Bronchitis - please help, any home remedies?

[lotsofstripes]

I’ve had it about two weeks. GP gave me a course of antibiotics but did say they might not help if it’s viral.
I physically cannot stop coughing, I was awake for about four hours last night coughing I’d say every two seconds the whole time! Even walking down the stairs leaves me really breathless and I have to sort of pant to get my breath back.

What can I be doing at home to speed up the recovery process? Any suggestions appreciated

Try this:
A tablespoon of turmeric. A cube of ginger finely sliced (no need to peel it, a heaped teaspoon of honey, a squeeze of lemon juice and three cloves, all mixed with about 300ml of boiling water and left to brew for five minutes. Stir well before drinking as the turmeric settles and you need to drink it as it's the strongest anti inflammatory.
I use it in spring when I get chronic asthma from tree pollen and my entire chest, throat, nose and eyes swell up. It's more effective than any over the counter remedy, so it may help reduce inflammation and irritation for bronchitis too. It doesn;t taste great but it does work.

You could also try making tea with fresh sage leaves and ginger, sweetened with honey.

Are you prescribed any inhalers? Even if you are not asthmatic, your GP might consider a short-term inhaler prescription.

In the meantime, I would say: steam (get the bathroom steamy using a hot shower, or lean over a bowl of hot water); an oil infuser (plug in is simplest) with oils that are soothing for coughs (basil is good I think, and there are others); be as propped up as you can at night. As long as you're over the fever stage, a sauna can help. Be extremely careful as codeine is addictive, but if your dr/pharmacist agrees then codeine will suppress a cough a little, and might help just at night. You can get it in a linctus, but you can only use it for a limited time and it can make you very drowsy.

cutting out dairy can help reduce the amount of mucous you're producing

Thank you so much afternoonspray I’ve been having honey and lemon in water which has been helping and I’m about to cook up a batch of your lovely concoction.

Flathead no inhalers - I did think that when I searched for other mumsnet posts on bronchitis as quite a few mentioned being prescribed inhalers but my GP didn’t say anything about them. Perhaps I will have to ask as the breathlessness really is ridiculous, I couldn’t walk to the shop at the end of the road without gasping for air earlier I do have an oil burner thing so I’ll try that!

The thought of no cheese makes me sad as it’s my number one comfort food but I’ll seriously do anything to shake this!

Does anyone know if it’s normal to feel so breathless? I’m finding it hard to even make a cup of tea without being short of breath

I'd be recontacting the GP now. Ask for an urgent appt for this afternoon..

OP - you might need an inhaler or two to see you through the worst of the bronchitis. I have to use them during tree pollen season and when I run out the tumeric infusion thing is the only thing that helps at all, so get some down you! But do ask for inhalers. The brown steroid one is anti inflammatory and the blue one will help you breathe if you actually can;t catch your breath.