Q. Decades ago, I had one of those annoying, tickly, nonproductive coughs that kept me up ALL night. An old-timer I knew told me to put a heating pad under my butt. I went to bed convinced that it would not help, but I slept very soundly that night.
Recently, a friend of mine had a terrible cough from bronchitis. Cough syrup with codeine was useless. I told her about the heating pad remedy, and she had the same excellent results I did. Please tell your readers about this.
A. This is a very unusual cough remedy. It seems even stranger than putting Vicks VapoRub on the soles of the feet, a popular though peculiar approach to quelling nighttime coughs.
We can’t think of a scientific explanation for why a heating pad would stop a pesky cough, but it seems fairly benign and might be worth consideration.
For other remedies that can help against coughs and other symptoms of the viral infections so common at this time of year, we offer our Guide to Colds, Coughs & the Flu.
