A good friend has bronchitis, possibly bronchial pneumonia. She actually has whiplash from coughing so hard. Is on antibiotics and all the rest, but is getting no relief as of yet. And, she smokes, but has started taking the no-smoking drug Zyban, and has a "quit date" of next Friday. Would like to hear your best home remedies for severe coughs, and your best tips to help her through the intial difficulties of quitting smoking.

Thanks a bunch!

-- Shannon at Grateful Acres Animal Sanctuary (gratacres@aol.com), April 24, 2002

Answers

Shannon,

No good cough remedies, but I have quit smoking before. With the Zyban, the worst of the nicotene craving should be over. So she has to fight the mental battle and get over the oral fixation. When I quit, I first tried to beat the fixation by putting flavored toothpicks in my mouth whenever I got a craving, but the toothpicks were wood pulp too quickly. Next, I tried chewing gum, but my jaws got tired of chewing. Finally, I took bamboo skewers (used for grilling) that I bought at the grocery store and cut them into 3 inch lengths. The bamboo is durable and does not get soggy. As silly as it sounds, it worked for me and two other people who I have recommended it to.

Good luck.

-- Ray Crawford (itstysworld@aol.com), April 24, 2002.

Sounds like your friend could use some seditives!!! Vicks vaporub and Buckleys are brutal but effective for me, I've even used some Zev horse stuff. Tell your friend to get angry with themselves, tobbacco companies, govt, anyone who's to blame for the addiction, make quiting an enemy to be beaten. Smokers were lured into the habit and the smokes were deliberatly altered to make them very addictive. Smokers should be mad thier choices have been so manipulated. You have to wonder how bad the indian's version of tobacco was before it became modern cigarettes.

-- Ross (amulet@istar.ca), April 24, 2002.

I mean make smoking the enemy not quiting!! LOL My wife quit but that proves nothign she is a very capable person and damned stubborn.

-- Ross (amulet@istar.ca), April 24, 2002.

The worst is the psychological addiction. {sigh} Tell your friend not to think about quitting forever . . . that's bound to feel overwhelming. Instead, each day she should think only about not smoking that day. When she has a craving, she should think, "Right now, I'm choosing not to have a cigarette."

Some people say that it helps to envision yourself down the road not being a smoker and all the things you can do--didn't work at all for me. Every time I'd think about not smoking forever, I'd REALLY want to light up.

-- Julie in NC (jwoessner@rtmx.net), April 24, 2002.

One thing that might help is replacing the smoking with another, better, habit. Not only is it something in your mouth, it is something for your hands to do. Does your friend knit, or have another hobby?

Also, drink a lot of water, and try to take a walk every day.

I do not smoke, but smoking is a bad habit gone worse, so hope these suggestions help.

-- GT (nospam@nospam.com), April 24, 2002.

My mother smoked for 35 years or so, but was hardly ever sick. She finally got sick -bronchitas. She coughed so bad that her ribs hurt and ache for hours. Smoking, well smoking became impossible because it made her cough more. It took her several weeks to get over the bronchitas and cough. One day she realized that her cough was gone, but she no longer wanted to smoke. She had been SO sick that she had quite smoking without noticing!

I think your friend should concentrate on becoming healthy and ignore the cravings -to consider it part of the illness she needs to get over. I hope she can make it. One of my co-workers, a dear man, has emphyzema (sp?). He is in the hospitial again with pneumonia. Each time he gets pneumonia it scars his lungs more and he loses lung capacity. He has worked for 45 yrs at this employer, but doesn't retire because his wife would lose her medical coverage.

-- Dash (forthechix@yahoo.com), April 24, 2002.

Use collidal silver spray or drops in nasal passages. Folk remedy - smoke a mullein cigarette. It's probably a pharangeal infection. Dairy products (not raw)make mucous, so that your body can't get to it to fight it!

-- Elizabeth Quintana (rockshelter@webtv.com), April 24, 2002.

First, some soothing rub, Vicks, Tiger Balm, anything of that nature, rubbed deeply into the back, chest, and neck. Cover with a piece of flannel or other soft cloth. Then a tea of coltsfoot - it is in bloom here now - with lots of honey, Lungwort is another good herbal tea and so is horehound, both are growing here, now. I just used a blend of ginger tea with coltsfoot and blackberry leaf for a friend with a cough. I think that the lungwort with ginger tea would be very good in this case, again with lots of honey. Lungwort is Pulmonaria Officinalis and is sometimes called Trout Plant (not Trout Lily). The ginger is warming and very soothing. Licorice is also excellent to ease coughs and it helps clear respiratory congestion. You could also add some catnip, chamomile or Motherwort to act as a mild sedative to calm the coughing spasms.

I do hope this helps your friend.

-- nancy (stoneground@catskill.net), April 24, 2002.

