I tried a similar recipe last week when I was coughing, congested and aching. In addition to the cayenne pepper, ginger, apple cider vinegar, honey and water, crushed garlic was included. That recipe said to drink it by the cupful but I could only get down one swallow at a time. It worked great in reducing cough and cold/flu but not appealing.

Honey, lemon and boiling water has always been our family's go-to for a cough. The new thing now is CBD oil (for those of you that live in a pro-Cannabis state.) I rub some on my chest and it seems to settle the rattling. There's also an herbal remedy called, "Clear Lungs," which has helped me a lot as an emergency when I ran out of asthma meds. I wouldn't take it all the time, but for short term, it works well. You can find it at most drug and health food stores.

At bedtime smear Vicks Vapour Rub liberally on soles of feet, put on a pair of socks!!! Sounds weird...but it works!!!!��

Yes, it does!

Cannot tolerate the smell of Vicks or Tree Tree Oil or pain cream. If you have any of that on then I will quietly slip away from the room. I have had to leave a quilt class before because one quilter had rubbed Tree Tea Oil lotion all over her neck. Later I heard several had complained about it. I just packed up and left.

I love the smell of Vicks and pain relieving creams, lol. Had DH pick up a jar of Vicks on the way home from work a couple of weeks ago. Have had a cold/respiratory virus that has been going around, and it really hangs on. Love my Vicks, slather it on chest and neck. I've retired, so other than DH, not really impacting anyone else with smell. If I was sick, I'd not go to a class anyhow out of respect for others in the class - thoughtless to risk infecting them.

The recipe given sounds like it would be really hard to get down. What I'm really wondering, though is: Doesn't the cayenne pepper cause coughing??

It tasted strong but not cayenne hot.
When we have a sickness in the house I boil vinegar and carry the pot of stream of it through out the house. It cleans the air of germs. The smell goes away in a couple of minutes. It works. When I was little I remember women use to to this when an elderly person was confided to bed. Cleaned the air of the off smells. Much more natural then canned air fresheners.

That would make sense- a bowl or two of vinegar in a room will remove bad odors or smoke. Many years ago a neighbor forgot eggs on the stove and they boiled dry and scorched. He couldn't get rid of the smell. I told him about the vinegar and he reluctantly tried it. He was so surprised how well it worked.

Lol, I love the smell of vinegar.