(Received via email)
Vicks Vapor Rub
WOW!! I was raised and raised my kids with Vicks..how come I never knew this..can’t wait for my next cough…amazing!!!!
ALL believers in Vicks Vapor rub! Sorry, no graphic for this one, and don’t laugh, it works 100% of the time although the scientists at the Canada Research council (who discovered it) aren’t sure why.
To stop nighttime coughing in a child (or adult as we found out
personally), put Vicks Vapor rub generously on the bottom of the feet at
bedtime, then cover with socks. Even persistent, heavy, deep coughing will stop in about 5 minutes and stay stopped for many hours of relief.
Works 100% of the time and is more effective in children than even very
strong prescription cough medicines. In addition it is extremely soothing
and comforting and they will sleep soundly.
I heard the head of the Canada Research Council describe these findings on the part of their scientists when they were investigating the effectiveness and usage of prescription cough medicines in children as compared to alternative therapies like acupressure.
Just happened to tune in A.M. Radio and picked up this guy talking about why cough medicines in kids often do more harm than good due to the chemical makeup of these strong drugs so, I listened.
It was a surprising finding and found to be more effective than prescribed medicines for children at bedtime, and in addition, to have a soothing and calming effect on sick children who then went on to sleep soundly.
Lolly tried it on herself when she had a very deep constant & persistent
cough a few weeks ago & it worked 100%! She said that it felt like a warm blanket had enveloped her, coughing stopped in a few minutes and believe me, this was a deep, (incredibly annoying!) every few seconds uncontrollable cough, and she slept cough free for hours every night that she used it.
So, if you have Grandchildren, pass it on, if you end up sick, try it
yourself and you will be absolutely amazed by the effect.
Hi,
I’ve stumbled onto your site looking for info on vapor patches.
The idea of applying vapor rub to feet during coughs isn’t new at all in our family. I grew up on it! It works great for fevers also. In asking my mother about it, she said it’s been around forever and remmbers her great grandmother having a similar remedy. She would dampen a cloth in a mixture of alcohol and eucalyptus. They believed that it changes your internal temperature and the bottom of the feet is the most sensative to absorb it’s benefits the fastest …. there and the back of your knees. Our ancestors were from the Tauramaras.
Interesting isn’t it? Wow, this has brought back some great memories of my childhood …. Thanks! 🙂
p.s. I have a few more ‘remedies’ if you’re interested.
ive been using vicks vapor rub on the bottom of my feet for a few days mow. i find that it works very well for the coughing. it also helps me get a good nights sleep. ive been coughing for a few weeks now nd my grandma told me to put vicks on the bottom of my feet. i thought she was crazy. that night i tried it and it definately worked. i was so realived and the vicks was so soothing
i noticed a huge difference almost imediately.
:]
Vick Vapor rub on feet is an urban legend. Not proven like the circulating bogus email suggests. See the explanation from National Research Council of Canada. If it works it is a coincidence Perhaps the act of massaging their feet is what is helping:
http://www.nrc-cnrc.gc.ca/newsroom/news/2007/cough07-ma_e.html
I tried this on my son’s feet just a few nights ago and it worked great. He has an ear and throat infection, causing an almost seal-like cough. Rubbing Vicks on the bottom of his feet, along with socks, helped him, no coughing at all! The following night, I forgot to do it and his cough was back. I did it this morning before leaving for work and his father said his day was relatively cough-free. It’s not an urban legend, it actually works. If all else fails, give it a try!!
I tried this last night on my daughter. She has Reactive Airway Disease and needs inhalers to curb her cough (when she has a cold.) I put the Vicks on her feet and she did not cough all night long. My husband thought I was crazy. He is a physician and was trying to medically justify putting Vicks on feet. All I can say that it worked for us.
way to plagerize from snopes.com. if you are going to have a blog-at least do your own writing!
