The actual flu only lasted a few days after my return from Way Out West, but the nasty, persistent, productive cough lingered on. And on. And on...
"When are you going to the doctor with that?" asked Bobbi.
Yesterday morning, a particularly deep cough left me feeling like I'd pulled an oblique muscle in my tummy, so I went to the doc-in-the-box, or rather the nurse-practitioner-in-the-box, to be told what I already knew: I had a cough. No fever, no raging infection, just irritated lungs and a case of acute bronchitis.
I got a bottle of cough syrup and a prescription for one of those inhaler things like the frail kid had in school and went home. And here we are.
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21 comments:
That steroid inhaler thingy worked pretty good, last time I had a bad bout of bronchitis.
I'm glad when my friends have folks looking out for them.
Only took three tries to get her to seek medical help. Or was it four?
Ooky? Is that, like, "sick as a monkey"?
You need to take care of yourself, you're the only Tam we have.
I've found brandy and OJ work nearly as well as codeine cough syrup, without the irritating copay.
Matt
St Paul
LOL, I was that frail kid.
In the words of Monty Python: "I Got Better".
I lied about my weight on my first driver's license ...I lied 10lbs Heavier!
Oh, those were the days!
When I had a cough as a kid, my folks gave me a cough syrup made up of bourbon, honey, and lemon juice. It worked quite well for the cough, and let you rest afterwards.
That's what I hate about the flu. It's not so much the three days of hellish nausea, fever-induced backaches and the inability to breathe. It's the month of not-so "getting better."
Hope you feel better soon.
I got exactly the same crap, had it for abouit 10 days now. Not going to the doc, but swilling some whiskey before bedtime is either helping or reducing my give-a-damn quotient. As Jimmy Rodgers sang about his TB in 1931 "You can take all the medicine you want, I'll take good liquor for mine." 'Course he was dead less than 2 years later.
Stock some over-the-counter, generic Robitussen. Just the bare essential variant. It'll help break up that crud. It contains the same stuff as musinex...only cheaper.
And you're $50 poorer for the deal. It suckles. Hope you're on the mend soon.
Back in the day, I would just switch to menthols for a couple weeks. Figured it was like cough drops for my lungs. it actually seemed to work, the menthol (A laboratory poison) seemed to kill whatever was causing my ooginess.
Aside: I have a friend who claims to have eaten "Eucalyptus nuts" he found under a tree while on vacation in Australia. "You could taste the raw, real eucalyptus!"
I didn't have the heart to tell him it was Koala bear poop.
Tam, you need to visit the desert.
I don't recommend people stay in CA, but a trip to Los Vegas or Phoenix is very inexpensive this time of year.
Or just turn up the thermostat to about 85 degrees with the humidifier off.
Yep, as others have observed, EtOH is a cough suppressant and a muscle relaxant in addition to its more obvious properties.
Just 'cause something's usually for fun doesn't mean it can't be medicine...
Stock some over-the-counter, generic Robitussen. Just the bare essential variant. It'll help break up that crud. It contains the same stuff as musinex...only cheaper.
Look at Chinamart for the store brand stuff, Mucus Relief, I think it's called. The drug is called guaifenesin, it's a decongestant. Drink a lot of water with it, it'll break up the junk in the lungs.
Consider the level of roughage in your diet.
Fiber comes in two major varieties, long-fiber that stays in the gut and moves . . stuff . . along the alimentary canal. Soluble fiber enters the blood stream and helps carry away wastes and toxins from the cells. Both are necessary.
Apple skins are great for soluble fiber. Oatmeal is pretty good, as is psyllium husk (the part of Metamucil that isn't sugar and flavors).
And fiber helps the body manage excess mucus.
Another source is the sinus system. Either a neti-wash with a neti-pot (flush higher and lower, on both left and right sides), or the wimpy almost-ran version, commercial saline mist. Non-medicated saltwater flushes off the excess mucus and any gunk and pathogens trapped therein. And then it all comes out in the end.
Hot decaff green tea, with honey is good. Adding the lemon juice is better.
For effect, I kind of like the equal parts Kahlua, brandy, and hot water.
And if you do the chicken soup thing, avoid the fat-free version like the plague.
Blessed be!
"You have acute bronchitis."
"Thanks doc, you're not so bad yourself."
ba-dum bump
try the veal
Switch to a non filtered menthol for a few days.
CIII
Slow down, I can't keep up,
Don't wanna cough my bronchi up!
Gotta get me to the quacks,
Lookin' for meds and feelin' OOky!
"Just 'cause something's usually for fun doesn't mean it can't be medicine..."
I'll drink to that.
Hey, I've got that too! The guy I caught it off says the cough will go away after three weeks. So we've got that to look forward to.
For what it's worth, today was my third trip to the dr since the trip. I've had 3 oral antibiotics (20 consecutive days of those) and two shots, and today I still have lung congestion and a persistent cough. Dr's diagnosis today? "you have a cough. Take some sudafed."
meh.
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