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About last Tuesday I started coming down with a sore throat. Seemed like a simple cold like thing, but Friday I discovered I could no longer lie down with out quickly needing to cough and hack up huge gobbets of snot. I have been sleeping upright on the couch for three days. I also get a bout of snot hacking every time I consume anything besides water or tea.(This is bothering my husband, as I have lost a few pounds since getting ill. That doesn't worry me a whole lot though) I am already taking the only thing the midwife says I can safely take ( Sudafed cold) and I do seem to be getting better ;It was about 6 am until I had a coughing fit last night, something like a real night's sleep. Anyone have a good, safe natural idea for me?
Posts: 1021 | Registered: Sep 2004
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Are you breathing steam? (Or using a humidifer) Taking hot showers? (though not sure how that is with pregnancy) I'd be more worried if the snot suddenly stopped because then maybe there would be more stuck inside you. It's better for it to be coming out than being stuck.
You could try the saline sinus flushing that Sara-CT reccommends. (though I realize it wouldn't take care of everything lower in your chest)
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I amtaking the hot showers, but we can't run a humdiifier because we are constantly battling mold in our house ( like, we wash many of the walls with bleach on a weekly basis and it still comes back) Are you talking about saline nasal mist? I do have a bottle of that, mostly for the little one's noses. I will try that. And I do keep telling myself it is GOOD to get this stuff out, I am getting the infection out ( and it does look infected, it's greenish yellow).
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What about the old fashioned but more localized humidity method of a bowl of steaming water and a sheet over your head? (With the bowl inside the sheet of course so that you are breathing the steam.) This is an oldie but goodie that no one seems to remember anymore with our newfangled humidifier technology. Or instead of steaming water get a cheap vaporizer (that actually does make the steam hot, rather than the cool mist of a humidifier) and put that under the sheet!
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My friend Pancho Villa, he once had a cold such as yours. I roll a special cigarette for him. He is much better in no time.
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Use nasal saline spray every 15 minutes. Don't squirt it directly into your nose, spray it in the air and snort it up on each side. It'll help clear out your nose, at least.
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I'm coughing, but it's much more difficult to get the stuff in there out. I don't know which of us should be grateful. I do feel normal now when I take cold medicine and mildly odd when I don't, which is a step up from feeling odd when I took it and miserable when I didn't.
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If it is a cold you could try the Zicam nasal swabs. They are homeopathic and should be safe. I had a horrible cold the last month of pregnancy #3. I was still coughing terribly while in labor. Worked to my advantage though, I was pushing and started coughing horribly and out he popped! Helpful though not a method I would choose! My midwife told me I could take echinacea but NOT goldenseal. A little extra vitamin C is helpful. My Prescription for Herbal Healing by Phyllis A. Balch recommends ginger tea (1/3 tsp powdered ginger added to 1 cup water) for stopping head and chest congestion. Ginger is good for settling an upset stomach too. The book recommends drinking 1 cup 2-3 times daily. Shitake mushrooms also have been reported to stimulate the immune system and help to overcome colds. I hope some of this helps. It is miserable to be pregnant and sick. (Of course run this stuff by your midwife first!)
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Thanks Wendybird. That would not be my ideal for birth either, LOL! I tried the steaming yesterday, but as soon as I got my head under the towel the 7 year old decided to "war paint" his face with markers and the two year old starting hitting the glass door with a magnifying glass. PLus everytime I sit down, I have to get up and break up something or other. No wonder it takes me longer than anyone else in the family to recover from illnesses. I have echinachia, but ginger I have to go buy. I am feeling somewhat better today. Syn, Mabus, I hope your coughs get better too!
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(Of course run this stuff by your midwife first!)
