[mtn.climber]

I've been fighting a cold for over a couple of weeks now. Started out as sinus/head cold. Now it's mostly a dry, hacking cough that is driving me crazy. I don't really want to see a doctor for a prescription and the usual stay home and rest, hydrate, etc. Anyone have a home remedy that works for them? That you'd be willing to share?

[grannyhiker]

Vaporizer/humidifier, especially at night.

[Phil]

I had that, I think. Worst was at night, or sudden dry cough attacks at work.... Lasted about month.

[Snowday]

Not a home remedy, but an over the counter tussin cough suppressant, like Pertussin, might give you significant relief. I had a similar cough a couple of years ago, and this helped me a lot. I used a gel pill, not a cough syrup.

[boot up]

My wife has had that nasty hacking cough since October, and it has survived a couple of rounds of antibiotics and a humidifier, and several doctor visits that say "it will go away".

[wolffie]

This won't help if it's the kind of scratchy back-in-the-throat cough, but 3 times now I've gotten a cold around midwinter that turned into an annoying, weak, "unproductive" (no phlegm) cough deep in the chest that lasted for weeks (as long as 2 months). I'd go to my doc for a drug deal (Erythromycin; new trade-name Zithramycin (?). Cheap, nails it dead in 2-3 days after weeks of no improvement. Rationale: it starts out viral (which antibiotics can't touch), then bacteria take over. Key: this is sort of a last resort to be taken only after a long time; it's a mistake to use this stuff early on.

[Randito]

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[Roly Poly]

Be careful that it's not pneumonia. I had a nasty cold and cough and it turned out to be pneumonia. Now my housemate has pneumonia.

[MyFootHurts]

sounds like bronchitis. see a Dr.

[Navy salad]

I've had lingering coughs like what you describe several times -- it's very frustrating. On one occasion the remedy (prescribed by Dr) was codeine cough syrup. On another occasion where the cough became habitual, even codeine wouldn't work and the Dr prescribed some pills that made me unable to cough, where I still had the urge to cough but couldn't (eventually the urge went away). One thing that sometimes helps an unproductive cough is an expectorant, where the most common one is guaifenesin (available from any drug store). It doesn't lessen the urge to cough, but what it does is moisten and loosen up the gunk in your chest so it can be expelled by coughing.