HOMEOPATHIC REMEDIES FOR COUGHS AND COLDS
A cough is a protective reflex action of your body to try to clear mucus or irritants from your airways. It is therefore worth noting that whilst we do want to support the body to heal, it is not always wise to ‘suppress’ symptoms as this can drive dis-ease further into the body. Homeopathy and Herbal Medicine can be wonderful tools to assist the body to re-balance and recover, as well as provide much needed symptomatic relief.
Asthma, allergies, viral infections and bacteria are all common causes of coughs.
Mainly, there are two types of cough: Dry or chesty / wet coughs:
Dry coughs do not produce mucus; people may describe them as dry or thick. These coughs are more likely to be located in the larynx/throat but can also be located in the lungs, they are coughs that irritate the lungs and throat.
Wet coughs produce an excess of mucus or phlegm, also called chesty coughs. However, a cough in the throat can also produce an excess of mucus.
REMEMBER WHEN CHOOSING A REMEDY!
Just remember to know what type of cough you are treating, as it will become important when choosing a remedy.
The remedies we choose need to have a similar sphere of action and similar symptoms to the ones you have, so if you or your child have a dry cough, you will need to choose remedies that are “dry” in nature for those symptoms. ie the Law of Similars is a key homeopathic principle.
Also consider if the cough is hacking, incessant, or worse in the morning or during the night. Make note of what is striking or specific about that particular cough, ie what makes it better or worse.
Often, a common cause of a cough can be a cold, so also have a look at some homeopathic remedies that work very nicely with coughs if you are suffering with a cold or flu.
ACUTE DOSING HOMEOPATHY FOR COUGH AND COLD
For acute coughs, you can repeat the remedies 3 times per day or every 3 hours, depending on the urgency and intensity of the cough. If there is no improvement in 3 doses, choose another remedy that matches your symptoms.
Most coughs respond well to 30c which you will most likely have in your first aid or home prescribing homeopathic kit. Individual remedies can be found here.
HOMEOPATHY FOR DRY COUGHS
BRYONIA 30 is suited for dry, hacking coughs that are hard and very painful. Cough with a feeling that the chest would fly into pieces, must support/hold the chest.
Stitching pain in the chest, worst for inhaling, is another indication of this remedy. This cough is worse by eating or drinking and moving around, and the person can be very irritable.
ARSENICUM ALBUM 30, this cough comes with shortness of breath. You may be unable to lie down and need to sit up. Whistling and wheezy breathing. Very little expectoration with the cough. Cough alternating dry and loose. Better by coffee or drinking sweet things, and cough is worse by odours, laughing, going up the stairs or turning in bed. Feeling very anxious about it.
PULSATILLA 30 is typically a dry cough during the day and night but a productive loose cough upon waking with yellow or greenish expectoration. This remedy is also helpful for coughs that feel like oppression on the chest, as you may feel short of breath by a load. The discharge from this cough is thick, slimy, sweet, saltish, and bitter as it loosens up. The cough is also worse when coming into a warm room and lying down. You may need to sit in bed to get relief at night. Often at the tail end of a cold, ie stage 2 or 3. Children needing this remedy may become quite needy and want “mum time” 24 hours a day! Parents complain they can not put the child down or do anything in the house.
HEPAR-SULPH 30, 200 the cough of this remedy is loose and rattling with slight expectoration of thick yellow phlegm The cough is loose but can not expectorate. The cough tends to come on when any body part gets cold or uncovered. For instance, you may need to cover your mouth with a scarf when you go out to prevent coughing. Hacking cough. The child or baby may cry before each cough. Hoarseness, loss of voice. Recurring bronchitis with every cold. This type of cough is worse by cold, dry air and draughts and uncovering.
RUMEX 30 This is for tickly coughs that feel like ” a feather or dust” in the throat pit. Dry, teasing cough during the day or at night prevents sleep. The type of sound with this cough is often a barking cough. This cough is often aggravated by cold air, so for instance, in situations like taking a breath of cold air, talking or changing temperatures from warm to cold or cold to warm.
HOMEOPATHY FOR WET COUGHS
PHOSPHORUS 30, this cough can be dry or loose, and people needing this remedy tend to suffer from colds that quickly descend to the chest. It is first dry and tight, then with a lot of expectoration and a feeling of constriction in the chest. The dry cough is hard, tickling in the throat, and it is worst by cold air, laughing, talking or going from warm into cold air. The Phos cough is very irritating to the trachea. The wet cough brings up transparent mucus in the morning after rising or the mucus, in general, can be purulent, rusty or blood coloured. They may also be feelings of tightness across the chest.
