Cure for Coughs

I've been sick this past week, and all my friends have sudden turned into would-be doctors, giving me advice and medication. Karen dumped a load of Tylenol and Nyquil on me yesterday. Then today, Jen stopped by to instruct me on the best way to cough. The advice was to make sure I spit out the phlegm after each coughing fit so that it won't linger in the throat preventing other phlegm from surfacing. I'm not sure it works, but I do recall the time she practically threw up in a taxi from a coughing fit. I wonder if that was her theory in practice?