We usually use as many natural remedies as we can but one year I was out of state and developed a sinus infection that caused severe bronchitis. I have never had such a terrible cough before. A doctor prescribed "TUSSI-bid". It thins and loosens mucous but also helps to quiet persistnen, nonproductive coughs. What relieve it was!! The ingredients are Guaifenesin-12000 mg and Dextromethorphan-60 mg. It is a prescription drug.

-- Terry - NW Ohio (aunt_tm@hotmail.com), April 24, 2002.

Ignore the cravings!!! My backside...!!! THEY ARE TERRIBLE...

In Feb I celebrated 1 year smoke free...after 30 at a pack a day.

I used the patches and bags of those tiny carrots..peeled..I ate those till I peed orange...then I chewed gum until the gum was like a rock and my jaws hurt. Then I went for walks so I didn't kill eveyone in my family including the cats. Then I did everything all over again and again...until I only wanted to smoke a cigarett once a day...

I still get hankerings....

As far as the cough..whatever losenge will do the trick. Whatever they want...give it to them...

The deceit by the Cig Companies was what got me PO'd enough to quit...the addiction is the worse monkey anyone could ever have on their back.

Just make it happen.

-- BC (katnip364@aol.com), April 25, 2002.

Hi Shannon
Tell your friend that I am thinking about her, as my "quit date" is this Sunday. DH is quitting with me and our goal is to be able to enter some 5k runs this summer and fall. Plus just imagine all the money we will be saving. I am tired of wheezing all the time and am afraid I will end up like my Mom who has asthma. So what ever it takes I am gonna quit. Plus now my young nephews won't ask me to not smoke because they don't want me to get sick and die. (what a heartbreaker).
Good luck to her and I hope she is recovering soon. Kim in Indiana. :-D

-- Kim in Indiana (kwcountrygirl@aol.com), April 25, 2002.

My name is Don and I am a smoker. I've been smoke-free for over eight years now.

Seriously, I led up to giving up differently, but the advice about getting mad at the companies and governments who've manipulated you and used you, worked for me. I did some research on cost of production versus selling price, and also how much of the retail price was being creamed off by government in taxes and excises. I decided that I worked too hard for my after-tax money to then turn round and hand large amounts of it over to more taxes, and to drug cartels who deliberately addicted people to something that would kill them.

-- Don Armstrong (darmst@yahoo.com.au), April 25, 2002.

I was a smoker for nearly 18 years, until three years ago, when our son was born. Didn't want to risk giving him asthma, so I quit. Cold turkey. Didn't hurt a bit; surprised, being that I had tried to quit MANY times before and always caved, 3 months being the longest smoke free.

Everyone I know who quit smoking basically had to decide for themselves to quit for themselves. Not to please somebody else, themselves. This is the key. And as Julie in NC said, you are quitting for forever, you are quitting for now. And then just a little while longer. And longer yet . . . You get my meaning? :^)

Good luck, and you are a good friend trying to help your friend to quit.

-- j.r.guerra in s. tx. (jrguerra@boultinghousesimpson.com), April 25, 2002.

My brother quit almost two months ago. I think he used Zyban and toothpicks! I still smoke .. so I cannot help you there. But.. about fifteen years ago I was getting bronchitis every time I turned around. I have never gotten it since. One thing that is a constant that I always take everyday..is 500 mgs of vitamin C. That is the only thing I have done since my bouts and praise God..nothing since. But to get rid of it now..I would use the following three things..cabbage..heat it (make sure it is not too hot and burn her) and pack it on her chest...take olive oil orally and rub, rub, rub it on her chest..and garlic..while she is trying to get rid of this..1000 mgs. after that 500 a day would not hurt anything.

I hope she finds relief soon. The above came from a book called Miracle Food Cures from the Bible by Reese Dubin. I have used it to help my fibro successfully. Hope this helps.

-- Sher (riverdobbers@webtv.net), April 25, 2002.

I quit smoking many times just by getting over bronchitis other times I kept a pack of cigarettes in my pocket, but no lighter or matches handy. When I got a craving, I sicked air through it "Baretta" style till the filter was soggy.

-- Jay Blair in N. AL (jayblair678@yahoo.com), April 25, 2002.

