Problematic mucous & dry cough ..

[Vip1]

Hello, Dad's cough is now pretty mucousy, and dry at the same time. Both are frustrating/aggravating for him, in different ways.

For the mucous part - we try to do some mild chest tapping to encourage it out & I know that drinking good amounts of water is good for that too. Any ideas that have worked for you pls ..?

The dry cough is pretty exhausting for Dad.

He's taking simple linctus & some codeine lintus at night to help sleep. But the dry cough is quite persistent & so troubling for Dad. Again, any ideas of things to do / or foods etc to avoid ?

Thanks again for any thoughts, tips

Vip

[Unicorn3344]

hi Vip

My husband was prescribed carbocistene tablets which help to bring up the mucus.You should also speak to his oncologist or thoracic nurse and ask if there’s anything else he can have to help with his cough.Maybe he could have a nebuliser or even just fill a bowl with hot water and try and inhale the steam.Don’t be afraid to ask the oncologist or nurse for advice as I can understand that you want to make your dad feel more comfortable and it is horrible when you don’t know what to do and just feel helpless watching him suffer..I hope you can get some relief for him soon

[Vip1 in reply to Unicorn3344]

Thank you Unicorn for your good advice. Doing most of these things, aside from the steam which we restarted today. The aggravation my Dad has with both continues; it's tough & I'm hoping for some relief for him from these soon as it's exhausting for him !

If any further thoughts, please do share.

Thank you again

[GillBo]

I take antihistamine every day to help my cough. It has helped but not totally cured. Hope this helps.

[Vip1 in reply to GillBo]

Thank you GillBo, Dad's now taking these. Offers some relief for sure.

However, the dual problem with dry & mucous cough continues. Palliative care are involved , but it is very tricky for Dad and exhausting for him. Doing our best to support as best we can.

[RoyCastleHelpline Partner Ask the Nurse Roy Castle]

HI Vip1

Sorry to hear your dad continuous to have this troublesome mucous production.

This is the link to our booklet on 'Managing lung cancer symptoms', which you may have accessed already, but here it is in case: roycastle.org/app/uploads/2...

Although we have provided advice in previous posts, you may also want to get in contact with Asthma and Lung UK as they often deal with excess mucous production from respiratory diseases: 0300 222 5800

If nothing is working, it would be advisable to have another discussion with the oncologists. Hope your dad has some relief soon and you have been so very attentive to your dad.

Kind regards

The Roy Castle Support Team

0800 358 7200 Monday to Thursday 0900-1700 and Friday 0900-1600

[e-mail]

[Vip1 in reply to RoyCastleHelpline]

Thanks very much for this. Will contact the Asthha folk tomorrow too. Hopefully they'll provide some practical insights too.

[JanetteR57]

These are different types of cough and both irritating and exhausting. For the mucous, inhale over steam, drink hot drinks, suck boiled sweets and keep moving - sitting/lying still allows it to gather on the chest which takes more effort to cough up. for the dry cough, keeping lubricated with drinks is important. is he on any blood pressure meds like ACE inhibitors? I've recently been told by my respiratory consultant that they cause dry cough which can be tricky for those of us with lung issues. Could also be allergic response to pollen/weather? if he has inhalers, make sure the powder or whatever is going right into the lungs with a spacer rather than prompting cough by getting stuck in the throat area.

this information may help too. hope he gets some relief soon. physiotherapyforbpd.org.uk/...

physiotherapyforbpd.org.uk/...

[Vip1 in reply to JanetteR57]

Thank you again Janette. Good advice. Think we're doing all of this; will confirm tomorrow.

Blood pressure wise, that's a good point too. Will check

[Eglingham]

I was prescribed carbocisteine which was a god send. Fresh pineapple for the cough and sucking boiled sweets to keep the throat lubricated. I also found that having a hot lemsip in bed with a big dolop of honey in helped. Hope you get it sorted.

[Vip1 in reply to Eglingham]

Thanks Eglingham for the advice.

Any particular boiled sweets you find work best ?

Dad deson't like sweet stuff too much so hopefully it's a not too sweet !

Carbosisteine he's on & honey has been a godsend for sure. Will try the lemsips again with Dad, thanks.

[Eglingham in reply to Vip1]

Hi, glad your dad is on carbocisteine and yes honey is great. Any boiled sweets works and have you tried fresh pineapple? It has so many healing properties for the throat.Hope things are improving for him.

[JanetteR57 in reply to Vip1]

I find 'Halls Soothers' helpful - all flavours.... but I suspect any boiled sweet would do the same thing.

[Denzie]

I found that a bit of honey in hot tea helps. Honey has many antioxidants that help reduce inflammation that leads to coughing.