Coughing

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Coughing

While a person hacking away doesn’t sound particularly healthy, coughing is actually quite beneficial. It is the body’s instinctive, highly effective way of keeping the lungs and airways clear.

Coughing flushes out mucus when we’ve caught colds and helps us catch our breath when food or drink takes a wrong turn. There’s also the famous, dangerous “smoker’s cough,” a seemingly inevitable consequence of years on the pack that can signal serious problems. The natural remedies in this chapter—used in conjunction with medical care and with your doctor’s approval—may help relieve coughing and its symptoms, according to some health professionals.

See Your Medical Doctor When... Your cough is accompanied by shortness of breath. You cough up phlegm tinged with blood. Your phlegm is very thick and won’t come up easily. You develop a persistent, hacking cough on top of another illness. Your cough lasts for more than one week.

Acupressure

Acupressure on the chest can help relax the body and relieve coughing, says Michael Reed Gach, Ph.D., director of the Acupressure Institute in Berkeley, California, and author of Acupressure’s Potent Points. With the middle fingers of both hands, press the K 27 points, situated in the depressions directly below the protrusions on the left and right sides of the collarbone. (For help in locating these points, refer to the illustration on page 564.) Dr. Gach says to continue pressing for a few minutes until the cough subsides.

Ayurveda

For a cough with a hoarse voice, mix ¼ teaspoon of black pepper into 1 teaspoon of ghee, or clarified butter, and take the mixture on a full stomach, says Vasant Lad, B.A.M.S., M.A.Sc., director of the Ayurvedic Institute in Albuquerque, New Mexico. (See “How to Make Ghee” on page 26 for the recipe for ghee.) For a cough without hoarseness, Dr. Lad says to mix ¼ teaspoon of black pepper with 1 teaspoon of honey, also taking the mixture on a full stomach. Take the appropriate mixture three times a day for three to five days.

Pepper may not seem like a throat-soothing remedy, but when it’s mixed with ghee, Dr. Lad says it helps coat the throat and restore balance to the lungs. Black pepper is also pungent and heating, he says, helping rid the body of mucus. (Taken more frequently or in larger amounts, however, it may actually increase mucus instead, according to Dr. Lad.) And, he explains, pepper increases pitta energy, which helps push out hoarseness and cough. (See “All about Vata, Pitta and Kapha” on page 28 for information about the doshas of Ayurveda.)

Herbal Therapy

Most cough drops contain oils from herbs, including eucalyptus, peppermint, anise and fennel, says Varro E. Tyler, Ph.D., professor of pharmacognosy at Purdue University in West Lafayette, Indiana. According to Dr. Tyler, these herbs stop coughing by increasing the production of saliva, which makes you swallow more frequently, suppressing the cough reflex. He says you can get similar results by drinking a tea made from one of these herbs, which you can purchase in most health food stores. To make a tea, steep one to two teaspoons of the herb in a cup of boiling water for 3 to 15 minutes, depending on the part of the plant you’re using. (For roots, steep 15 minutes; for seeds, steep 10 to 15 minutes; and for leaves, steep 3 to 10 minutes.) Then strain the mixture to remove the dried herb, let the tea cool to a drinkable temperature and drink. Dr. Tyler says you can drink three to four cups a day of any of these teas, sipping it slowly throughout the day at 15- to 30-minute intervals. If you’re using a tea bag, follow the dosage recommendations on the product.

Slippery elm is another anti-cough herb, says Dr. Tyler, but it stops the cough reflex by forming a protective and soothing layer around the irritated mucous membranes of your throat. You can find slippery elm teas and lozenges in most health food stores. Dr. Tyler recommends following the dosage recommendations on the label of the product you buy.

A few other anti-cough herbs are what herbalists call expectorants—that is, the herbs thin the cough-causing mucus, so you can expectorate (spit, to us nonherbalists) it out any way you choose. Horehound is probably the most effective and best tasting of these herbs, according to Dr. Tyler, and many people use horehound hard candies as cough lozenges. You can also find horehound tea bags in most health food stores.

Homeopathy

Go for a combination remedy called Chestal, suggests Mitchell Fleisher, M.D., a family practitioner and homeopath in Colleen, Virginia. “It’s a good combination remedy to try because all of the remedies in it are well-indicated for a typical cough,” he explains. He says to take Chestal according to the directions on the product label.

Or try one of the following 30C remedies that best fits your individual symptoms, says Judyth Reichenberg-Ullman, N.D., a naturopathic physician in Edmonds, Washington, and co-author of The Patient’s Guide to Homeopathic Medicine. If you have a dry, raspy cough that is worsened by talking or drinking cold beverages, Dr. Reichenberg-Ullman suggests taking Spongia tosta once or twice daily until you begin to feel better. She says Drosera, also taken once or twice daily, is another good remedy that can relieve a gagging, spasmodic cough that is worsened by eating or drinking. And if you have a cough that causes a tickle in your throat and seems to get worse when you lie down, she recommends trying Rumex once or twice daily.

All of these homeopathic remedies are available in many health food stores. To purchase the remedies by mail, refer to the resource list on page 637.

Hydrotherapy

Inhaling steam relieves throat irritation and loosens mucus in the lungs, according to Charles Thomas, Ph.D., a physical therapist at the Desert Springs Therapy Center in Desert Hot Springs, California, and co-author of Hydro therapy: Simple Treatments for Common Ailments. Here’s his recommendation for a steam treatment that you should do two to four times a day until your cough subsides: Begin with a pot full of boiling water. Take the pot off the stove and let it cool, so no active boiling is taking place (if the water is actively boiling, you can scald your face and respiratory tract). Hold your face about a foot away from the pot, and cover your head and shoulders with a towel to trap the steam. Inhale for up to 30 minutes. You can also add a few drops of eucalyptus oil to the water for a soothing effect, according to Dr. Thomas. Eucalyptus oil is available in most health food stores.