently I have used Covonia Night Time. I take a dose at bed time and don't make a sound until next morning. I do wake with a slightly thick head though! They do a day time version, which I haven't tried, so can't comment. They are ones that you have to ask the pharmacist to approve when you buy.
I hope you find a solution, coughs are annoying to those who suffer and to those around them!

rosequartz Sun 28-Sep-14 13:56:08

DH swears by Irish Moss Cough Syrup, however I have just googled it and it appears to be only available in Australia and New Zealand.

Here is a link to a similar product:
herbactive.co.uk/coughsyrup.php

Kiora Sun 28-Sep-14 14:30:22

ethelbags1 I do sympathisesadI too have an awful cough. Same as you it's tight, dry and sort of tickley. Once I start to cough I can't stop. My eyes water, my whole body shakes and somtimes I cough so hard I think I'll vomit. Iv got asthma but don't normally suffer from coughing. its interfering with my sleep, disturbing my husband. I am very reluctant or perhaps anxious about taking time off work because I have recently had time 3 days bereavement leave. It's such a palaver having to call in sick. Ring the team, ring the manager, wait for them to ring you back. Have a return to work interview were they 'pull up every day you've ever had off' your made to feel as if your 'swinging the lead' I'm so fed up with it. So I hope someone can give us some advice. [ flowers for you]

Teetime Sun 28-Sep-14 17:33:58

I have never seen how cough mixtures can help as they go straight down to your stomach not your lungs. Dry coughs can gain relief from inhalations but a persistent cough requires investigation. Dh has an intermittent dry cough at different times during the year and we discovered it was a reaction to various environmental things like pollen, dust from harvesting etc . I encourage him to drink more and he takes antihistamines. Inhalers are sometimes needed but need a GP really to diagnose and prescribe. Hope you get some relief soon I now how disruptive this can be especially when it stops you sleeping well.

etheltbags1 Sun 28-Sep-14 20:02:32

Thank you Kiora, with my job as I work from home I have to phone the boss and she just doesn't believe me even though Im craoking like an old frog. Not had the cough long just about a week.
A few years ago I had this cough for 6 months, I had x rays, took antibiotics 3 lots (maximum they would give), took steroids which made my legs swell and blister which burst then got better. Nothing affected the cough which cleared up eventually. Ironically the cough started when I started a new cleaning job and the place was filthy, the cough ended when I left the job 6 months later as I thought my health was more important than any job.
My symptoms are just like yours kiora I work in people homes and its embarrassing to be coughing like this so I just hope I can go to work tomorrow or will have to go to gp, anyone ever tried to get apt with gp on a Monday lol.

etheltbags1 Sun 28-Sep-14 20:05:58

while talking of coughs, my elderly mother has c.o.p.d, she has coughed for 30 years since stopping smoking, she goes out just lives life as usual and does not let it bother her, she gets dirty looks in the supermarket but just says 'so what'. She has lots of check ups with various docs. and takes no notice what they say. I suppose at 83 she just takes life each day as it comes.

grandma60 Sun 28-Sep-14 21:21:04

Kiora and Ethelbags1 Don't get me started about sick calls to work. I have had a fairly good sickness record for several years, but I have had more time off this year with throat and coughing problems . Also stomach bugs mainly due I think to the stress of a family crisis earlier this year , which the company knows about. I sometimes drag myself to work rather than have to make the phone calls to the office every morning and being urged to see the doctor for every minor thing. As you say, try even getting through to the doctor on a Monday morning or getting an appointment in the next 2 weeks. I am looking forward to retiring just to avoid these interogations. Hope you feel better soon. Ethelbags1

Faye Sun 28-Sep-14 21:49:08

I used to really dislike having to go to the doctors for a sickness certificate if I had more than a day off, I never went to the doctors anyway and who wants to go out if you are sick.

Steam vaporisers are great for coughs, if you haven't got one put a kettle in the room and boil it every now and again.

The other thing I always use is ginger, I make a juice with some fruit and vegetables and put a good 3/4 inch of ginger, enough so it gives your throat a bit of a kick. Or just grate fresh ginger in hot water and drink.

Anya Sun 28-Sep-14 22:38:36

I don't think you can 'get rid' of a cold - just ease the symptoms. Some good ideas from Faye and try sucking catarrh pastilles for the cough. Potters make some, Boots do their own brand as do Sainsburys. Be warned they taste like coal tar, but work for me especially for that irritating night cough.