Actually, Sue, I didn’t take this from snopes; if someone else has, I didn’t know it. On the main page for the “HUMOR” section of my blog, I state (as a disclaimer of sort):
“Laughter can be the best medicine as is often told. Once, when I had a case of pneumonia, my doctor exhibited humor as best he could. One day, he flew into the bed areas with his white doctor’s coat spread out like he was flying in with a white cape — a super doctor to the rescue.
I try to pass along things with a bit of humor to folks to help them share a bit of laughter along the way. Some of these were passed on by my friends and aquaintences through mail, word of mouth, and emails. Take some things with a grain of salt as I am not sure where they might have received their pieces of information and humor that they are circulating about; howevever, I have included them in this section as a way of passing along things that might put a smile on your face or a chuckle in your day. As such, this section will lead you to various pages full of humor medicine to hopefully shed a bit of laughter in your day.
Happy Trails!!”
The humor section is intended as a hodge podge of things that I have received in the form of emails from friends and family. I someone has taken it out of a Penthouse magazine or a Better Homes and Garden or Readers Digest magazine I am not necessarily going to know. Emails are often widely distributed without giving credit to the original poster. Snopes may have posted a comment about whether or not this is a valid item of knowledge that was passed around and (oftentimes) they are unable to give credit to the original source as it is often difficult to locate the original source when it is being circulated around, but I don’t think that this was lifted originally from Snopes (since it doesn’t offer Snope’s opinion whether or not this is a valid item of interest).
If you wish to read more of my original blog postings and writings, please look to another category/division of this IWIM blog or any of my 14 other blog sites that I have created since 2002.
Thanks, in advance.
my 7 year old daughter has been coughing for over 2 hours straight (every 2 seconds)…I did what the site said with the vicks–it has NOT worked!! just my luck. what am I doing wrong,? I put a lot on her feet-rubbed it in and put socks on her. she’s still coughing after it being on for half an hour now.
Sheila: I can’t answer that. This was submitted in good faith from an email I had received a while ago. Whether it truly works or not remains to be seen.
As you have read in the comments above, there are some testimonies that it has indeed worked. Whether it is part of psychology, part of the menthol fumes that continue to work even if they are on the feet (or maybe because the feet can often generate some sweaty heat of their own), or because of the science of reflexology that believes in the rubbing of the extremities to bring about good health remains to be seen.
Holistic medicine, while frowned upon many in the medical field, has some degree of truths which makes it difficult for those in the medical field to deny in total. Although holistic medicine would probably have you rubbing something other than the simple over the counter Vicks menthol vapor rub, sometimes it is the simple remedies we often forget to try. It has been suggested to me, for my continual allergies problem, to try a Neti Pot. Have you ever heard of such a thing? and, does it truly work???
Perhaps this method merely works for colds yet, when a cold turns into bronchitis, it is no match. Who knows??
I suggest that, if your child is still not responding to this method suggested as a possible help, that you seek other medical remedies just in case it is more severe than what a simple Vicks vapor rub remedy can do on the feet.
My 5 and 8 yr old girls have coughed and carried on for the past 4 days and nights, so I decided to give the feet a good dose of Vicks vapor rub. Almost instantly they BOTH stopped coughing! They are both sleeping peacfully for the first time in nights. Thanks be to God and the Vicks. Not sure why it works, but it was much easier than trying to get them to take any sort of medicine orally.
I had heard about this little miracle from a friend, and I wasn’t really convinced, but I told my mom about it any way. She is ALWAYS coughing at night, and ALWAYS takes cough medicine at night so she can sleep. Last night she tried it for the first time and she was AMAZED, she was so excited this morning that she got a full night sleep. I wish I knew why it worked, that’s why i was trying to “research” it tonight and stumbled on this site. It’s truly amazing!
My 35 year old wife can not take antibiotics for anything. She has had a bad sinus infection and chest cold.
Between chiropractic visits and vicks on the feet at night to keep from coughing she has been fighting this well.
It really does work.
