September's cold

Ryan caught another cold while up in Maine.  It started on Sunday, September 5th and progressed like a typical cold for about 6 days.  After that, he started to get his usual thick mucus buildup in his throat.  We are trying a new herb expectorant, Guaifenesin.  I mix 50 mg powder into applesauce 2x a day and make sure he drinks lots of water.  It seems to help thin the mucus out during the day so he can clear it out of his throat. I also used Tom's of Maine chest rub on his feet, chest, and back when his congestion and cough were really bad.

When he wakes up in the morning, he's been coughing for 20 minutes and gagging on the thick mucus (days 6-12). He is sleeping well with only a few coughs in the middle of the night.  The coughing before falling asleep was happening on days 7-9, but seems to have tapered off.  His eating is touch and go -- sometimes a lot, sometimes not much.  On days 13 - 15, we saw clear improvement of the cold.  Less coughing during the day, hardly any before bed, and much less upon wakeup.  By day 16 the mucus was 95% gone.  This is one of the fastest and most thorough cold recoveries we have seen.  There does not seem to be any lingering symptoms like previous colds.

We moved to Grandma's house on day 5.  We came home on the eve of day 15.  The cold seemed to follow the same pattern as all the other colds with regard to lots of mucus production after the intial cold phase, but the mucus stage did not last nearly so long (about 10 days this time).  The amount of mucus when in this stage seemed to be about the same.  It is possible that Ryans' colds are exacerbated and lengthened by an allergen in our house.