Cough Syrup vs Instincts
Aflac sent me an article about cough syrups. It's located here: http://aolsvc.news.aol.com/news/article.adp?id=20060109150409990002&ncid=NWS00010000000001 in case the link above doesn't work right. And in case you're reading this post-date and the link is no longer good, the article basically said that cough syrups are deemed to be ineffective even though some people swear by them. A spokesperson for Robitussin in particular mentioned that it seems to have high sales so it "must" be effective or people wouldn't keep buying it. (Hello? Why do people bother advertising so much if ads DON'T work? Robitussin has lots of ads. Maybe it's the ads that sell most of their product.)
All I know is that I hate cough syrup due to taste, drowsiness (with or without the antihistamines), and sometimes nausea/vomiting, depending on which kind I take. And, maybe I can never get enough in me, but it never seemed to work on me, either. Not that I remember ever trying Robitussin. Mom always forced Vicks 44 down my throat to shut me up and then complained I didn't get enough in me 'cause I was still coughing. She swore that stuff worked for her, though.
Sunday, someone at work gave me a couple of Fisherman's Friend lozenges. Now, THAT stuff relieves stuff, even as your face lights up like a newborn star and burns out in its infancy. I am going to get some today. It doesn't /stop/ the cough, but it makes everything open up so I can breathe while hacking up lung pieces. Tastes fine at first, you're like, whoooo, I can breathe! and then WHAMMO!! Licorice!! Why they put licorice in there... *shudder* But whatever. It amazes me, though, how people actually /force/ medicine and advice on you when you're getting over something you've acquired various strains of over and over your whole life. I made one preliminary cough at work yesterday afternoon and everyone turned to scowl at me. "What?!" I said. "Are you sick?!" "Not anymore, I'm getting over the flu." "You coughed!!" "Yeah... will be for at least a few more days, too... happens when I've been sick." Then within an hour, one of my coworkers offered me something called "Soothers" which tasted wonderful but did little if anything to help my cough. She came back over and said, "Here, you want another?" I'm like, "I just barely finished the first... no, but thank you." Then she said they were to be taken one every three hours. It wasn't even half an hour after my first taste!! It's like people are so afraid of illness because of hyped up media that they are terrified of hearing a cough!! I was taught wayyyy back when that so long as you cover a cough and wash your hands often enough, the little droplets are not airborne... but apparently if you merely breathe when you're sick and have no other symptoms, no one will catch ... ooh ... drum roll please... the dreaded FLUBUG!!! AAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!! So I sat there all afternoon trying unsuccessfully and painfully to suppress a very naturally occurring phenomenon in the human body designed to help me get better quicker because I was afraid of offending someone and scaring them. Puhleeze. I get sick 2 or 3 times a year. No idea why this instance occurred so early in the year so I'm assuming I will be sick 3 times this year. I do know that other than those three times, I can be around sick people all I want to and not get one iota of an illness. I can hug them and shake their hand and remain perfectly healthy even while I'm acutely aware that cold or flu germs are crawling all over me. (I can actually feel them crawling inside my nose sometimes. Ew. But it's one way I know when someone else is sick.)
The only time I fear someone else's illness is when I know I'm due to catch one. I've been working a lot, not eating right, treating myself poorly, and on top of it all, it's just the right season for the flu. Weather changes, and then... it's a week before I'm due to get the "woman thing." All of this makes PRIME real estate for a pair of newlywed germs, and often their whole extended families, to buy a piece of property in my mucous membranes. The next thing I know they're trashing the place. So I quietly go to work on evicting them only to suffer for a few days as I draw up the paperwork. Then OUT they go... but I also know it's bound to happen, so the little fear I do experience around a sick person when I'm in the "potential flu-catching" situation is overthrown by the knowledge those little buggers really want a place to live. They'll find me. The sooner I get it over with, the sooner they can be evicted, and the sooner I can look forward to health. Better that than running from something that will catch me anyway.
I also realized why "have a drink" actually works. It's because as you're swallowing, you can't cough. You know, I don't know why coughing annoys people so much. I don't get annoyed when people cough. I shut up for a moment until they can breathe again and listen to me. Mom hated my coughing. Her coughs were OK though because she "took something at least." Big whup. She was still coughing...
