Seeking for magical remedies against cough

Ah, that is very little indeed, now that makes more sense.

I do have one magical remedy for you:

Get a live, virgin chicken, behead it on the street, roll around naked in its blood while chanting obsessively in a dead language (Latin will do, but something more obscure like Akkadian would be better). Take breaks with the chanting to cackle as loud as you possibly can, while looking passers-by in the eyes as intensely as you can. Other animal noises are OK too. Do this for as long as you can.

Now, this won't cure your cough, but you'll be immediately admitted into a psychiatric hospital and put on stuff so strong you'll soon forget you even have a throat, let alone a cough.
 
Alexko said:
Ah, that is very little indeed, now that makes more sense.

I do have one magical remedy for you:

Get a live, virgin chicken, behead it on the street, roll around naked in its blood while chanting obsessively in a dead language (Latin will do, but something more obscure like Akkadian would be better). Take breaks with the chanting to cackle as loud as you possibly can, while looking passers-by in the eyes as intensely as you can. Other animal noises are OK too. Do this for as long as you can.

Now, this won't cure your cough, but you'll be immediately admitted into a psychiatric hospital and put on stuff so strong you'll soon forget you even have a throat, let alone a cough.
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While tempting, I do have a feeling it might negatively affect my plans to specialize in psychiatric care. On the other hand, what could be better way to understand your patients than to actually live their experience? o_O
Also considering it's below zero outside, it might make the cough a lot worse even if I forget it
 
Alexko said:
Below zero? Meh, you're Finnish, surely you're used to worse!
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In small doses of course, like "swimming" in snow but there's usually sauna involved too. Knowing Finland, no-one would be alarmed and call in the meds before I'd gotten even worse cough
 
“hard” cough with mucus that is difficult to cough up?

I would have thought you would not want something to inhibit the cough action (which the recommendation of codine was said to do) if you have mucus that is not easy to cough up. I would have thought you would want to encourage coughing, with some additive to help lossen the mucus, i.e. an expectorant.
 
tangey said:
“hard” cough with mucus that is difficult to cough up?

I would have thought you would not want something to inhibit the cough action (which the recommendation of codine was said to do) if you have mucus that is not easy to cough up. I would have thought you would want to encourage coughing, with some additive to help lossen the mucus, i.e. an expectorant.
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The cough & mucus isn't the problem here, I'm used to it, the fact that coughing hurts like hell due reasons described is the problem.
 
gargle a lot of salt water through the day and before sleeping. that seems to be the most normal remedy for most mouth and throat ailments.
boil some hot water, put in thermos.
pour lots of salt into cup
add thermos water to fully melt it all
fill with lots of cold water
gargle
rinse and repeat everyday throughout the day.
 
Jeez man, get better. Coughing is useful as it stops a person from getting pneumonia. The cough seems like a problem since it should not be the state you live your life in. Often it is a sign of something else, but you already said you had asthma which often causes that. People in the position you describe often become addicted to medication so getting to the root cause would be beneficial.
 
Sxotty said:
Jeez man, get better. Coughing is useful as it stops a person from getting pneumonia. The cough seems like a problem since it should not be the state you live your life in. Often it is a sign of something else, but you already said you had asthma which often causes that. People in the position you describe often become addicted to medication so getting to the root cause would be beneficial.
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The root cause to my cough is asthma combined with smoking & weed, not much I can do about it when quitting smoking (or weed for that matter) isn't an option for me atm (without going into too much details, smoking even with all the negatives helps me against constant itching from atopic eczema (yay for another incurable condition) and weed seems to keep my mind intact for now (don't want to take the SSRI-route which still seems to be the go-to answer for anything depression related in Finland)

I'm not really worried about the cough due reasons above, I'm fully aware of potential addiction to stronger painkillers but currently I'd be willing to risk it, since the pain in my side is what it is. Unsuprisingly going to 2nd doctor didn't help really, she just told me to take maximum allowed dosage of Burana (ibuprofen) and Panadol (paracetamol) for few 5 days or until the pain is gone
 
I think smoking when you have asthma is a recipe for disaster. And smoking when you have eczema might help the symptoms, but it might make the eczema worse since it causes and reinforces inflammation processes in the body. And ibuprofen and paracetamol are really not good for your liver and kidneys if taken for a long time at max dose.

