Vicks on the soles of feet?

eviltimeban

Have a three year old with a really bad cough; he gets it quite regularly, coughs all day, a heaving dry cough, which invariably makes him get sick, which has happened twice already today.

I've tried something I've not tried before, rubbing Vicks on the soles of his feet and covering with socks. I've read in a few places that this works really well to stop coughs; I've also read that it doesn't work.

Has anyone had any experience of this? Did it work for you? I'm expecting to be up all night with a coughing and/or puking child. :-(

Daffodil.d

eviltimeban wrote: »

Have a three year old with a really bad cough; he gets it quite regularly, coughs all day, a heaving dry cough, which invariably makes him get sick, which has happened twice already today.

I've tried something I've not tried before, rubbing Vicks on the soles of his feet and covering with socks. I've read in a few places that this works really well to stop coughs; I've also read that it doesn't work.

Has anyone had any experience of this? Did it work for you? I'm expecting to be up all night with a coughing and/or puking child. :-(

I don't know if it actually works. One thing I do know that works for that cough (becauseaboth my kids get it) is a humidifier. I use it when the coughing get particularly bad. It's amazing how fast the coughing stops. I would still try the vics on the feet though

silverharp

Daffodil.d wrote: »

I don't know if it actually works. One thing I do know that works for that cough (becauseaboth my kids get it) is a humidifier. I use it when the coughing get particularly bad. It's amazing how fast the coughing stops. I would still try the vics on the feet though

do you think you need a humidifier in Ireland? the air is pretty humid most of the time

pwurple

The only reason i could think of for putting vicks on someones feet, would be if it was too strong smelling for them on their chest. My feet are are fairly sensitive though, i wouldn't like someone putting vicks on them.

I never found vicks did anything except aggravate my cough and make it worse... It felt ok for a stuffy nose, but not a cough.

When we get coughs we stay off dairy for a day or too. Seems to reduce the thickness of the phylem and makes it easier to clear. Might be in my head though.

December2012

Try Karvol drops.

Daffodil.d

silverharp wrote: »

do you think you need a humidifier in Ireland? the air is pretty humid most of the time

Yes you would think that, but it's because the central heating in modern houses driers out the air. When you're breathing with a cold especially mouth breathing, it causes the throat to dry out hence the tickley cough which in turn sometimes makes the child sick from the constant coughing. The humidifier puts moisture into the air. It worked for me anyway. And I take it out when the kids have their coughs. The thing that made me buy it in the first place was, both my kids had this cough and it was constant day and night. One evening we bathed them and the bathroom was full of steam. I commented to my husband that both the kids had stopped coughing while in the bath. So I googled humidifiers and picked one up a few days later in TK Maxx for €24. Then finally got some sleep.

axel rose

Yea, I heard this too. Out of desperation ( and a broken dehumidifier) I tried this ......I found that it really works

Give it a shot, it's not like the wee bugs feet will drop off!

Best of luck!

NIMAN

I would take the child to see the GP as well if you haven't already.

Both mine suffered with coughs like this over the last couple of years, including the vomiting brought on by it.

Little boy was found to have a septic throat which required an antibiotic, and the girls lower lungs were a problem, can't remember exactly but think she was struggling to clear them as she couldn't cough hard enough to do it, and she was given a steroid to help.

Both did help but reoccurred, and I often wondered if it was the house or something doing it to them, maybe too cold at night? Never imagined that I would need to add more moisture to the air though.

Daffodil.d

NIMAN wrote: »

I would take the child to see the GP as well if you haven't already.

Both mine suffered with coughs like this over the last couple of years, including the vomiting brought on by it.

Little boy was found to have a septic throat which required an antibiotic, and the girls lower lungs were a problem, can't remember exactly but think she was struggling to clear them as she couldn't cough hard enough to do it, and she was given a steroid to help.

Both did help but reoccurred, and I often wondered if it was the house or something doing it to them, maybe too cold at night? Never imagined that I would need to add more moisture to the air though.

The doctor should, without doubt be the first stop in case of any infection or even lung issues like asthma. ;-)

Gee_G

Putting it on their feet is fantastic, it works everytime for colds in our house anyway. Well, I use snuffle babe, its like the baby version of it! Also, if you get a damp facecloth and put the vicks on it and put it on a radiator in the room, I find that great!

