Hacking cough

This three week bug is horrible and definitely finding new victims.
Take vitamin c and zinc combination, steam your head several times a day - some Olbas oil or similar helps. Rest and find a good book to fall asleep to

I m now in my third week of cold/ cough nothing t do with central heating I don't have it and haven't used any heating yet so not that
I don't use anything but Olbas oil for blocked nose and paracetamol when I felt ill at first onset
All cough medicines on sale are pointless so I m led to understand although I must admit Buttercup would be my choice if I did buy any but I m just waiting for it to subside it does seem a really stubborn strain though

Mine started with a hot, sneezing streaming nose all night and next day, and now I have a non-stop tickly cough which is exhausting me. I have been sipping an infusion of lemon & ginger tea bag, Manuka honey, squeezed fresh lemon, and fresh grated ginger in hot water. It tastes lovely, but only works for a few minutes. I'll add whisky tonight. I'll even try the pepper and honey concoction - ANYthing !

That's good...at least one of us is feeling better.I think that Paracetamol is helping me, also honey and lemon in hot water.

Thanks for all the suggested. Various remedies tried and tested and only two had any effect.

The first were Potters Chesty Cough thingmies. I think these worked to a certain extent because the actual sucking helped stop the cough reflex for a while and there was some sort of foul tasting substance in them that seemed to help loosen things

And I invested in a humidifier which I took into the bedroom at night and the living areas by day. So yes, steam has helped. If I had a bad 'do' I'd lean into the stream and inhale. Yes, steaming water plus things in a bowl is one way, but I couldn't be getting up in the middle of the night, going downstairs, boiling a kettle, etc. so the humidifier was there when neeeded.

Still coughing but at least it's not as painful any more, I'm sleeping better and energy levels returning slowly.

Have you tried inhaling Friars Balsam put in a bowl of steaming hot water and putting your head over it with a towel over your head to contain the steam?
Also put Vick on the soles of your feet and cover with socks.

DH makes the most wonderful hot toddy as follows:
Tablespoon or two of lemon juice in bottom of tumbler
A generous teaspoon of honey(Leaving the teaspoon in glass so that glass does not break when you)
Top up with hot water)
Finish up with a very good slug of whisky and stir well.

Sit with head over the steam so that you can inhale it and sip until it is gone. Have another when it is felt to be necessary (until you -lose consciousness- have a good sleep.)

DH says that the more you have the less you care!

(DH has been known to keep this going with paracetemol and aspirin but I could not possibly recommend this. )

Our family use therapeutic grade essential oils so have not suffered like this for a very long time. When/if we feel the scratchy throat, runny nose at the back of the throat we revert to my home made 'medicinal honey' and let that trickle down the throat at regular intervals. We also use other oils in different ways and it works!

nelliemoser is right about adding moisture to the warm house, when we have a shower it's lovely, no cough for about an hour afterwards, as the bathroom is all steamed up.

Last winter when I had the cough I asked my Dr. if it could be whooping cough, I never had it as a child. Sometimes it made me throw up. Many older people around here had it. He said it could well be, he wasn't sure.

Lots of commiserations with all the coughers - mine is just beginning to subside after about 5 weeks - time for a DGC to give me another I feel .

Dont blame the central heating for drying out the air. When the air outside is cold it becomes very dry.

It is not actually the central heating that causes the dry air. Don't turn the heating off to stop the air being dry it will make it worse.
Keep the central heating on and get some extra moisture into your warm rooms. Hang up your wet washing in the living room.

Mine is back, with a sore throat! Mine also varies - sometimes tickly, sometimes the other sort!

We both joined the 'cough club' a couple of weeks ago, and the thought of a 90 day cough is
Worse at night and then takes a while to clear in the mornings, I take honey in my tea and have two big mugs of it with breakfast.Take paracetamol during the late morning with a mug of hot blackcurrant juice.At night have a spoonful of Benylin which does make you drowsy ( although we cough all night long anyway.Waaaaaaaah.)

One of the reasons a dry cough wont clear is because of central heating, theres no moisture in the air, its a dry heat, try putting bowls of water under the radiators to put moisture in the air.

Buttercup syrup tastes lovely!

I have had a thought about this cough. I wonder if I/we have had a return of Whooping Cough. I know more than one older person who has. The stuff I read suggests this can happen. our immune system lessens as we get older. I had it as a small child.
Where are our medics?

I take Covonia cough medicine and Hills Balsam cough pastilles. And plenty of liquids e.g. fruit juice. I also take anti histamines and increase my asthma inhalers. Don't go out in the cold unless essential.

We've all had the cough here too and have only just recovered. SIL who lives in Scotland says it is called the 90 day cough where she is and it did last about that long. Bad news, DGD started coughing again yesterday. She was the one who first brought it home.
Remembered a tip given when DD had whooping cough as a child. Make a syrup by steeping sliced swede or it might have been turnip overnight in some sugar. The juice created did help her cough. Will have to try that for DGD.

I take honey with propolis when I'm in Portugal, where I can buy it ready mixed over the counter. (Well actually from the market stall of the Bee Man.)
Here I either bring some propolis with me or buy it from a health food shop and drip five or six drops onto half a spoonful of honey and eat it without letting the propolis touch the sides of the spoon. The weird way of eating it isn't compulsory but it makes the spoon much easier to wash up.
It's a strange taste, not exactly horrible, in fact I don't mind it at all now, but it is probably a bit like your pepper drink, not something you would want repeat in a hurry.
The health food shop version has advice of the dosage on the bottle.

Propolis is antiviral and can stop a cough/cold in its tracks if taken early enough. It might help yours clear up quicker.

I remember having a cough remedy containing oil of squills. This is many years ago. It also contained ipepequana but that won't be the right spelling.

If found this online

"Squill is a cardiotonic similar to digitalis. It also has been used in hair tonics to treat seborrhea and dandruff, as a cancer remedy, and as a rodenticide."

RATS!

I remember my mother giving us syrup of squill for coughs. Can't remember whether it was any good! I'd never seen a squill until we started walking the Pembrokeshire coast path. They are all over the place. I find an infusion of fresh ginger and honey useful for coughs. I suppose the effect is the same as your black pepper Anya.

Squill could have been a small sea creature for all I knew.

Brickie's brew sized.

anya that sounds plausible but how big was the mug? A small bone china tea one or a big brickies' brew beaker?

Nellie thanks for the info. Glad it's pretty, Squill is such a peculiar word I think. For some reason I imagined it a hot Mediterranean plant rather than blustery Angelsey

It does seem to be doing the rounds, doesn't it? I normally shrug off cold quite quickly but this one is horrendous.

Just tried this....and I had over an hour cough free!

Put one level tsp of course ground black pepper in a mug. Fill with hot water. Add 1-2 tbsp honey and leave to mash for 15 minutes.

Strain and drink.

It's a bit feisty, but I had 90 minutes cough free. Now, can I stand drinking it again???