I know a few people with atopic dermatitis who were able to improve their conditions or even get rid of it by changing their diet. A friend of mine for example had really bad atopic dermatitis for years when we were in school and he was able to get rid of it by not eating dairy products for a couple of years. He found out by chance.

I don't know if you tried that before, but if I were you I would try to adjust my diet and see if it helps. For example a couple of days without dairy products, then without meat, then without eggs, then without flour-based products, then without alcohol, then without vegetables and fruit and so on. And you might try the opposite, a few days just dairy products, just meat, just vegetables.

Another thing to watch out for is mold, this might cause or worsen eczema. Or try a different washing agent. Or a different deodorant. Or a different toothpaste.

I think the important thing is never to give up and keep on experimenting.

Does your condition get better when you are away from home? If yes, try to find out what you are doing differently.

I guess you went to see a dermatologist, but of course not all are equally qualified. If you have not already been, you may want to go to a university clinic and see a dermatologist from the dermatology department. I don't know how it is in Finland, but here in Germany they usually do outpatient treatment and they are usually more up-to-date on therapy, procedures and medication.

Anyway, I hope you get better.
 
Sounds like carbon particles. Not an expert but there should be ways not to expose your throat to those or smoke at all while still getting the "fix" .
 
Cheers for the tips, the eczema isn't too bad compared to what it was in my teenage and early 20s, usually just putting
N00b said:
I think smoking when you have asthma is a recipe for disaster. And smoking when you have eczema might help the symptoms, but it might make the eczema worse since it causes and reinforces inflammation processes in the body. And ibuprofen and paracetamol are really not good for your liver and kidneys if taken for a long time at max dose.

I know a few people with atopic dermatitis who were able to improve their conditions or even get rid of it by changing their diet. A friend of mine for example had really bad atopic dermatitis for years when we were in school and he was able to get rid of it by not eating dairy products for a couple of years. He found out by chance.

I don't know if you tried that before, but if I were you I would try to adjust my diet and see if it helps. For example a couple of days without dairy products, then without meat, then without eggs, then without flour-based products, then without alcohol, then without vegetables and fruit and so on. And you might try the opposite, a few days just dairy products, just meat, just vegetables.

Another thing to watch out for is mold, this might cause or worsen eczema. Or try a different washing agent. Or a different deodorant. Or a different toothpaste.

I think the important thing is never to give up and keep on experimenting.

Does your condition get better when you are away from home? If yes, try to find out what you are doing differently.

I guess you went to see a dermatologist, but of course not all are equally qualified. If you have not already been, you may want to go to a university clinic and see a dermatologist from the dermatology department. I don't know how it is in Finland, but here in Germany they usually do outpatient treatment and they are usually more up-to-date on therapy, procedures and medication.

Anyway, I hope you get better.
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My eczema is mostly fine* these days, medication too, but the skin still itches easily and I doubt that can ever go completely away. Used to be a lot worse in my teens and 20's until I got to test out new lotion before it's allowed on the market, Protopic (tacrolimus) is as close to miracle cure as you can get, few side effects like burning/itching at first but tolerable and it goes away in few days (also Aspirin helps against them), and no negative long term effects like cortiosones have.

