What do you do if you have a bad cough

[shirley3010]

Hi All, I'm a new to Atkins and am on my 6th Day .. yey got this far. Anyhow I have developed a nasty cough .. the kind that keeps you awake at night and drives all your work mates mad during the day. Anyhow I don't want to spoil the good work I've done so far on Atkins and take cought mixture as I know it has a lot of sugar in it. Any suggestions on what I can take would be greatly appreciated.

[jimmyolsenblues]

Re: What do you do if you have a bad cough

I am pretty sure Mucinex has no calories in tablet form, I would stay away from liquids and ready everything in the store to find a cough medicine with no carbs.

[TitianWasp]

Re: What do you do if you have a bad cough

And drown yourself in hot tea. They have found that upping the liquids is as effective as the over the counter stuff in trials, so make that giant mug and keep it refilled all day. The heat will also help soothe irritated membranes.

[PaulaMM]

Re: What do you do if you have a bad cough

Aside from whine about it? LOL

I'll echo the hot drink suggestion. Also look into getting a humidifier if you've started using your heat.

Frankly, if you feel bad enough, I wouldn't worry too much about carbs found in medicine. No one wants you to suffer. However, I have seen different medicines for diabetics in our local Wal Mart. You could also try the pills out for colds and flu and see if any of them fits your symptoms. Scour the shelves for something that works with Atkins. If you can't find anything, then use whatever has worked best for you in the past. Once recovered, get back into a full Atkins groove.

I hope you get to feeling better soon!

[Brook]

Re: What do you do if you have a bad cough

What do I do?

I suffer and whine. A lot.

[ValidRouge]

Re: What do you do if you have a bad cough

There is a version of robitussin thats sugar free. I know Walmart carries it in their diabetic section of the pharmacy. I would imagine any of the drug stores carry it in their diabetic section. Hope you feel better soon.

[shirley3010]

Re: What do you do if you have a bad cough

Hi all, thank you for all being so kind as to answer my question. I never even thought of diabetic medicine. I will pop down the chemist and see what I can get. (we don't have a wallmart here as I live in the UK) I will also increase my hot drinks although I am drinking a lot of caffeine free tea at the moment, us Brits do like our tea lol.


I have to say I am so pleased I found this sight. Here in the UK there are no Atkins support sites and I have learnt so much from this one.
It's now day 7 for me and it all seems to be going ok. I feel I have lost weight already in the stomach area although I will not be weighing myself until day 14 of induction. I have bought some Atkins breakfast bars and it says on the packet that they are alright to eat during induction. What do you think? Sometimes I don't have enough time, or don't feel like eating breakfast in the morning. Would it be alright to one of these for breakfast or do you think it could slow down my weight loss?

[kate58]

Re: What do you do if you have a bad cough

A big no on the Atkins breakfast bars for induction - they are not even very good at other times. Most people seem to find they stall their weight loss and they have a lot of sugar alcohols which can cause tummy upsets.

Boots has a good selection of over the counter medication for diabetics. There are lots of people from the UK on this site, I'm from Ireland where we have much the same shops and products, so you're in the right place!

Welcome, I hope your cold gets better soon and good luck on your journey!

[shirley3010]

Re: What do you do if you have a bad cough

Cheers Kate I'm going to pop down to boots in my lunch hour. Shame on the Atkins bars I bought a pack of five. How come Atkins make them when they are not good for the diet ???

[kate58]

Re: What do you do if you have a bad cough

Atkins, the company, is now just a commercial outfit, making and selling low-carb foods. Like any commercial outfit they are more concerned with profit than anything else. Better to stick with the last book Dr A wrote, which is the 2002 edition. He did mention bars in that, but not on induction.

It reminds me of all the low fat products you see, yes they are low fat, but they have piles of sugar and other stuff that MAKES you fat. So while they seem like a good thing they are not necessarily so. Some of the Atkins bars have as many calories as a Mars bar and about as much (or as little) nutritional value. While Dr A did say "don't count calories" - at least in the early stages - he cautioned that this doesn't mean that calories don't count, and advised that what calories you eat should comprise of good quality nutritious food.

In theory the bars, shakes etc made by the company should be ok after induction, in moderation. In practice so many people find that they stall them or make them feel ill that a lot of people just leave them out altogether.

Sugar Alcohols are funny stuff. The theory is that they don't affect blood sugar, but theory and practice seem to differ for a lot of people.

[MomToEli]

Re: What do you do if you have a bad cough

This will sound really weird, but rub Vicks on the soles of your feet and stick them in nice warm socks. Do it just before bed and again in the morning (unless you have somewhere to go that prevents warm socks and that lovely menthol smell ....).

My dh and our entire church choir swears by it (including me!)

I did just heard on the news this morning about a mutated version of the cold that is bad and can be fatal. If you can't shake this in a couple of days, may be prudent to call your doc.

[shirley3010]

Re: What do you do if you have a bad cough

Well well well .. I gave your idea ago Sandy and had a really good nights sleep. I still have a bit of a cough this morning but do you know what it's not so bad. I'm going to repeat it tonight and hopefully will get another good nights sleep.

I have to say I'm struggling a bit on this diet although I have not cheated. I guess I'm just getting a bit bored with the food that I'm eating. I'm on day 9 now and have completely lost my appetite, which is I guess a good thing as I'm not tempted to pick at anything. Fingers crossed that when I weigh myself of Friday that I have a loss