Ok, first I will say, that wow, wasn’t Sue rude. First of all, Snopes generally copies some sort of e-mail that has been circulating and addresses it. They don’t even want you to think that the information originated with them. So, how would Sue know whether you were the original writer or not. Maybe Snopes took it from you. Second, most people could have inferred that you were relaying some information that you got somewhere else without having to have a bibliography page. Third, a blog is public domain but it is someone’s personal thoughts so if you don’t like what you see, don’t read it. Very rude.
Having said that… My daughter was coughing non stop and I tried out this little wives tale….. It worked. I don’t know the science of it but I do know that there are different pressure points on your feet. I’m so glad to know this little “urban legend”.
Dana… Thanks for backing me up regarding Sue’s comment. That being said ….. 🙂
Insofar as the “miracle” of the vicks vapor rub on the feet may be more of the “ancient chinese secret” sort of thing because they seem to be the basis behind much of the feet therapy theories. Who knows????
So long as something seems to work, I am always game to try. I am just wishing that there would be a cure for my horrible allergies. This year seems to be worse than other years past.
Thanks for sharing your testimony. 😀
K
Hi all, wonderful site you have here. I just wanted to let you all know that Vicks on the feet is also a great product for those who snore. My daughters husband read about it somewhere, (I don’t know where) so he told her about it. She snores as bad as the rest of my family of heavy deep loud raise the roof kind of snorers. She tried it that night and he said that was the best nights sleep HE got in a long time, lol. She did not have that loud snore and has been using it since. We are having a sleep over birthday party with about 12 kids tonight she has told me she WILL put vicks on my feet also tonight so everyone else will be able to sleep, lol. Give it a try it won’t hurt.
The vicks thing on the feet has always worked for me. First time I tried it on my two year old and she coughed none that night. Tonight my 4 year old was coughing every breath. He coughed once while I was applying the vicks and that was it. He is resting peacefully. It is worth a try.
I use it on both of my daughters (ages 2 & 4) when they get a cough and also on us adults and it is wonderful!! It completely stopped all night time coughing in a few minutes!!
I’ll have to try it on my husband for the snoring…I REALLY hope it works for that as well!
I tried the vicks on the bottom of my feet and it didn’t work. I’m just getting over the flu and have a bad cough which makes my back and my lungs hurt every time I cough. I think I have more than flu and need and antiboditic to clear this crap up. Thanks for letting me vent.
Amazing…..With the Funk that has been going around this winter, my 2 and 4 year olds have both been hacking up a storm…I’ve tried lots of medicines, but have settled on Honey and then heard about Vapor Rub on the Feet….”what can it hurt” I thought, so we rubbed it on my sons (age 4) feet, put socks on and his cough stopped within 5 minutes…..Today he was diagnosed with Pneumonia. He has been on the Nebulizer and Antibiotics….but couldn’t get to sleep because his hack wouldn’t stop. So we put the Vapor Rub on and his cough has been reduced by 90%- at least. Unfortunate for the last poster, but I swear by it now…..Further, I didn’t have to massage it, and didn’t put any on his chest either.
I heard about this from a co-worker after I was up all night coughing (which is my typical symptom when I get a cold always in the chest and heavy cough). I was willing to try anything to get a restful nights sleep, to my amazement this remedy worked for me. Within 10 minutes I wasn’t coughing and could actually lay flat without fear of hacking my head off all night. It’s definitely worth trying!
Vicks VapoRub is a miracle cough healer. I tried this myself a few months ago and it truly works. Not only that Vicks helped my cough at night, it also soothed and softened the bottom of my feet. Hmmm…spa treatment.
A nephew once said that his mom (my sister) traumatized him as a child because whenever he contracted a cold or was ill, she would rub Vicks all over his body that his shirt would stick to his skin. He also said, “when I have kids of my own, I’m going to Vicks them.”
I’ll just have to wait and see if my nephew does this or not.
I have had a CHRONIC cough day and night for over 3 weeks. It is stopping me sleeping. I have never heard of this before so right now I have it on. Will let you all know the results!
It works!
