My Crohn's and Colitis Blog » Cough Variant Asthma » Thank *YOU* to whoever mentioned using an expectorant!
Thank *YOU* to whoever mentioned using an expectorant!
Question:
The other night I was reading this ng and someone said that they do plain old Tussin to ease their cough variant ‘asthma’ so I figured what the heck since nothing else is working. Side note: I mentioned to my MD back in Dec that there feels like there’s a bunch of junk in my chest that needs to come out. He said, "No, I won’t give you an expectorant b/c you’ll just cough and cough and nothing will come up … you’ll just end up throwing up."
Well, the first thing you know to do is get RID OF that MD. What a load of baloney. Expectorant is a wonderful drug with an extremely high toxicity limit. You can take more of it than is in most ready-made cold preparations- if you get the plain expectorant ("tussin", which I think you have) you can take something like 400mg every four hours, I think? Anyway, that, and hydration at the same time, are the absolute keys to helping your type of problem. I also got very sick in january (and I do have asthma) with an awful bronchial infection with lots of gunk. Expectorant is one of the main things that helped me- and I was coughing lungballs (excuse the expression) up for weeks afterwards. I’m fine now. If I couldn’t have gotten that gunk up I think the infection would have gotten much worse. Often, a decongestant is good as well to shrink swelling which also helps gunk get out. I"m glad you finally found a good (and cheap!) solution! -Jenny
Response:
I had a stupid head cold in Dec and have been coughing ever since. I’ve been to my primary and several specialists and in the process have a 1 gal Ziplock bag FULL of Rx meds and a nebulizer I STILL had the cough. Nothing worked! All tests were neg for asthma. The other night I was reading this ng and someone said that they do plain old Tussin to ease their cough variant ‘asthma’ so I figured what the heck since nothing else is working. Side note: I mentioned to my MD back in Dec that there feels like there’s a bunch of junk in my chest that needs to come out. He said, "No, I won’t give you an expectorant b/c you’ll just cough and cough and nothing will come up … you’ll just end up throwing up." Well, I Took a dose of Tussen, jumped in a steamy shower and hacked my head off and ta-da! I feel better! Not totally better but I’m encouraged at least. Right now I have to go to work but I think I’ll just try drinking gobs of water all day and then I’ll do another dose and hit the shower again later this evening. Thanks folks! Ruth CM
Response:
- Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – I had a stupid head cold in Dec and have been coughing ever since. I’ve been to my primary and several specialists and in the process have a 1 gal Ziplock bag FULL of Rx meds and a nebulizer I STILL had the cough. Nothing worked! All tests were neg for asthma. The other night I was reading this ng and someone said that they do plain old Tussin to ease their cough variant ‘asthma’ so I figured what the heck since nothing else is working. Side note: I mentioned to my MD back in Dec that there feels like there’s a bunch of junk in my chest that needs to come out. He said, "No, I won’t give you an expectorant b/c you’ll just cough and cough and nothing will come up … you’ll just end up throwing up." Well, I Took a dose of Tussen, jumped in a steamy shower and hacked my head off and ta-da! I feel better! Not totally better but I’m encouraged at least. Right now I have to go to work but I think I’ll just try drinking gobs of water all day and then I’ll do another dose and hit the shower again later this evening. Thanks folks! Ruth CM
I’m glad it worked for you! It always seemed to help me when I had a cold. But – when I was finally diagnosed with some asthma, the doc, among other meds, prescribed the Guiafenesen tabs (same thing as Tussin) — but in 600 mg. doses (each tab). Really liquifies gunk in the tubes. I’m a believer. Good luck to you. – Hide quoted text — Show quoted text –
Response:
It may have been me, and glad it worked if it did. However, one should always be careful when assuming that something has "cured" them to whatever degree. We all have our ups and downs, and if a change in treatment immediately precedes an "up" then you may invalidly assume that the change was the cause of the improvement. It often takes weeks or months to tell if something is really effective. That said, expectorant usually works for me under similar circumstances. Like I said earlier, I use the Robitussin "Severe Congestion" liquid capsules, since I can’t find anything like the guiafenesen tablets OTC. I do find that anything containing a cough suppressant tends to be counter-productive. I suspect that the cough suppressant kills not only the cough but also small muscle motions that help to move the mucus along. So I only use a cough suppressant at night and only if I have the sort of thing that won’t let me sleep. – Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – I had a stupid head cold in Dec and have been coughing ever since. I’ve been to my primary and several specialists and in the process have a 1 gal Ziplock bag FULL of Rx meds and a nebulizer I STILL had the cough. Nothing worked! All tests were neg for asthma. The other night I was reading this ng and someone said that they do plain old Tussin to ease their cough variant ‘asthma’ so I figured what the heck since nothing else is working. Side note: I mentioned to my MD back in Dec that there feels like there’s a bunch of junk in my chest that needs to come out. He said, "No, I won’t give you an expectorant b/c you’ll just cough and cough and nothing will come up … you’ll just end up throwing up." Well, I Took a dose of Tussen, jumped in a steamy shower and hacked my head off and ta-da! I feel better! Not totally better but I’m encouraged at least. Right now I have to go to work but I think I’ll just try drinking gobs of water all day and then I’ll do another dose and hit the shower again later this evening. Thanks folks! Ruth CM
Response:
Thnk goodness you did not have CVA and/or asthma. Am hoping you feel better soon! Always, cloud – Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – I had a stupid head cold in Dec and have been coughing ever since. I’ve been to my primary and several specialists and in the process have a 1 gal Ziplock bag FULL of Rx meds and a nebulizer I STILL had the cough. Nothing worked! All tests were neg for asthma. The other night I was reading this ng and someone said that they do plain old Tussin to ease their cough variant ‘asthma’ so I figured what the heck since nothing else is working. Side note: I mentioned to my MD back in Dec that there feels like there’s a bunch of junk in my chest that needs to come out. He said, "No, I won’t give you an expectorant b/c you’ll just cough and cough and nothing will come up … you’ll just end up throwing up." Well, I Took a dose of Tussen, jumped in a steamy shower and hacked my head off and ta-da! I feel better! Not totally better but I’m encouraged at least. Right now I have to go to work but I think I’ll just try drinking gobs of water all day and then I’ll do another dose and hit the shower again later this evening. Thanks folks! Ruth CM
Response:
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