What It Is, Signs & Homeopathic Management of Cough
Cough is a common reflex action that clears your throat of mucus or foreign irritants. While everyone coughs to clear their throat from time to time, a number of conditions can cause more frequent coughing.
Do you frequently get attacks of
- Cold?
- Chest discomfort?
- An irritating cough?
- Coughing up of mucus?
A cough that lasts for less than three weeks is an acute cough. Most episodes of coughing will clear up or at least significantly improve within two weeks.
If your cough lasts between three and eight weeks, improving by the end of that period, it’s considered a subacute cough. A persistent cough that lasts more than eight weeks is a chronic cough.
What leads to Coughing?
A cough can be caused by several conditions, both temporary and permanent.
Clearing the throat
Coughing is a standard way of clearing your throat. When your airways become clogged with mucus or foreign particles such as smoke or dust, a cough is a reflex reaction that attempts to clear the particles and make breathing easier.
Usually, this type of coughing is relatively infrequent, but coughing will increase with exposure to irritants such as smoke.
Viruses and bacteria
The most common cause of a cough is a respiratory tract infection, such as a cold or flu.
Respiratory tract infections are usually caused by a virus and may last from a few days to a week. Infections caused by the flu may take a little longer to clear up and can sometimes require Homeopathic medicines.
Smoking
Smoking is a common cause of coughing. A cough caused by smoking is almost always a chronic cough with a distinctive sound. It’s often known as a smoker’s cough.
Asthma
A common cause of coughing in young children is asthma. Typically, asthmatic coughing involves wheezing, making it easy to identify.
Asthma exacerbations should receive treatment using homeopathic medicines. It’s possible for children to grow out of asthma as they get older.
Other conditions
Other conditions that may cause a cough include:
- Damage to the vocal cords
- Postnasal drip
- Bacterial infections such as pneumonia, whooping cough, and croup
- Serious conditions such as pulmonary embolism and heart failure
Another common condition that can cause a chronic cough is gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD). In this condition, stomach contents flow back into the esophagus. This backflow stimulates a reflex in the trachea, causing the person to cough.
Diet and Nutrition
- Dairy products like milk, butter, cheese should be avoided as they increase mucus secretion in the respiratory system.
- Food items such as cold food, cold drinks, ice, ice-creams and aerated drinks should be restricted in consumption.
- Boil a mixture of Bishop’s weed (Ajwain), tea leaves and water and inhale the steam 2-3 times a day
- Gargle with warm water, a pinch of salt and turmeric to sooth the throat.
- Consume fruits, raw vegetables, hot vegetable soups, carrots, bananas, avocado, raspberries, cauliflower, whole grains, unpolished rice and wheat germ, dried beans, peas and soybeans in diet.
- Consume lots of vitamin A-rich foods like carrots and tomatoes, liver oils of fish, as they help in maintaining the integrity of the respiratory mucosa.
- Every morning, a mixture of 1/2 cup water, little ginger, 2-3 leaves of sweet basil (tulsi) and mint leaves should be taken to boost up the immunity.
Home Remedies
- Take steam inhalation 3 or 4 times a day to liquefy the sputum in case of painful and unproductive cough.
- Cigarette smoking should be strictly avoided.
- Wear a face mask if you work in industries where you are constantly exposed to dust, fumes, smoke or other particulate matter.
- If there is any respiratory infection, it should be promptly and efficiently treated.
What is the best treatment for Cough?
Antimonium tartaricum– For suffocating spasmodic cough with a loud rattle in the chest with thick, green mucus that is difficult to expectorate. Cough excited by eating, with pain in chest and larynx. Cough and dyspnoea better lying on right side.
Bryonia– It is suited for stitching tearing pain in chest with dry cough worse at night and after eating or drinking. Cough, with feeling as if chest would fly to pieces with difficult, quick respiration; worse by every movement.
Dulcamara– Indicated in homeopathic treatment for Cough, with excessive secretion of mucus worse in cold, wet weather, and tickling in larynx.
Kali carbonicum– Indicated in cases of dry, hard cough at 3 a.m., with stitching pains in chest. Whole chest feels very sensitive with scanty tenacious expectoration.
It is, however, worthwhile to remember that self-medication is not recommended.
DyCough
DyCough is designed to target specific symptoms of all types of cough, such as a dry, hacking cough or a productive cough with thick mucus. It work by stimulating the body’s natural healing processes and can help to alleviate discomfort while promoting overall respiratory health.