Have a bad cold and of course coughing always intensifies at night, so for the past week I’ve been up half the night in coughing fits… and last night decided to try the “vicks on feet” suggestion- all I know is that i slept the night through without coughing… so whether it was in my head or not, I’m sold and will try it again.
BTW- cold is still here this morning so wasn’t that I got over the cold coinsidentally at same point of trying vicks…
anyway- good health to you!
Hi,
The soles of the feet are very good receptors for homeopathics. I use pure geranium oil across the balls of my feet to combat allergies…hayfever, cat dander, you name it. It works.
I think the circulation from the feet probably has something to do with it. If you don’t believe me, try this. If you take a peeled clove of garlic and stick it between your big toe and your second toe, you will taste garlic in your mouth in 26 seconds, the time it takes for the blood to circulate. But don’t kiss anyone afterwards!
Anyways, I was doing a search on the effectiveness of the Vicks Vapor Rub on the feet for my son, who has been coughing non stop all day. He probably has a nasal drip. I will let you know how we fare.
In the Southern Philippines, we rub Vicks Vaporub on the chest and back for cough control. And lately, my two year old grandson used it all over her mother…for minimizing insect bite itchiness.
It also smothers tiny red mites locally called “tungaw” that burrows into the scrotum and in the armpits.
Just a follow up on my previous post. Perlas, the ophthalmologist mother of my Justin, two year old grandson was not bitten by insects…my grandson was the one. But he decided to treat his mother as a game before he went to sleep.
http://www.snopes.com/medical/homecure/vaporub.asp
Ironically, I got the Vick’s email while out at dinner with my husband, a dinner where I had said to him, “Remind me to use some Vick’s tonight as I didn’t have it with me the past week (was out of town) and have had a miserable time the past few nights with a runny nose unlike any I’ve ever had before, plus I was coughing terribly this morning and would like to try to avoid that happening again.”
Now I didn’t really have a cough when I applied the Vick’s to my feet…I had congestion and a runny nose. I applied the Vick’s very lightly to the bottoms of my feet and put on socks at 9:50 PM. At 10:10 PM, I had one cough. My husband came to bed at around 1:20 AM and I had one cough again a few minutes after that, but other than those two coughs, no coughs, and more importantly (for me given my symptoms), no runny nose and a FANTASTIC night of sleep! Only problem was I was exhausted the next day and slept till 3:30 PM!!! I’ve never had the “sleep like you ate the witch’s apple” deal with any drug I’ve used before (not that I’ve used many, mind you), including not with Vick’s used in the traditional manner or a Vick’s plug-in. But my cold was GONE, completely, and in only a few days and since early childhood, my colds have always taken at least 7 days from start to finish and this one was only the few days before the one night of the rub on my feet and that was it.
I’ve always been a skeptical person, but also open to test things that are easily testable. This could have all been coincidence. Psychological I don’t buy as “snot ain’t going to just disappear in a few minutes’ time from thinking it away” (at least I don’t think so), but coincidence I haven’t ruled out completely yet. You can be sure that the next time I have a cold, though, I will try the feet method before going back to the product directions and applying it to my chest. Unless some email tells me applying it to my chest will give me more perky breasts…I can always change my mind and method if new information comes in! 🙂
I have it on right now …. I have tried it for the first time tonight.. and it definitely works!!!
I tried this last night and it worked! I also put Vick’s on my chest and neck, so I’m sure that helped a little too. But I had seen emails circulating about the “Vick’s on feet with socks” cough remedy and also heard from 2 friends that it worked for them! So sure enough, I tried it and I slept all through the night. I will do it again every night until this cough/cold is gone.
Hey, my son is 6 and has always had problems with bad coughs at night when he gets a cold, the dr.s always put him on sometime of syrup which doesnt work. He is also on some medication for adhd and I am worried about giving him certain otc medicines anyway, I told my mother about this horrible cough he’s had for the past two nights and she said that she heard about this vicks on the feet thing, he’s gone to school now, but I cant wait for bedtime tonight to try this out!! Thanks everyone for your positive comments! Hope it works for him as well as you all!!!
