(OT) Tip for those who have the nasty cough

[Guest guest]

For those of us who are battling the flu / pneumonia / WHATEVER is

in the air these days, here is a tip to help ease the coughing

WITHOUT relying on medication.

If you have a heating pad, now is the time to haul it out and turn

it on! Place it on the couch and find a couple of comfy pillows.

Get the heating pad as warm as you can stand it (with me, it's

currently medium heat). Go put the kettle on while it's warming up.

Prepare your favourite hot drink (preferably something with a little

bit of caffeine, but not totally necessary ... it just helps open up

airways faster). Take it to the couch. Make yourself comfy in a

semi-upright position (kinda like that comfy 45 degree angle that

hospital style beds go to ... now you know the reason for the

pillows). Make sure the heating pad is situated by the small of

your back, as that is where it is most effective. Sip your drink

slowly and start taking deeper breaths.

Stay on the heating pad for as long as you can stand it. I stay on

mine almost all day. All the heat helps open up air passages which

minimizes the coughing (thus sparing our poor throats!)

Off to the couch again!

Kara

P.S. When making your hot drink, avoid dairy as much as possible, as

this will have the reverse effect -- it makes you cough MORE ack!

[Guest guest]

>here is a tip to help ease the coughing

> WITHOUT relying on medication.

On my worst night, I had to sleep in this position, propped up on about 5

pillows. One thing that helped the sinus pain was one of those sinus

hot/cold packs. On the bad pain days, I used it warm, but now it feels great

cool for a few minutes every hour.

> Off to the couch again!

Hubby is now sick, so the 2 of us are in the bedroom most of today, and the

kid in *his* room, all 3 of us hacking away. I feel like hanging a

Quarrantine sign over our front door!

I have a schedule drawn up and hanging on a kitchen cabinet for all our

various antibiotics, decongestants, and pain/fever relievers. It's a regular

hospital ward over here.

> P.S. When making your hot drink, avoid dairy as much as possible,

One of the beauties of using rice milk and soy cheeses - no excess mucous

production.

Sue in NJ