I'll stick with stuffing my face. It tastes better, gives me needed nutrients to help rebuild lost ones, and alleviates the coughing. Plus it scrapes away mucus in the back of my throat that otherwise would seep into my lungs and make things worse. Go, instincts!!
:)
~nv
All I know is that I hate cough syrup due to taste, drowsiness (with or without the antihistamines), and sometimes nausea/vomiting, depending on which kind I take. And, maybe I can never get enough in me, but it never seemed to work on me, either. Not that I remember ever trying Robitussin. Mom always forced Vicks 44 down my throat to shut me up and then complained I didn't get enough in me 'cause I was still coughing. She swore that stuff worked for her, though.
Sunday, someone at work gave me a couple of Fisherman's Friend lozenges. Now, THAT stuff relieves stuff, even as your face lights up like a newborn star and burns out in its infancy. I am going to get some today. It doesn't /stop/ the cough, but it makes everything open up so I can breathe while hacking up lung pieces. Tastes fine at first, you're like, whoooo, I can breathe! and then WHAMMO!! Licorice!! Why they put licorice in there... *shudder* But whatever. It amazes me, though, how people actually /force/ medicine and advice on you when you're getting over something you've acquired various strains of over and over your whole life. I made one preliminary cough at work yesterday afternoon and everyone turned to scowl at me. "What?!" I said. "Are you sick?!" "Not anymore, I'm getting over the flu." "You coughed!!" "Yeah... will be for at least a few more days, too... happens when I've been sick." Then within an hour, one of my coworkers offered me something called "Soothers" which tasted wonderful but did little if anything to help my cough. She came back over and said, "Here, you want another?" I'm like, "I just barely finished the first... no, but thank you." Then she said they were to be taken one every three hours. It wasn't even half an hour after my first taste!! It's like people are so afraid of illness because of hyped up media that they are terrified of hearing a cough!! I was taught wayyyy back when that so long as you cover a cough and wash your hands often enough, the little droplets are not airborne... but apparently if you merely breathe when you're sick and have no other symptoms, no one will catch ... ooh ... drum roll please... the dreaded FLUBUG!!! AAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!! So I sat there all afternoon trying unsuccessfully and painfully to suppress a very naturally occurring phenomenon in the human body designed to help me get better quicker because I was afraid of offending someone and scaring them. Puhleeze. I get sick 2 or 3 times a year. No idea why this instance occurred so early in the year so I'm assuming I will be sick 3 times this year. I do know that other than those three times, I can be around sick people all I want to and not get one iota of an illness. I can hug them and shake their hand and remain perfectly healthy even while I'm acutely aware that cold or flu germs are crawling all over me. (I can actually feel them crawling inside my nose sometimes. Ew. But it's one way I know when someone else is sick.)
The only time I fear someone else's illness is when I know I'm due to catch one. I've been working a lot, not eating right, treating myself poorly, and on top of it all, it's just the right season for the flu. Weather changes, and then... it's a week before I'm due to get the "woman thing." All of this makes PRIME real estate for a pair of newlywed germs, and often their whole extended families, to buy a piece of property in my mucous membranes. The next thing I know they're trashing the place. So I quietly go to work on evicting them only to suffer for a few days as I draw up the paperwork. Then OUT they go... but I also know it's bound to happen, so the little fear I do experience around a sick person when I'm in the "potential flu-catching" situation is overthrown by the knowledge those little buggers really want a place to live. They'll find me. The sooner I get it over with, the sooner they can be evicted, and the sooner I can look forward to health. Better that than running from something that will catch me anyway.
I also realized why "have a drink" actually works. It's because as you're swallowing, you can't cough. You know, I don't know why coughing annoys people so much. I don't get annoyed when people cough. I shut up for a moment until they can breathe again and listen to me. Mom hated my coughing. Her coughs were OK though because she "took something at least." Big whup. She was still coughing...
I'll stick with stuffing my face. It tastes better, gives me needed nutrients to help rebuild lost ones, and alleviates the coughing. Plus it scrapes away mucus in the back of my throat that otherwise would seep into my lungs and make things worse. Go, instincts!!
:)
~nv
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