This is soooooo old, when I was a kid mom used vicks with wool socks on all 6 of us kids feet to stop the cough, and yes it works! Not sure why the email got this old remedy out in the spot light but it dates back 50+ years that I can attest to, we have used it on our kids and they use it on our grand kids. It’s been a household remedy for over 100 years, and just a note of trivia the invertor of vicks was also the first junk mailer… go figure!
Active Ingredients:
Camphor 4.8% (Cough suppressant and topical analgesic)
Eucalyptol 1.2% (Cough suppressant)
Menthol 2.6% (Cough suppressant and topical analgesic)
Inactive Ingredients
Cedarleaf oil
Nutmeg oil
special Petrolatum
Turpentine oil
—————————————————————————
Russ
I could feel the soothing effects of the Vicks VapoRub almost immediately. I slept better than I had in a while: no cough AND no hot flashes! This seemed to be true for two nights straight. I’m going to try it again and see if the results are the same. Would be a great find to relieve the nighttime hot flashes!
Had a bad cough a few weeks back, didn’t know about the “vicks” treatment, now I probably won’t get another cold so I can try it…I can tell you this though, that stuff works great on HEMROIDS ahhhh……
My 2 year old son had the common cold, but then he developed a heavy cough. He was in the middle of a “coughing fit” when I remembered the email about vicks vapor rub. Out of sheer desperation, I rubbed the vicks on his feet, covered them with socks, and yes, it worked! He didn’t cough the rest of the night. The same thing happened the next night, so the third night I rubbed the vicks on before he went to sleep, and believe it or not, he didn’t cough once during the night. I am now a believer!
just wanting to know has anyone ever tried vicks vapor rub for numbness and poor circulation in legs and feet i am a diabetic and have those problems ,,,would appreciate any info anyone has on this thank you very much.
I have been having severe leg cramps for years. I decided to try putting vicks on my feet because a friend told me that it helps with muscle aches. After trying everything I could find and all medications from the Doctor, I have finally found something that helps. Almost no leg cramps now for about 2 months. Usually about 1 week out of every month I have cramps so bad that I am up and down about 10 times a night. It is now maybe 1 or 2 times a month. This is the best thing I have ever found.
Ahhhh… that’s great Deborah that it is helping with you. You might want to look at adding more magnesium in your diet though. I have leg cramps at times too and I have to look at my diet to make sure that I’m not leaving out some key things in the dietary consumption.
i WAS RECENTLY IN THE HOSPITAL FOR PNEUMONIA BUT ALSO HAVE C O P D i WAS USING THE VICKS NOSE INHALER AND THE DOCTOR SAID DON;T USE THAT VICKS BUT i DIDN’T HAVE TIME TO ASK HIM WHY? CAN YOU TELL ME THE INGREDIENTS THAT COULD BE HARMFUL TO ME. ? THANKS GERRY
I don’t know the ingredients. The best thing would be to contact the manufacturer of Vicks Vapor Rub and ask them for the MSMR sheet that delineates all the ingredients of their product.
this is another one the most ridiculous home remedy spams that is plaguing the internet. they claim scientists, but never mention who discovered it, where they might work, or even what field of work they are in. NOTHING!!!!
STOP BELIEVING EVERYTHING YOU READ ON THE INTERNET!!!!
NOTICE, no scientist(s) name(s), no university department of science name, and no link to published findings and studies on the subject.
this article is pure absurdity, i don’t care how many people say that it does work, until i have some kind of evidence to prove that it actually does work, you can take this stupid claim and shove it right up your anal cavity.
