Miracle Cure?

As I mentioned recently, we've been dealing with a round of crud in my house.  It starts out with a mild sore throat (which amplified in my own body to strep throat), then the sore throat recedes to a very hard, very deep, very persistent, long-lasting, dry cough.  How long lasting?  Well, The Boy is going on his fourth week with the cough.

It's a horrible cough.  While I have had chronic issues with coughing since my teens, I can say that this cough germ is quite annoying as it creates sore muscles and headaches from coughing so hard and long.  It wakes you in the middle of the night.  Multiple times!  Cough drops don't touch it.   Cough medicine has a fleeting effect.  Even my husband's and son's prescription cough cures weren't helpful!  All of my typical remedies don't help at all... a spoonful of honey, tea, tea with honey, ice packs on my chest, Vicks vapor rub on my chest  (which is my personal favorite and typically does help the cough)...

Vicks VapoRub

But. Nothing. Helped.

Last night I was awoken, yet again,  with this coughing fit, straight out of sleep.  I was whiney, tired, and angry.  I wanted relief!  With no more cough medicine or cough drops in the house, I fired up my laptop and Googled "persistent cough remedies".

Of course, there were a bazillion and one responses on a bazillion and one websites.  But one  thing kept appearing, over and over again.  It was weird.  It was crazy.  It couldn't possibly work.  It was illogical!

But at that point in time, I was willing to try anything.

Here is what I read, repeatedly:

"Put Vicks VapoRub on the soles of your feet and cover with socks.  It'll stop your cough cold!"

Let's read that again, shall we?

"Put Vicks VapoRub on the soles of your feet and cover with socks. It'll stop your cough cold!"

I thought to myself, no freakin' way is this going to work.  But like I said, I was ready and willing to try anything.  So I did it.

Holy Crap It Worked!

I'm not kidding. I'm not even remotely kidding.  It worked like a dream.  I was asleep in minutes and didn't wake up until 20 minutes after my alarm went off!

I thought that it had to be a fluke.  So, as The Hubs was showering and I was getting ready for work, I went into another coughing fit.  Immediately I put some Vicks on the soles of my feet and put my socks on.  I stopped coughing.   Still think I'm crazy?

Wait, there's more!  A few  minutes before deciding to write this post, I was talking to The Boy, slightly argumentatively, and frustrated because I couldn't get my answers across because my cough was out of control.  He walked away, I slathered Vicks on my feet and put socks on and my cough stopped.  I said to him, "did you hear me coughing uncontrollably a few minutes ago?"  He nodded.  I said, "and am I coughing now?"  A headshake, no. 

It sounds crazy,.. no, it is crazy... but it worked. I dare you to try it next time you have an uncontrollable cough.  Let me know if I'm crazy. 

Just goes to show you that sometimes even the craziest ideas... work!

** Okay, I'm not being paid by Vicks VapoRub to share this message, nor am I a doctor, guru, health expert or any such educated person to share with you any medical advice or cures.  I'm just telling you what worked for me.  If you have a chronic cough, please get checked by your doctor first to make sure it's not something serious that requires antibiotics or hospitalization.  But if you do try this and it works, let's just chalk that up to some weird miracle cure! 

PS... Just before I hit "publish post", The Hubs walked into my room and said, "Well, I didn't believe  it..." HE was coughing before dinner, went downstairs and did the same thing and... he's coughing no more. 

The defense rests.