Coughing

[blastomom]

The good new is it no longer looks like ds and I have strep throat (fevers broke and noses started to run). Bad news is that I've been coughing so hard that I keep throwing up. I have this fear of coughing myself into pre-term labour like a friend of the family did (you may have heard about her "Baby Born in Toilet" story that made national news a few years back) so I've been trying to drink tea and suck on nasty coughdrops and have even resorted to Chloraseptic spray to try and controll the coughing. Any other suggestions?

[queencubilon]

If it is from chest congestion, try some Mucinex.

I know it seems odd, but Mucinex will thin out your mucous and it will make your coughs more productive, which will lessen the amount of congestion in your chest/throat which will decrease the amount of coughing you "need" to do.

Or is it the kind of tickle cough that is just from the back of your throat? Then I would suggest ice chips or popsicles to moisten and numb your throat.

I just went through a bout of bronchitis not too long ago, so I feel your pain. My stomach muscles started to hurt so much from coughing! I hope you feel better soon!

Amy, mom to: Katie 8-8-99, Alexis 12-27-01, Sarah 9-16-04 and one more....Oscar Robert arriving 1-9-07 via c-section.

[blastomom]

Yeah, it's that throat-tickle thing, not the thick phlem kind. Actually, the tickle doesn't seem to always have to be there for me to go into a wracking coughing fit. The ice thing seems to work the best, and warm tea is helping as well. Thanks!

[Ahappymel]

I buy a homeopathic cough syrup by Boiron called "Chestal" that works really well for that tickly/hard to settle down (esp at night) kind of cough.

[janerose]

Hey, Jennifer! I've got the same thing. We've also had a cold here over the last week or so and I'm pretty sure mine is turning into bronchitis. I've had it a couple times before & that's sure what this feels like.

I spoke with the OB this morning & all he recommended was moist air (shower or humidifier), salt gargles, sleeping elevated (mine is worse when laying down), and OTC cough medicine. When I had it before I used an Albuterol inhaler, but I don't imagine that's OK when you're preggie....

Hope you're feeling better soon!

Blessings,
Holly

[blastomom]

Hey Holly,
I gave in and took a couple of doses of OTC cough syrup (can't remember exactly what it was but my OB's office gave me the green light) to get me through the past couple of days. I had already tried absolutely everything else and I have to say that it really helped. I had reached the point where I was giving myself pretty severe BH contractions and the muscles on either side of my upper belly were just completely shot (though I guess it was a good labour warm-up ) and hubby was ready to take me in to the ER. I was certain I would end up with bronchitis, or worse, but today I'm feeling 1000x better today. Good luck with your nasties, I hope it passes soon!

[janerose]

Thanks! I'm glad you're feeling better. Yeah, the BH are real stinkers. I'm getting so sore down under my belly, near my pelvis from all the coughing.

So I went to the pharmacy, picked some stuff out, then took it up to the pharmacist & she looked all the ingredients up in her book and cleared it as OK for pregnancy. I took some generic Nyquil cough syrup when I got home and was actually able to sleep for 4 hour straight without coughing! Yippie! We also picked up a vaporizer which I've been standing over with a towel over my head about once every hour or so. Between the two it's a lot better. Oh, and I asked about the albuterol inhaler at the pharmacy too. The pharmacist said they are safe for pregnant women, so that made me feel better. I have a history of allergies/asthma/bronchitis and as much as I hate taking meds I'd rather take them than have an attack & compromise the baby's 02 level or put myself into preterm labor coughing so hard.

Time to go dose myself with some more cough syrup and hit the sack.

Blessings,
Holly