Emmacash

Have you had him checked out by your doctor? My daughter suffered from a really bad re-occurring cough, like your son it would cause her to throw up quite often.
The doc kept putting her on antibiotic but it was no use.
A year and a half and countless courses of antibiotic courses later, I finally got enough sense to bring her to a different Dr who diagnosed her straight away with asthma.
She gets inhaler twice a day to prevent her coughing and since she's been on It she's like a different child...she gets a full nights sleep and no more cough induced vomiting...it could be worth a shot?

NIMAN

My little boy was given an inhaler but still would cough, it was found that the septic throat was more the problem.

pwurple

+1 to the karvol . Smells so nice!

Also, missed the vommiting part. Whooping cough is going around and doing serious damage, thanks to the anti-vaxers. Mind it's not that.

eviltimeban

Been to a specialist in Temple St already, he checked out OK for asthma, got the inhaler and the face mask but he never ever let us do it, so never got to find out if it worked. He would just not entertain the notion of putting it on his face, and they are supposed to breathe like 8 times or something. I would be lucky to keep it there for 1 breath!

So, last night wasn't as bad; he wasn't coughing so much and slept for a good bit. Don't think that was necessarily due to the Vicks. Hard to know.

He woke up a bit out of sorts a bit this morning, and had two little throw ups (not from coughing); at first I thought it was the winter bug we were dealing with but I don't think so as it wasn't that much. He's guzzling water which is both good and bad; good cos he needs to be hydrated and bad cos he's drinking so much its filling him up too much, hence why he's probably thrown up!

Will look into getting a humidifier.

mesu

Hi, we've had recurring coughs with vomiting too and would recommend the humidifier. When it's very bad I turn the humidifier on a while before bedtime. As another poster says it seems to work quite quickly. Just be careful about leaving the radiator on at the same time as it could get too warm.

I recently tried vicks on the soles of her feet and didn't think it worked at all, but it seems to for some so worth a try. I thought Karvol was more for blocked nose than a cough but again might be worth a try.

Would you try the mask and inhaler while he's asleep? Someone suggested this to me, we didn't have to do it as she started to take it, but I thought it was a good idea.

eviltimeban

mesu wrote: »

Would you try the mask and inhaler while he's asleep? Someone suggested this to me, we didn't have to do it as she started to take it, but I thought it was a good idea.

Yeah I was thinking of doing this as he'd probably be too distressed to breathe properly. Night 2 of coughing so it might be worth a try. (Vicks on feet didn't work btw)

NIMAN

My boy had no problem with the mask, but as I said, I didn't notice any difference with it.

As for a humidifier, might try that. Can anyone recommend one?

I see no reason to expect it to "work" really. Though keeping a child still long enough to apply the ointment probably has a relaxing effect on their respiratory system and keeps their mind focused on something else - both of which is likely to improve a cough temporarily.

I know my sister swears by it however but watching her patterns they are similar to what we see in post #7 on the thread which is that she only tries it when she is "desperate". I also notice in her how if she tries it 10 times and it seems to "work" only once then this will confirm it works. The 90% of cases where it did nothing get dismissed in her mind as anomolies. The power of the human mind at confirmation bias always amazes me - but it is quite another thing to see it in action before your very eyes with the person entirely oblivious to themselves doing it.

What anyone in Epidemiology will tell you is that there is a phenomenon called "regression to the mean". Put simply this is how most illnesses do not just get worse and worse and worse and then get better and better and better. Instead it is cyclical - getting worse for awhile - better for awhile - worse for awhile and so forth. And when it is at the worse points in this graph - as the song says - things can only get better.

What tends to happen when things get to the worst point and people are "desperate" is they try any old thing. From vicks on the feet to standing on one leg in the rain waving a trout around at the end of a rope like a cowboy lassoo.

And loe and behold the symptoms of the illness improve. They were going to anyway. But the person in question thinks "That was odd - I can barely believe that worked". Then the illnesses natural cycle worsens again and they thing "Well this worked last time - lets give it another go - - - " and it works again because the illnesses natural cycle was just about to improve anyway.

It seems like such a simple and tiny thing but the effect it has on peoples pattern seeking and natural superstitions is powerful and everything from vicks on the feet to homeopathy is fueled by it.

So my two pieces of advice:

1) If a childs cough is ongoing and worsening then seeking the medical opinion of a professional is the way to go.
2) If you get desperate, try something, and it appears to work - be very suspicious about your timing and how it may be midleading you.

Orion

And that's where we'll have to leave this. As mentioned above if a child has a persistent worsening cough then speak to your doctor.