Crafting Sun 28-Sep-14 22:39:08

Codeine works as a good cough suppressant. My DH has it in tablet form from the GP after having a bad cough for 6 months it was recommended by a Consultant. Can you get something similar from the pharmacist? Makes you sleepy but you get used to it after a few days. Also vitamin C tablets. Do hope you feel better soon ethelbags

Elegran Sun 28-Sep-14 22:51:22

You can get codeine cough mixture, too. There is not much codeine in it, but you do need to take the dose into account along with whatever other painkillers you are taking.

Basically there are two things you can do to a cough, depending on what kinbd of cough it is. A thick cough can be helped to clear the tubes by a pungent expectorant with strong fumes to be drawn down into the lings - which is why it is better to add a little hot water and sip it down slowly, to get as much of the fumes as possible. A dry tickly cough can be soothed with codeine linctus or if it is mainly higher up the windpipe with honey and lemon or a similar mixture.

As a child I would be given mixed butter and sugar for a tickly cough, licked slowly off the spoon. Probably bad for the teeth, but very soothing - and a treat when both butter and sugar were on ration.

durhamjen Sun 28-Sep-14 23:45:29

Codeine gave me very strange hallucinations.

mrsmopp Mon 29-Sep-14 00:45:08

I've got this too. A dry tickly cough, have been sucking Strepsils and taking honey and hot lemon which is soothing but the problem still exists. Had it for about a week. i never go to the doctor with coughs and colds as there is little that they can do except suggest the remedies on here.
I'm fed up with it and wish it would go. I hate these fits of uncontrollable coughing. Why have we all suddenly got this? Is it due to the drop in temperature? It has gone much cooler lately.

HollyDaze Mon 29-Sep-14 16:50:39

My mum used to make a hot drink of freshly squeezed lemon juice, fresh ginger and a good spoon of honey; honey and lemons have very good antioxidant and antibacterial qualities and ginger acts as a cough suppressant - it seemed to work quite well as I remember.

jinglbellsfrocks Mon 29-Sep-14 17:10:16

Elegran they gave me that in muslin, to suck on like a dummy, when I was a baby. hmm No wonder I've got a taste for fat and sugar now. grin

jinglbellsfrocks Mon 29-Sep-14 17:11:20

That was my first post on my new I-pad Mini.

tanith Mon 29-Sep-14 19:03:26

Codeine Linctus is an excellent cough suppressant for dry coughs. It stops the urge to cough, I was prescribed it when I got a chest infection after breaking a rib in a car crash, coughing was agony and when the GP prescribed the Codeine Linctus it was like magic No cough from the moment I started taking it , it was such a relief.

tanith Mon 29-Sep-14 19:04:17

I meant to add I think you can still buy it at the chemist without a prescription.

Elegran Mon 29-Sep-14 19:13:12

Yes, I think you can. You just have to be sure that you are not suppressing a cough which would be removing phlegm from your lungs and tubes. For that, Benylin for chesty coughs, or similar, would "cut the phlegm"

Gagagran Mon 29-Sep-14 20:15:25

I have just go rid of a "peffy" cough after 3 weeks and 3 days, following a cold. I find Fishermen's Friends really good to stop the tickle and as I am asthmatic I used my Ventolin Inhaler more too, which helped.

Steam inhalations help and Olbas Oil is good too. I find codeine very constipating so avoid it!

Anne58 Mon 29-Sep-14 20:37:19

I currently have practically no voice and a bloody awful cough courtesy of a virus that Mr P seems to have brought home from Hampshire (thanks darling!) Over the weekend it became the sort that needs 3 hands,

1] to place over the mouth (obviously, manners and standards!)
2] To place on the top of my head because when I cough my head REALLY hurts
3] A hand to hold on to and try to minimise the bloody awful pain from a lower rib on my right side which I think might be from some sort of strain on the ligaments or whatever they are between each rib.

The crossed legs go without saying.blush

Gaga I could no more suck a Fishermans Friend than fly to the moon, although when (years ago) I kept sheep I had one particular one who was very partial to them. smile

Tegan Mon 29-Sep-14 21:27:22

Just don't do what I did a few years ago [as Elegran has pointed out]which was to take a cough medicine for dry coughs along with one for phlegmy coughs. It made me realise how dangerous self medication can be.

granjura Mon 29-Sep-14 21:29:58

Surprised nobody mentionned inhalations with hot steam + Olbas or similar. It works wonders.

Some drugs for heart can exarcerbate a cough and make it last much much longer (OH had a cough for a long time and his drug had to be changed)- so perhaps ask the doctor.

Horrible things coughs and colds- so hope you all get better soon.