Shallow cough, constant cough…all night long. Had no cough medicine in the house. By 3 AM of no sleep, and nearly constant coughing…I decided I had to do something. The liquor rack held wine, mostly old sweet stuff we got years ago by mistake—I detest sweet wine, and sweet would only make it worse anyway, some nice single-malt Scotch…two unopened bottles of Captain Morgan, and an open bottle of Sailor Jerry’s Rum.
Sailor Jerry’s, taken tablespoon at a time, did let me tame the cough, but it has to be the worst taste since that red powder the druggist used to make up, when I was a kid. I at least got some sleep.
Jane did get to the dentist yesterday. She says it’s better, even if sore…
When I was a sprat, a friend of the family thought I needed a booster of some type, and recommended this vile stuff called Father Brown’s something-or-other. It was a patent medicine that was 99% cod liver oil, with a leavening of cinnamon to attempt to mask the taste. I tolerated a nightly spoonful for about a week, before projectile spitting it on the floor one night.
I looked it up, and it is “Father John’s Cough Medicine”; I might have gotten the name wrong, but the packaging is unmistakable. Today many people still swear by it, I just remember swearing at it.
I have weenie lungs. When I swallow wrong, I can can end up coughing for weeks. It’s just how it is. When it interfers with sleep, I use melatonin and valerian tea. Hot water is helpful for ME. The only alcohol in the house is isopropyl as I lack the alcohol happiness genes.
Two New Year’s eves ago I ended up getting an emergency molar extraction at the oral surgeons due to an abcess. I’d done the legwork prior cuz it had acted up and there was really no way to keep the tooth. I needed an oral surgeon because it had had a root canal 10 years ago. I opted for novacaine….bad choice! I could feel everything and it was like an assault! If Janes needs an extraction, I hope she avoids that option. I know I will in the future if I face this again. I’ve still got the space in my tooth row….just haven’t explored the filler options other than determining that a dental implant is off the table due to the location of my sinuses.
Best wishes, CJ, for you and Jane. Maybe you’re getting it all out of the way so you can really enjoy Thanksgiving.
So miserable. I hope you both feel better soon.
Haika, sounds like what you might need is two crowns and a one-tooth bridge. I have that situation on two sides, having inherited what I think is the Vandeventer jaw: my cousin had the genuine Charlton Heston jaw, that comes on that side of the family, meaning there’s a little curvature that doesn’t let the middle tooth come in well. Mine cracked. I went with a gap on both sides for a number of years, then went for two short permanent bridges, and I’m happy with the result.
Yeah….that’s what they told me. It’ll cost about $6000 and it’ll have to all come out of my pocket because it’s restorative. My health insurance has dropped so much dental coverage over the past 10 years (sigh) and I used to have partial coverage for these types of things. If both of my dogs hadn’t died this year after some serious health issues and I had both a total knee replacement and a Mohs procedure (on nose) with skin grafts so my cushion savings account is depleted. SO….the things that can wait…..wait. I’m looking into an auxillary dental plan since it’s open season right now, but there’s a waiting period there before the coverage kicks in. Drat.
The good thing was that I had relief from the abcess almost immediately after extraction. Just a different kind of pain (vicodin helped).
Re: cough control; I go for Mucenex DM. I forget what-all else the pill have in them, but besides guaifenisin they’ve also got about 6X as much dextromethorphan as a spoonful of Robitussin DM or any of its clones, and you don’t have to put up with the truly vile taste of the dextromethorphan.
Haika, ‘pre-existing conditions’ are now outlawed. Maybe if you can live with the gap a while, you can get it fixed.
Msminlr, thanks for the recommendation. I should look for that.
CJ: This isn’t a pre-existing conditon issue but a pay-for-awhile before anyone gets any coverage for anything issue. At least that’s how it USED to be. I did research Friday and yahoo! I have no waiting period for the dental coverage add-on that will kick in on 1/1/14. I hadn’t researched our dental options for over a decade and remembered how it used to be. I have ‘some’ dental coverage with my HMO plan (Group Health) but it’s been reduced dramatically over the past few years. I’ve lived with the dental gap for a couple years now….a couple more months is no big deal.
I usually go for one or two toddies when I get coughing like that. Hot water, lemon, and some single malt in the 46-54% range. Really bad coughs i have my doctor prescribe cough syrup with codeine, fixs me right up 😀
Rob