I was really addicted bad...got up in the night to smoke!!!! Now, its been 6+ yrs since I quite. Here is what worked for me. I got some nicotine gum for the "I've GOT to have a cigarrette" times, some herbs I could safely smoke for the "I have to smoke something" times ( I used buck brush, mullein and kinnickkinnick). This worked good, because since its not addictive, you only need one or two drags, then you forget about it till next time. And the biggest thing for me was giving myself permission to fail....day by day. Each day I would get up with the intention of quitting.. Some days I would just not be strong enough. So the next day I would try again. After about a week of this, I got up one day and had that first cigarette then said "this is it....no more". After that I was really thru with it. I had two cartons in the drawer when I quit too. For me, qutting had to be because I CHOSE to, not because I had no tobacco in the house! So, I broke all the "rules" and did wonderfully. Recently, a friend left a whole pack of my brand laying on my coffee table by mistake. They layed there for 5 days or so, till he came back over. I can honestly say that I was not even slightly tempted to smoke one. I even opened the package and took a sniff.....the lure was gone!!! As for the cough....I make a tincture of usnea lichen that is amazingly effective for all lung and upper respiratory stuff. And I make a cough medicine using tinctures of plantain, comfrey, thyme, oregon grape, yarrow and mullein. Mix the tinctures then add blackberry or other flavored brandy as a base. This works very well. If I was as sick as your friend, and could not get any of this stuff though, I would definitely get a codeine cough syrup from the druggist. Used to be one called turpinhydrate and codeine you could get over the counter, but had to sign for it. '

good luck....

-- Barbara Ann (think_peace51@hotmail.com), April 25, 2002.

I used to smoke and quit after smoking for 20 years. I was sick with bronchitis and the doctor just flat said, "you are going to die 10 years early if you do not quit smoking now". Well talk about brutal - most doctors won't be that honest. So I used Nicoderm CQ patches, and started with Step 2. Used them for three weeks, then went down to Step one. I walked and drank a lake full of water. After three weeks on Step one, I just woke up and said to myself "That's it" and have not looked back since. There are very few days when I want to smoke now, every once in a while I think about it, but mostly I just take out four dollars and then think about lighting it up and burning it. That is enough to kill any cravings I have. I now am to the point where I cannot stand the smell of smoke and can tell when anyone has smoked within a certain radius of where I am. It is hard, but a person can do it if THEY want to to. No one can nag them into or make them quit. That much is true. My husband quit cold turkey, just smoked the rest in the pack and threw the pack away and never smoked again. Of course we both gained weight, and now we are both on diets to lose the weight and we have lost quite a bit. Overall I was sick a lot right after I quit smoking but think that was my body getting rid of all the years of toxins it had stored up. After about three months of ear infections, sore throat and coughing, I have been feeling better than I have in several years. No colds, no brochial infections, flu, or any respiratory infections. Now if I could just whip my allergies I'd be great.

Hope your friend can quit, sure does save a lot of money and doctor visits.

-- Cindy (sidepasser@hotmail.com), April 25, 2002.

I am only 28 but I had been smoking for right at 10 years when I quit a couple years back and what did it for me was inconvenience. I worked in an automobile plant where I had to walk atleast a quarter mile to get to a smoking area. Maybe she could try keeping her smokes in an inconveient place so it is a hassle to go get them. Sounds crazy but it worked for me. That and read the side of the pack it tells you those things are killing you. For cough remedy I like good smooth moonshine with peppermint crushed in it and some honey. Careful or you'll be drunk not coughing less. GOOD LUCK!

-- Joel Combs (jwcinpk@yahoo.com), April 25, 2002.

Smoked lots, ( minimum of 2 packs per day) for most of 33 years. I quit smoking when the price started going up due to govt taxes, and when they began to place restrictions on smokers.

I just got MAD. No way was I going to be treated like a third-class citizen, and no way was I going to pay all those darn TAXES.

I just quit! ! I used nicotine gum for a week or so - -but the nicotine in the gum was so strong it was uncomfortable to chew it.

At the end of each day, I would put the price of two packs of cigerettes in a jar in my kitchen cabinet. I has SO much money at the end of the year - and it bought me a really nice reward!

The strangest thing happened reading this thread. I started craving a cigerette! !

-- Judy (JMcFerrin@aol.com), April 25, 2002.

I quit cold turkey 10 years ago after smoking for 20. We were so poor it came down to cigarets for me or decent food for the kids. It was the hardest thing I've ever done - & sometimes I still want to smoke! After the first week I noticed that the cravings never lasted more than 10 or 15 minutes so I would get busy & do something to take my mind off it. Then I could slack off til the next craving.

-- Bonnie (stichart@plix.com), April 26, 2002.

One of the best herbs for bronchitis is mullein - make a tea (strainit to get rid of any irritating fuzzies) or smoke it (not ideal, but could take the place of cigarettes during the quit process, and would help the healing process.) Use leaves and flowers.

For sore, scratchy throat use goldenrod leaves in tea form - makes a slippery coating that lasts nicely. Use fresh leaves or cover tightly packed fresh leaves with heated honey and allow to cool overnight before straining honey. (Use the honey to sweeten mullein tea and you have a double whammy) Dried leaves just don't seem to have the same effect.

-- Soni (thomkilroy@hotmail.com), April 27, 2002.