Thursday, September 16, 2010

My (not so) secret nighttime cough remedy

Tuesday night, Chickie came into our room in the middle of the night to sleep on her magic couch. Usually that's fine; she doesn't disturb us much. Last night, though, she started coughing...and coughing...and coughing. It sounded like a dry cough, the type you get when your throat is all tickly. I couldn't sleep well through it, and she obviously couldn't either.

So I tried a little trick with her--something I read who-knows-where that has proven successful for me when I've had those irritating, dry nighttime coughs.

We got up (at 2 a.m.), and I quickly brewed some tea (using microwaved water.) I used white tea (very low caffeine, mild flavor). If I'd had some mint herbal tea I would have used that. I gave her a spoonful of honey to eat and stirred another spoonful into the tea. When it had cooled a bit, she drank it, went potty, and we headed back to bed.

And the coughing stopped entirely.

I'm pretty skeptical of many home remedies, but this is one that's worked for me pretty consistently. I'm thrilled it worked for her too. It sure made a difference on our energy levels the next day--not being awake all night thanks to that cough!

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

My secret is dark chocolate - the darker the better (high cacao content). Theobromine, a chemical found naturally in cacao, supresses the cough reflex more effectively than codeine (which I can't take anyway). And it's all natural. I get a dry, irritating cough every year in the fall (allergies) that lasts for weeks. I've tried every remedy on the market, and dark chocolate is the only thing I've ever found that works.

Plus, as an added bonus, it's an excuse to eat CHOCOLATE!

M. Bail said...

I'm in the midst of fall illness and suffering that stupid dry tickly cough all night long, so I'm going to try both the tea/honey remedy and Jeff's dark chocolate remedy. Because at this point, I'll try anything.

Thanks!!!

Scriptor Senex said...

"went potty" has a different meaning this side of the Atlantic - it means went a bit mad or berserk. Perhaps it was the caffein! (Only kidding - glad it worked).