Monday night I was wishing so bad for a "neti pot" that could wash snot out of bronchial tubes and the lungs.
For some reason, it crossed my mind that hot, moist compresses might help. Soaking in a hot tub might do something, but that's not long enough. So I placed a wrung-out hot washcloth at the base of my neck, covered it with a heating pad, used a wide Ace-bandage to strap the heating pad to my upper chest, turned it on, and went to bed. (Okay. Okay. I know the instructions that come with the heating pad say you should NEVER sleep with the heating pad on. It's a fire hazard. Or you could burn yourself. I'm sure they're right. I was a bad bad person to go to sleep with the heating pad turned on.)
About three hours later, I woke up, coughing. I spent an hour --an entire hour-- disturbing Gary's sleep mightily, coughing and coughing and coughing up mucus and snot-balls. It was disgusting!! But amazingly, by morning my chest was no longer tight. It's not like I was done coughing for the next two days, but my health was much better than I'd expected it to be.
So was it a coincidence? Or shall I try it again (bad bad bad to use a heating pad this way) next time a cold tries to settle in my bronchial tubes? My logic is that we use moist heat to draw infection such as in a stye or an abscess or in mastitis or in boils. Maybe the moist heat drew the infection together so that it could be coughed out?
Shhhh -- The tricky part is going to
be my trying to remember this little
experiment next time my bronchial
tubes get clogged.
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