(i am a 9 ft tall native american who juggles midgets for a sideshow in the outer city of dallas and i am connected to the internet through my mailbox) <<<< better believe it because "it works 100% of the time although the scientists at the Canada Research council (who discovered it) aren’t sure why."
i personally searched for this research and found this link indicating and i quote, "The e-mail suggests that NRC conducted research comparing the effectiveness of prescription cough medicines in children to alternative therapies such as acupressure. However, our databases indicate that no such studies involving Vicks VapoRub have been done at NRC. It is rare for NRC to perform research on alternate applications of medications."
link
http://www.nrc-cnrc.gc.ca/eng/news/nrc/2007/06/07/foot-cough.html
METAL BLOOD
(stopping the moronic fallacy of claiming fake scientific studies online, one post at a time)
Any idea of how I’m able to stop snoring ever since I fell pregnant I seem to snore all of the time.
I wish I could tell you how to stop snoring, Angelo!
I’m not a doctor… I just passed along an interesting “fact” that I came across. Many folks seem to find this remedy with Vicks Vapor Rub seems to be favorable, though. 🙂
I swear by this and it can’t be a coincidence or due to rubbing the feet because it works every time! My son has a persistent cough that doesn’t stop once he starts and it kept him up and us many nights, as soon as I tried the Vick’s on the feet it stopped and he slept all night, it’s truly fantastic.
Ahhhh…
Great to hear another great testimony! 😀
My son’s grandmothers (a mexican and the american) have now both insisted i try this. My step mom of course says vicks but the other grandma says eucalyptus alcohol and aloe mixed with chamomile flowers. Me cheating i’ll just go for the baby rub and hope it works. Wish me luck because my 12 month old has been up coughing for nights.
Oh, I hope that you had good luck with it.
My daughter was diagnosed with pneumonia this morning. All day today she really hasn’t been coughing…but I’ve been giving her the Amoxycilin she was prescribed and doing her albuterol inhaler & nebulizer breathing treatments…as soon as she went to sleep, the coughing started acting up immediately. I was getting worried because the nebulizer wasn’t doing much for her coughing. I came across this site after googling and so I tried the Vicks VapoRub on the bottoms of her feet and covered her feet with socks and she has literally stopped coughing as soon as I put the Vicks on her feet. I’m just amazed that it actually worked. She’s sleeping peacefully and cough-free and I’m so grateful I found this site. Thanks!!! I never knew of this remedy, but I sure will start using it on all of my kids and I will be spreading the word to my family & friends =) !!!
Another voice of victory! lol…
I’m so glad to hear that it has also worked for you. Some “wives tell” type remedies that seem out there at times, seem to have an underlying truth to them at times. Hope she’s doing much better now. 😀
It works!!!!! Did not cough all night.
Awesome! I’m glad it worked for you!! 😀
Ok I thought it was a tad nuts and I read it on snopes and what not when my daughter first caught Crup Cough two years ago she was on breathing treatments and could not even talk without coughing. So I tried it and was amazed now when the annual reoccurance of the crup comes around fighting it now as a matter of a fact the vapo rub gets rubbed into the feet. She was just coughing non stop I gave her honey she threw it right up as she went into a coughing fit I put the vapo rub on the feet and 30 min of no cough shes finally resting well YAY! Love the vapo rub on the feet
Worked for me, I was amazed and truly grateful. I am so glad I ran across your site. Thanks.
Thanks to all for the information! We’re trying it on our 8 month old grandson – hope it helps. Happy New Year 2012!!!
It works! Our family is from Puerto Rico and we have alway done it My four year old son has a cough and i just rubbed his feet with vicks and put socks on i also put some on his chest. In less than two minutes he stopped coughing and was out for the night!!!!
The only thing the doctor told my mom was not to stuff her nose with it cause we use to do that too, 🙂
I have used Vick’s for years and everyone I have ever told about Vick’s has had good results as well. I don’t really believe that modern medicine would find that Vick’s would work. After all there is no money in curing people only treating them……..Why would they endorse something that would not bring people to them for treatment? Home remedies work very well for me and my family. I am going to keep using them and save my money thank you.
Hi, Thank you for the follow …
Vicks … has been in my family forever ! a home remedy that i have passed onto my kids – they say temp help for chests,throats and aches/pains -nasal steam-add hotwater to some Vicks