Any tips for coughing and phlegm..feeling rough

[pippapipps]

Started with a very sore throat last Saturday evening with a feeling of being congested blocked nose etc
Wasn't too bad until Wednesday when the coughing started..worse in the evening and through the night so getting hardly any sleep
Since Wednesday I have a completely blocked nose, cough is dry but I have phlegm I can feel my lungs and chest blocked but I can't bring it up whatever I do
Ribs are sore from coughing..tried loads of ginger lemon honey tea, rinsing with salt water, Vicks, hot water, nothing helping and worried I might need antibiotics but hey it's the weekend and can't get a doctor appointment anyway
Tips please 🙏🏻

Have you done a covid test? I had all these symptoms and tested positive.

@Hipnotised hi yes I did one yesterday it was negative

If you have phlegm and blocked lungs/chest then you don't have a dry cough you have what's known as a productive or chesty cough. Make sure you have the right cough medicine. A dry cough one will aim to prevent or suppress the coughing, a chesty one will help with expelling it.

Drinks lots (to help thin it out so easier to expel), move about more rather than sit/lie down and use an expectorant. My DD has the same illness and the majority of time she coughs it up is when she's moving.

I have had a very sore throat since Tuesday and a dry cough, nose not blocked so far and only tiny amounts of phlegm. I am currently holding a travel mug of boiling water with the slot meant for drinking directly under my nose so that I breath the steam in. It seems to be helping the cough a bit.

get some menthol crystals from the chemist and put some in a bowl of boiling water and inhale - it really helps!

Sleep propped up with as many pillows as possible. Eg 3 under head and one under chest. Try and sleep on your front.

Honey, squeezy ginger and lemon, steam inhalation and Vicks.

Try and get some sleep and hack up as much as you can in the morning/ before bed.

Give yourself a big cuddle and have a cry.

I’ve had this horrible bronchitis thing twice in the last 12 months. Do you have a young child?

Menthol crystals work miracles in this house !!

Pineapple also helps to thin mucus. There's an enzyme, bromelain (?), that breaks it up. I was sceptical, but on a friend's recommendation I tried it and I think it helped. They said get one of those Pineapple processing tools and the are amazing, 2 mins to dismantle one!

You need a chesty/mucous cough medicine containing Guaifenesin. Like Benylin mucous cough, there's a night time one that helps sleep. You need to loosen off that phlegm on your chest or you will end up on abx.

Thanks to everyone for the helpful advice..I'm currently sat up in bed sipping a mug of warm water with honey my throat has become a bit tickly no when I cough..I can deal with that it's just the chest/lungs feeling of being blocked and omg my sore ribs
I will be trying some of these suggestions..menthol crystals never heard of them nor think I've seen them in the chemist but I will seek them out if I can
I've got two pillows and a v pillow.. I have asthma and generally like to be raised up in bed .. x

You can always call 111 too get out of hours GP to prescribe antibiotics

Get some night nurse for the nights - it makes you sleep better which really helps recovery when you're ill!

Also if your throat is very sore, get the sore throat spray (think it's called Chloraseptic spray)

Everyone in the house except me has this virus now and it is hideous

Hope you get better soon!

Stay away from tea or coffee with milk as dairy is mucus producing, also cheese, yoghurt etc

You're following your asthma plan aren't you? Esp reliever

My 12yo has this, and also has asthma. She's was given steroids and antibiotics for it on Thursday 😔 doctor said the ventolin inhaler won't be effective while she has it as the cough irritates so much the airways are effectively too closed for the inhaler to work effectively.

I'd give 111 a call see if they can prescribe anything to help. It's worked quickly for her.

Speak to Pharmacist, the good stuff you need is behind the counter.

Sounds exactly like me and I have Covid.

This was me last weekend. I am also asthmatic and could not get rid of the cough, despite both Salbutamol and Flutiform through a spacer. I felt dreadful and realised l had a chest infection. On Monday morning, I rang my surgery and had a telephone call with a doctor about an hour later. He prescribed antibiotics and steroids and I am almost completely better now - still getting tired easily and still have a bit of a cough and get breathless easily. Chest infections and asthma can be serious and should be taken seriously. My advice would be to get medical advice asap.

Thank you everyone 🙏🏻 still the same today ribs and lungs sore from the relentless coughing and the annoying tickle in my throat starts it off
I have been taking the blue inhaler for the last two days and started back on the brown inhaler this morning

My ears are a bit blocked too I'm certainly very congested, just did another covid test and that was negative again

I will ring the GP surgery Monday morning see what they say or even if I could be seen..I'd hate to take antibiotics if I didn't need them
Last night again I was up choking coughing couldn't sleep..took inhaler, hot water, Vicks on chest , inhaled steam..none of them really helped and my nose is completely blocked can't really smell anything now
I'll soldier on seems there's quite a few of us here suffering

Are you getting a fever and/or chills? If so then please contact your GP or out of hours centre. My DD had your symptoms (especially the blocked lungs) with added fever and she was diagnosed with pneumonia in A&E today. Hope you start to feel better soon.

@LittleGreenDragons Hi Thank you 🙏🏻 I hope you're daughter recovers very soon
I don't have a fever or chills..I actually had pneumonia about 2.5 years ago and it came on very sudden one night with breathlessness a horrible scary feeling of not being able to breathe..at that point I'd had a prolonged cold for a few weeks..can't remember if I felt as I do now though.

I have been checking my temperature and will look out for those symptoms 🙏🏻

Urgh I'll join you with this horrible cough thing. I'm nearly a week in started with losing my voice then hacking cough which I've now had for 6 days and I'm up again in middle of the night coughing up. Nearly being sick with it and gunk coming up. I'm soooo tired though. At a loss what else do to make me feel any better.

@thekingfisher hi sis 👋 no sleep for me again with the coughing I'm actually like a worn out zombie at this stage I can't function
I have to go downstairs when it gets bad in the night I worry I'm waking up the whole of next door.. my throat is raw from the coughing it's just bloody relentless..

Glycerin cough syrup is the best one as it coats the throat. Boots have a blackcurrant one. Some cough syrups are bad for asthmatics. You may need steroids rather than antibiotics especially if you have not been using your preventer.