Chesty coughs

[johnblack]

This advice is to late for anyone who already has the chesty cough but one invaluable thing I have with me all year round is the Vicks First Defence nasal spray. This product has stopped no end of potential illnesses in their tracks for me. If you can catch it in time - as soon as you feel the first symptoms like a tickle in your throat - then it's a real blessing. There've been numerous times I was delegating work to others as I was certain the tickles or hoarseness I was feeling were precursors to a bad cold/chest infection (of which I am particularly susceptible due to my running/cycling activities) but a desperate spray of the Vicks First Defence has eradicated all symptoms for which I have always been very grateful.

It has to be said that it's not 100% effective in every case - I was too late with it this time last year and had one of those 100 day coughs - but everyone should add it to their medicine cabinets.

I have zero financial interest in Vicks or its owners - whoever they may be.

I'd second that, but add in the warning of how vile it tastes when it runs down the back of your throat.

 

[Red17]

I'll third it. Always keep a bottle at work and one in the house.

Boots own brand one seems to work as well

 

[ColinJ]

This advice is to late for anyone who already has the chesty cough but one invaluable thing I have with me all year round is the Vicks First Defence nasal spray. This product has stopped no end of potential illnesses in their tracks for me. If you can catch it in time - as soon as you feel the first symptoms like a tickle in your throat - then it's a real blessing. There've been numerous times I was delegating work to others as I was certain the tickles or hoarseness I was feeling were precursors to a bad cold/chest infection (of which I am particularly susceptible due to my running/cycling activities) but a desperate spray of the Vicks First Defence has eradicated all symptoms for which I have always been very grateful.

It has to be said that it's not 100% effective in every case - I was too late with it this time last year and had one of those 100 day coughs - but everyone should add it to their medicine cabinets.

I have zero financial interest in Vicks or its owners - whoever they may be.

Interesting - I'll give that a go!

I had two really nasty colds at the start of the year which kept me off the bike for a total of 5-6 weeks. I'd rather avoid that happening again.

 

[PaulB]

Interesting - I'll give that a go!

I had two really nasty colds at the start of the year which kept me off the bike for a total of 5-6 weeks. I'd rather avoid that happening again.

Please be aware though that if you have this product and are travelling to Iceland, leave it at home. Is it banned on flights? No but it will wreck your Vicks.

I'll get me coat shall I?

 

[ianbarton]

I had one that went on for months, even a visit to the docs failed to pick up on .....TB. The other sympton overlooked was temperature, I was sweating buckets at night and suffering incredible lethargy at times. The temperatures were a result of fighting infection I guess.
It's got to be rare tbf, but a persistent cough should be taken seriously.

My son had similar symptoms, but no cough. He was eventually diagnosed with TB after having fluid on one lung drained and then having an operation to remove some pockets of fluid in the pleura. Apparently, TB is common in his part of London.

He only got referred for an X Ray when he convinced the GP that his resting pulse rate of 80 wasn't normal for him (normally 40).

 

[alicat]

I'd second that, but add in the warning of how vile it tastes when it runs down the back of your throat.

Yegads, that is so true. Be careful when you take it.

 

[gbb]

My son had similar symptoms, but no cough. He was eventually diagnosed with TB after having fluid on one lung drained and then having an operation to remove some pockets of fluid in the pleura. Apparently, TB is common in his part of London.

He only got referred for an X Ray when he convinced the GP that his resting pulse rate of 80 wasn't normal for him (normally 40).

Sounds familiar. It was a terrible year, cough cough cough, then an attack of pleurisy, constant sudden lethargy and night sweats. Overlooked by my doctors, only diagnosed when my work called in the health authorities after several cases in the workforce, 6 months of medication and weekly blood checks, many many xrays, a couple scans, weekly eye tests, an attack of hives, a collapsed lung, fluid drained from the pleura with a sodding great needle, a bronchioscopy and permanent damage to the lung,....it spelled the of the end of cycling as I knew it at the time.
Partly my fault, i was too fit at the time and i managed to carry it.... but in line with the OP, a persistent chesty cough really really should be taken seriously.

 

[Yellow Fang]

The cough has gone now, but it took three weeks. I read somewhere it wasn't a good idea to exercise while suffering from a cold, because your body is already under stress. However, I wonder how true that is. At the first stage of a cold, you might be sneezing, a sore throat, shivers, etc. I would not suggest exercise while suffering from all that. Then if you are unlucky, it gets on your lungs and you're coughing up greenies for the next three weeks, but otherwise you don't feel too bad. I wonder whether exercising in that state does any harm. It would probably cause a fit of coughing when you stop, but otherwise...

 

[ColinJ]

The cough has gone now, but it took three weeks. I read somewhere it wasn't a good idea to exercise while suffering from a cold, because your body is already under stress. However, I wonder how true that is. At the first stage of a cold, you might be sneezing, a sore throat, shivers, etc. I would not suggest exercise while suffering from all that. Then if you are unlucky, it gets on your lungs and you're coughing up greenies for the next three weeks, but otherwise you don't feel too bad. I wonder whether exercising in that state does any harm. It would probably cause a fit of coughing when you stop, but otherwise...

Hmmm...

I had a similar problem on a local hill once. I'd had a very heavy cold for about a week and got back on my bike too soon after 'recovering'. In fact I was still very weak. I went into severe distress when trying to ride up the hill and realised that I was about to collapse so I dismounted, put my bike over a dry stone wall and then fell over the wall and collapsed unconscious into a pile of leaves on the other side! I woke up some time later drenched in sweat and shivering violently. I went home and back to bed. I left it a couple of weeks before trying again ...

 

[presta]

I read somewhere it wasn't a good idea to exercise while suffering from a cold

I used to get a cough for a couple of months or more after every cold, it took until I was in my 40s before I discovered I could avoid it by staying indoors until the cold had gone.

I've had four of the last seven holidays spoilt by getting colds, so this year I decided I was fed up of abandoning holidays prematurely just because of a cold, and carried on regardless. Sure enough, I came back with a hacking cough.

 

[twentysix by twentyfive]

Studies on the Boots version of the nasal spray for what it's worth:-

http://www.statsguy.co.uk/clinically-proven/

 

[Blue Hills]

The cough has gone now, but it took three weeks. I read somewhere it wasn't a good idea to exercise while suffering from a cold, because your body is already under stress. However, I wonder how true that is. At the first stage of a cold, you might be sneezing, a sore throat, shivers, etc. I would not suggest exercise while suffering from all that. Then if you are unlucky, it gets on your lungs and you're coughing up greenies for the next three weeks, but otherwise you don't feel too bad. I wonder whether exercising in that state does any harm. It would probably cause a fit of coughing when you stop, but otherwise...

I got a bad one a few years ago. The doc gave me some serious pills but said that it was OK to cycle. I well remember leading a ride where the group must have wondered about me. I kept well wrapped up. I did get better.