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spayder26 t1_j2czq64 wrote

Any lighty acidic hot beverage with fructose (or sucrose) would cause the same effect of reducing coughing (most regular cough "medicine" is 99% sugar), so if you ran out of lemon you could try with apple cider vinegar, and honey can be really substituted with any other syrup.

Lime would be ok but most orange variants are heavily engineered towards sweetness in detriment of acidity, so not as effective.

A century ago, the original treatment on Europe was hot herbs/lemon liquors (diluted in water) and sweet wines, which also comes with a few extra "side effects".

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Toffeemanstan t1_j2d5ck3 wrote

Don't forget the morphine based cough medicines.

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MrBeverly t1_j2dor66 wrote

Vicks's DayQuil+ Tincture of Opium, Coca, and Cannabis: Makes walks to school uphill both ways in the driving snow all the more tolerable

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WiccedSwede t1_j2fctux wrote

I've got a cold for the first time in like 5 years and that sounds really enticing right now...

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StuperDan t1_j2drg6o wrote

You can still get some pretty hardcore cough syrup with a prescription from a doctor. A few years ago I was feeling ill in the morning on my way to work. I checked the medicine cabinet and found half a bottle of cough syrup that was prescribed to my wife some time ago. Thinking it was standard cough syrup I chugged some unmetered portion of it. I had to pull over the few minutes into my drive to work as it kicked in. I open the car door and puked all over the place. In the moment I thought it was just the illness. But when I got home and looked closer at the bottle it was heavily fortified with opiates. I don't remember exactly which one. Hydrocodone or codeine or something.

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TeamGrissini t1_j2dteco wrote

For some reason my mother used to have a large bottle of codeine as cough medicine at all times (in the 1990s), and I had it quite often. It's not great for chesty coughs, though, as it stops you from coughing the stuff up and out of your system.

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themagicmunchkin t1_j2f057g wrote

Most codeine cough medicines also have an expectorant in them as well so when you do cough it does help you get stuff out. None of the prescription cough medicines completely eliminate coughing so you'll still be able to clear mucus from your respiratory system.

I'm on one right now because I've got a pretty severe case of bronchitis, but I only ever take it at night time because even a little bit of codeine gets me hella high, and even then it only mildly reduces my cough.

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unhappymedium t1_j2emdz5 wrote

I have asthma and I've had to get it a few times during bad viruses and pneumonia where the cough wouldn't go away.

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Adventurous-Quote180 t1_j2dykwk wrote

> for some reason

I live europe, but i remember that this was covered in US sitcomes often, that parents give codein their kids to get them sleep

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Cleopatrashouseboy t1_j2eylfn wrote

Yeah I remember being around 11 and having the flu. My doctor prescribed pure codeine and my mum would give it every four hours. Needless to say I slept that whole week, lol.

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TeamGrissini t1_j2e16u9 wrote

I don't remember her doing that, but who knows! I do remember helping myself to it without any hint of a cough, though, as a teenager, which in hindsight was not the best situation.

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Adventurous-Quote180 t1_j2e3p2p wrote

Oh yeah thats a tipical sitcom situation too. Teens having their first big party or prom and drinking codein (bc they are too young to buy alcohol)

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Calamity-Gin t1_j2dyaq1 wrote

Opiates reduce the respiration reflex. For the doses found in cough syrup, it just means that it suppresses your coughing, but if you take too much of it, you will eventually stop breathing.

Due to the opioid abuse epidemic, doctors have pretty much stopped prescribing opioid-based cough suppressants unless the other stuff doesn't work. You'll get the other stuff that works up to a point but won't make you barf or get you high.

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TheShadyGuy t1_j2elsx3 wrote

> You'll get the other stuff that works up to a point but won't make you barf or get you high.

Not true, the cough syrup with dxm and acetaminophen will get you tripping balls and throwing up cherry flavored disgustingness. Spend the extra money and get the dxm only.

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SwansonHOPS t1_j2ehqw9 wrote

This is why when I drink 2 bottles of cough syrup, I prefer the DXM kind.

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emptybottleofdoom t1_j2eeei2 wrote

Oof, I wouldn't view dosing directions as a suggestion. There's some stuff that you really don't want more than a certain amount in a certain time. Acetaminophen comes to mind. It's not going to make you throw up, it will just damage your liver, I believe. I dunno, look this up on actual medical sites, not just random Reddit posts.

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curlyfat t1_j2ec9kn wrote

I did this once with some old prescription cough syrup for my daughter. It didn't contain any opiates, but whatever it was definitely had hallucinogenic effects at the dose I took. Everything looked animated, or like reality was CGI. Plus I felt like I couldn't remember how to talk. It was intense and not pleasant.

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various_beans t1_j2exz7l wrote

DXM. You were robotrippin'.

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Efficient-Type-2408 t1_j2f8161 wrote

Haven’t seen anyone mention robotrilling in a minute. Fucking weird ass trip to be sure. Lol

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curlyfat t1_j2fszws wrote

Could be. I may have experienced that before, but it felt different. TBF, I have no clue what dose I took this particular time, I just took a big swig/gulp.

