Every year when I was a smoker I came down with these fucking horrible chest colds. Im not talking the little cough, tickle/bubbly feeling. I'm talking the kind where you feel like you're drowning in mucous, ribs are fuckin bruised from coughing like a war horse and it takes at least 2 weeks to recover from, regardless of antibiotics, zinc or whatever feeble attempt to blast it out you has been tried....kind
Anyway, I thought I had finally gotten lucky. It's been 2+ years since quitting smoking and have not had a chest cold since....Until a few days ago, when I began to recognize that familiar feeling signaling the coming onslaught of misery. Vaping my shit has been 98% outta the question but I remembered I have some menthol I've used for some of my customers (never liked it myself).
Side-bar search turned up very little. Has there even been a recipe created for this situation? Should I consider a menthol type recipe, maybe a soothing lemony menthol some some, or should I just ride this motherfucker out?
Just remember that menthol acts on the mucus membranes by activating the cold receptors. i.e. it tricks your brain into thinking that menthol is cold, but it is actually not. (same as Capsaicin makes it feel hot)
We associate cold air with inhaling a lot of 'fresh' air, so we get the impression that we can breathe better - but nothing is actually happening. If menthol actually did something then it would be prescribed to asthma sufferers by the gallon :)
Having said that, it has been proven that a placebo will be effective even when you know it is a placebo :)
Just up your fluid intake - the more hydrated you are the 'runnier' the mucus will be and the easier it will come out and not clog you up
EDIT: Just wanted to add, I was the same as you, got my chest cold once a year like clockwork. Since I've been vaping (past 3 years) I've had one and it has been a lot milder than when I was smoking - dunno if you're fully into your's yet, but would be interesting to hear if you experience the same
I recently had a chest-cold-sort-of-thing too so I get where you're coming from, sucks totally. I think for me it's mostly about finding something that's really easy to vape, little throat hit and not too heavy on the lungs. Best recipe I had to vape was a banana & cinnamon cream, though I doubt this is the best one you could do. I might recommend something with eucalyptus? Could try to emulate like a Ricola or Luden's cough drop. You'd prob still need to go light on the menthol/eucalyptus/whatever so it's not overbearing on your chest. Another option is straight VG since it will probably be easy on the throat. Lemon sounds nice but I would think the citric acid or whatever would be a little harsh. I tried making a lemon meringue pie and it was too harsh for me while I was sick.
Another thing to keep in mind is that you want a set-up/juice that isn't going to produce sh*t tons of vapor since this is part of why I feel I was feeling awful. I landed on walking pneumonia as the ailment, so extra moisture in my lungs probably wasn't a good thing. Let me know what you come up with, I'd like to find a good sick-time vape!
Same happened with me a couple months ago. 2 years after starting vaping. It was the longest I've ever gone without getting a cold. I whipped up a watermelon menthol juice and bought a bunch of halls. The juice actually worked great instead of taking halls every 20 mins. I found it really soothed my throat. I used it in my old ijust 2 battery with a subtank mini with rba coil and went full MTL for a few days.