Thanks for the tips anyhow :)

* face is the worst, it comes and goes, but not whole body like it used to
 
If you want to do the elimination diet it takes way longer than a couple days to really know, but that is actually a very good idea. Unfortunately the advice is not necessarily the best. The problem is that if you have issues with two or more foods than taking one category out of diet at a time can fail to catch it. I had a similar issue that I had an allergy test that had a negative result. Then I spent a lot of time confused and doctors were not much help. Eventually I was reading on NIH site and saw a paper saying the test that I had was not recommended because it did not work. So I cut out the offending item and was good but the test sort of tricked me into ignoring that option. It was part of a large batch of allergy tests otherwise I would have looked into it before. Best of luck and do consider trying to stop smoking :)
 
Kaotik said:
The cough & mucus isn't the problem here, I'm used to it, the fact that coughing hurts like hell due reasons described is the problem.
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Understand that you are suffering like hell with each cough, I have been there.
But don't underestimate the problems you can get if you have mucus that can not be lifted. That could result in significant respiratory issues. I extremely foolish decided one time when I had a cough, that I would just not cough. For several weeks I just made the absolutel minimum throat clearing effect. I eventually ended up pretty much locking up my breathing each time when I did end up coughing up vials of sputum at a time. It was the scareist thing I ever had.

I know the standard thing with rib issues is to just let them heal eventually themselves, but given the amount of pain you are in, is there any thought that it might be beneficial in your case to bind your chest abit to limit the issue when you do have to cough ?
 
tangey said:
Understand that you are suffering like hell with each cough, I have been there.
But don't underestimate the problems you can get if you have mucus that can not be lifted. That could result in significant respiratory issues. I extremely foolish decided one time when I had a cough, that I would just not cough. For several weeks I just made the absolutel minimum throat clearing effect. I eventually ended up pretty much locking up my breathing each time when I did end up coughing up vials of sputum at a time. It was the scareist thing I ever had.

I know the standard thing with rib issues is to just let them heal eventually themselves, but given the amount of pain you are in, is there any thought that it might be beneficial in your case to bind your chest abit to limit the issue when you do have to cough ?
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I could get it up and out (well most of it anyway) if I could cough normally :) Could try the binding, but doctor was against it because of the asthma & mucus


Sxotty said:
If you want to do the elimination diet it takes way longer than a couple days to really know, but that is actually a very good idea. Unfortunately the advice is not necessarily the best. The problem is that if you have issues with two or more foods than taking one category out of diet at a time can fail to catch it. I had a similar issue that I had an allergy test that had a negative result. Then I spent a lot of time confused and doctors were not much help. Eventually I was reading on NIH site and saw a paper saying the test that I had was not recommended because it did not work. So I cut out the offending item and was good but the test sort of tricked me into ignoring that option. It was part of a large batch of allergy tests otherwise I would have looked into it before.
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You think it could get rid of the itching from atopic eczema too? Due allergies I can't do any fish (or rather, anything living in sea/lakes), nuts (including almonds), certain fruits etc to begin with so in theory trying elimination could be easier for me since I'm already avoiding tons of stuff. The hardest part would be willpower I suppose, my current "diet" would probably make any consultant/expert weep :oops:
I'm on a clear road towards being the perfect example of "do what I say, not what I do" :runaway:

Best of luck and do consider trying to stop smoking :)
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I've promised to (really) try if I ever get a son or daughter :D
 
Kaotik said:
You think it could get rid of the itching from atopic eczema too? Due allergies I can't do any fish (or rather, anything living in sea/lakes), nuts (including almonds), certain fruits etc to begin with so in theory trying elimination could be easier for me since I'm already avoiding tons of stuff. The hardest part would be willpower I suppose, my current "diet" would probably make any consultant/expert weep :oops::runaway:
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It is certainly worth a try. I guess it depends on how much monotony you can stand. I can stand a lot so I can eat the same thing all the time if I need to. A lot of folks find that maddening.
 
Oscillating PEP should reduce the thickness of the mucus so should make it easier to cough up. Gravity can assist as well, but doctors don't really like it much any more because puking up into your lungs is a wee bit dangerous.
 
Damn it, sorry I missed this one! As a guy who had his sternum cut in half and sewn back together I can totally relate to the coughing pain, my deepest sympathies. I had no idea what pain was until then.

The only way I made it through the first few weeks was by clutching a pillow very tightly to my chest anytime I'd cough, it really did help minimize the pain as it kept the straining down. You may want to try the same with your rib.

On the coughing, just use will power. I've been in training for 36 years now, and I STILL have trouble with it. ;)
 
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