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KiiZig t1_j2etkmw wrote

you nearly escaped the matrix /s

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Chickentrap t1_j2d6stk wrote

Ah the good old days of accidental infanticide through opium based medicines, makes you yearn for the simpler times.

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carlitospig t1_j2eas7d wrote

Now that I’ve never quite understood since it’s a breathing suppressant. If you have a productive cough don’t you want them to cough?

I’m clearly not a doctor. 😏

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C_Madison t1_j2emw5k wrote

I'm neither but what my doctor usually recommends is something which helps with coughing for the day and something to stop coughing for the night, since, well ... sleeping when you are coughing your lungs out sucks.

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RelativisticTowel t1_j2eyzv1 wrote

Had a bad enough cough to be prescribed it once. Answer is: if you can't get any sleep due to the cough, you'll soon be too weak to fight what's causing it (or even to cough properly). Had been sick for 2+ weeks when I got the prescription, iirc only took it 3 nights. Once it bought me the sleep I needed to get my immune shit back together, I was feeling better in a couple days.

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themagicmunchkin t1_j2f1pmp wrote

I'm currently on a codeine-based cough medicine and it has an expectorant in it to help bring up any mucus when you do cough because none of these medications completely eliminate it.

I personally only take it at night because I cannot function on codeine, but even then I still have a productive cough during the night.

These medications aren't (shouldn't be) prescribed to people with mild/moderate coughs. They're for people who can't sleep at night and can't get rest to fight off the infection (I was sleeping less than four hours when I saw my doc). They're for people who are coughing to the point of vomiting and injury (also me). So, generally people who are doing more harm to their bodies by coughing than they are by not coughing.

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carlitospig t1_j2f1uu3 wrote

Hope you feel better soon, thanks for the additional context.

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Bawstahn123 t1_j2dtmyw wrote

>A century ago, the original treatment on Europe was hot herbs/lemon liquors (diluted in water) and sweet wines, which also comes with a few extra "side effects".

Aka "grog" or "a hot toddy"

Spirit of your choice. Whisky or Rum is "traditional", but any "brown liquor" would be ok

Tea, black, made hot, almost boiling

Lemon juice

Sugar of some kind. Honey is my usual go-to, but maple syrup was an interesting substitute.

Spices. I like cinnamon and ginger

Make the tea, and while very hot, add everything else.

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drewbaccaAWD t1_j2foxab wrote

>but any "brown liquor"

yup, I use a cheaper brandy for this.. same stuff I keep in the the kitchen cabinet for cooking. Paul Masson Grande Amber VSOP in my case.. best bang for the buck around if you want something with four years of oak aging. It's smooth enough to drink straight although not comparable to something like Hennessey or Remy which can easily cost 3-4x as much.

Even my second choice, a whisky like Wild Turkey or Four Roses costs a few bucks more.

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SpencerLoco t1_j2dms7b wrote

Let's not forget about the antibacterial properties of honey. It's not just there to taste nice, like any other syrup.

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berael t1_j2dx8d4 wrote

Pure honey is antibacterial because it sucks the water out of bacteria and kills them. Honey diluted into water is yummy bacterial food.

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Belzeturtle t1_j2e9q7w wrote

It's mostly anatibacterial for the reason you stated. But, it also contains methylglyoxal and hydrogen peroxide -- both are antibacterial.

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EmilyU1F984 t1_j2fjgpp wrote

In ppm ranges, making them completely ineffective.

Methylgyoxal is utter marketing mumbo jumbo for alternative medicine shills.

Not to mention, even at antibacterial concentrations, neither hydrogen peroxide nor MGO would have any effect at all abhobt cold like symptoms.

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vsanna t1_j2fpvff wrote

Honey is used not just because it was available before other sugar syrups, but because it's naturally antimicrobial. That and the sugar content is why it doesn't go bad.

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erikwarm t1_j2dzio9 wrote

Add some thyme if you want to be fancy!

Works like a charm

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carlitospig t1_j2eam1t wrote

Nope, honey is used because it’s anti inflammatory and anti bacterial. Honey is the shit.

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Cloudinterpreter t1_j2ewohq wrote

Am I buying the wrong vinegar? Apple cider vinegar feels to me like the most acidic one. I can barely smell it without my eyes watering

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spayder26 t1_j2f52en wrote

it is probably right, you just need to dilute it in water

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Monsantoshill619 t1_j2fp2i9 wrote

Completely false that modern cough medicine is “99%” sugar. Maybe don’t give any kind of medical advice over the internet?

Sucrose, Sodium Saccharin, Sodium Benzoate, Alcohol 5% v/v. Each 15mL dose contains 5.55g Sucrose. This should be taken into account by diabetics.

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spayder26 t1_j2fwfkf wrote

Just in case you don't know, sucrose is sugar, which would make roughly 37% of that thing, which looks like cough syrup.

What nobody is telling you is its water content (medicine doesn't tipically show dry content data) for people like you who doesn't know it and also doesn't understand that ingredients are listed in amount order.

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Dommichu t1_j2epjaq wrote

Yep on that last part! Hubs still swears by B&B when he’s sick.

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