I'm writing this at 7 a.m. having had very little sleep because every time I lie down I have a coughing fit. I can get some sleep in a chair, but still wake ever hour or so coughing. Been to the E.R. twice came away with Mucinex and Codeine Robitussin. They also took Xrays. It not bad during the day when I'm standing. Anybody got any home remedies etc. that might help?
john
I've just had a week of this John and sympathise. In the end you wonder if there's any point in going to bed!
I've found the only thing that helps are constant drinks, keeping the air moist with a humidifier and having menthol lozenges to suck through the night. In fact I've found the latter most useful (but be careful you don't fall asleep with one in your mouth, I've done that!).
It sounds like you're in the States but at the moment there's a severe upper respiratory infection doing the rounds causing a bad and persistent cough. Because I fear the risk of a bacterial infection joining in, I've taken a course of broad spectrum antibiotics (penicillin) which does seem to have helped.
I also found that steam inhalation helped with a drop of menthol oil in the water (I used Obas oil).
If this continues and particularly if you spike a temperature or feel particularly unwell, I'd consult your physician.
It's miserable but hopefully short lived.
Newdawn
Make sure you do not have whooping cough
When I get to that point, I get a cup of hot water and mix a little cayenne pepper in it. It helps me more so than anything over the counter.
I have had bronchitis three times and I cough like crazy when I get any cold. i get tussionex from the doctor and it allows me to sleep at night. i call it my bottle of gold. They always give u the fourth degree if u ever have to see a new doctor when your doctor is away or you are out of town. it has a narcotic in it but I have to have it or I am up all night and I get sicker. I also steam myself every two hours with a large pan of boiling water and my nose /forehead under a hand towel. I use a netipot as well to clear my sinuses.
Rest and have a cup of warm water close by all day. It helps with the daytime coughing and avoids the constant need for cough drops. Sometimes I need a tsp of tussionex to get me thru the day two but try and use robitussin during the day. hope this is of some help. Good luck it weakens you so take extra care.
Here are a few home remedies: Tumeric tea ie hot water and half to 1 teaspoon of tumeric powder; chicken broth; sauna, the dry heat for about 30 mins; Friars balsam inhalation via a Nelsons inhaler is a very old remedy, inhaled 8 hourly. I have used it on patients with lung cancer and it provided some relief
Hope you are feeling better soon
I have been coughing since Christmas . Family had the cold but as usual I developed the dreaded "cough". This might sound crazy but I found that if I drink a swig or two of orange juice at night (I keep a small bottle near my bed) that this seems to stop the cough. Last year I went through the same "cough" and was given 3 rounds of levaquin which gave me horrible gastro problems. This time I am trying to wait it out and not take any "big" antibiotics. Apart from the "cough" I feel o'k, no high temp! This "cough" seems to be a yearly winter event with me.....even in sunny Florida "-)
Ooo, personally I'd be so wary of taking a fluoroquinolone like levaquin for something like this Joyce. I hope you don't need them again or your doctor can suggest an alternative that doesn't have the potential for such serious side effects.
Newdawn
I Will never take levaquin again! This was prescribed at a "walk-in" clinic here in Florida. When I got home to Canada my doctor was shocked, she said that penicillin was the most that she would have prescribed. Honestly I think the levaquin did more harm than good!! The gastro problems were awful!! I have decided that if this cough gets worse....I'm going home to Canada. I learned my lesson....no more "walk-in" clinic for me.
johnl wrote: I'm writing this at 7 a.m. having had very little sleep because every time I lie down I have a coughing fit. I can get some sleep in a chair, but still wake ever hour or so coughing.
Hi johnl: Your post brought back a memory from 2010 when I traveled to Turkey on vacation. I had a cough before I left and since was diagnosed with CLL in 2008 but never treated, I asked 2 different doctors if I should travel. They both wrote it off to a chest cold/virus and sent me on my way.
While in Turkey my coughing got much worse and I could not recline or sleep. We ended up coming home (at significantly more cost), only to be diagnosed with Whooping Cough, that was spreading around California at the time. I still wonder if I spread the epidemic to Turkey.
In 2013 while in a clinical trial I had 6 months of a mild dry non productive cough which I now believe was Pneumocystis jirovecii a fungal lung infection that only bothers immune compromised people, and does not show on chest Xrays.
See: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pneum...
Bottom line of this all is make certain to advocate for yourself and insist on seeing an infectious disease expert if the Emergency Room doctors can't treat it. You need someone that understands how to treat immune compromised patients- not ER doctors. Either of those lung problems can become life threatening if they are not treated correctly. The different forms of Pneumonia are one of the highest causes of death for CLL patients.
Len
When I get bronchitis, I sleep in a recliner and also rub a little Vick's vapor rub on the lymph nodes under each ear. I mix honey and cinnamon together ( 1 cup honey to 2 tablespoons honey) and take about a teaspoon to soothe my throat. I have also had some relief from Mucinex DM and when I get really bad I use a nebulizer with albuterol . Hope that gives you a few options to try.
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