ANTIMONIUM TARTARICUM 30, with this cough, there is a lot of rattling in the chest, but there is little expectoration. This remedy affects the bronchi and lungs, causing a great accumulation of mucus. The chest feels full. This is a loose cough where the bronchial tubes seem to be overloaded with mucus. This cough can be accompanied by nausea. Respiration can be difficult and laboured. This remedy is for well-established chesty coughs. It is not a remedy that you will think of at the beginning of a cold. You will use this more towards the end when the person can not clear the amount of mucus and is pooling in the bronchi making it more prone to developing bacterial infections. This is a good remedy for chest infections in conjunction with other remedies.
Ant tart is the chronic counterpart of IPECAC. So if your wet cough has now gone deeper, think of ANT TART.
IPECAC 30, is for an incessant and violent cough which tends to end in gagging and vomiting. There is so much mucus that the cough is suffocative with a constrictive feeling in the chest. A cough that has lasted a long time and been neglected will sometimes be benefited from Ipecac.
DROSERA 30 periodical fits of rapid, deep barking or choking prolonged incessant cough. It takes the breath away. A deep hoarse voice that requires exertion to speak. Asthma when talking. Retching and vomiting of ingesta, then mucus. Tickling like a feather or crumb in the larynx. Dry irritating cough can be worse after talking or laughing, after midnight and lying down.
And if the cough is brought by a viral infection and you are on the first couple of days with it, these remedies for first-stage fevers and viral infections may be helpful.
COUGHS WITH DIFFICULT EXPECTORATION
CAUSTICUM 200 cough hollow, dry and hard with pain in the chest. Purring in the chest. Better by drinking sips of cold water. Worse at 3-4 am or in the evening. It feels like you can not cough deep enough to expect or bring up phlegm. The phlegm slips back again. Chest tight. Short of breath before coughing.
HEPAR-SULPH 30, 200 the cough of this remedy is loose and rattling with slight expectoration of thick yellow phlegm
BANERJI PROTOCOLS TIP FOR COUGH AND BRONCHITIS
1-Ipecac 30 for wet or chesty cough and asthmatic coughs
2-Hepar Sulph 200 for drier coughs on the throat
3-Bryonia 30+Aconite 200 for bronchitis. This is also a good remedy for painful coughs, productive coughs and Bronchiectasis.
4-Cheledinium 6x for coughs that are deep-seated on the chest. This is a good remedy for coughs in Pneumonia or coughs that arise from infection.
5-Kali Iod 6c to alleviate asthmatic coughs in conjunction with any other remedy
6-Ipecac 30+Cuprum Met 6c for whooping cough
BOENNINGHAUSEN’S TRIO OF HOMOEOPATHIC REMEDIES FOR CROUP
Croup is the name used for an upper respiratory infection accompanied by a barking cough. The child with croup will have a barking cough and might make a rasping noise -called stridor- when they breathe in. Croup is fairly common in children that are 6 months to 3 years old and can get parents very frightened because it looks as if the child is suffocating. It is caused by a viral infection that inflames the respiratory ways causing that type of cough.
*if the child is in distress and you do not get relief from the remedies, you should get medical attention*
KEYNOTES OF THE TRIO OF REMEDIES
ACONITE 200
This is always the 1st remedy for the beginning of croup.
The child is suddenly awake out of sleep with that barking cough. It is dry, loud with no expectoration. The onset of the cough is sudden at night and can also start with a fever.
The breathing is loud, especially the inspiration effort.
This remedy should not be stopped soon, or the cough will return the following night.
One dose every 2 hours for a couple of days until the cough is gone.
SPONGIA 200
This one is always coming after ACONITE.
The breathing is harsh, making a sound like a saw going through wood or a seal bark.
It looks like the child is breathing through a sponge.
Hoarseness with the cough. The child may grasp his throat when waking up at night from sleep. At this point, the cough brings very little expectoration making the chest feel tight.
Cough better drinking or eating especially warm drinks. The cough is worse before 12:00 am at night.
HEPAR SULPHUR 200
This is the 3rd remedy that follows Spongia if the croup is not improving.
The cough at this point will be worse in the morning.
The cough will have a certain amount of moisture and the cough has a “loose edge”.
Here must be some looseness of the cough to indicate Hepar.
HOW TO USE THE BOENNINGHAUSEN’S TRIO
Above are the keynotes of the most indicated remedies in croup and the following protocol proves to be very useful This is the protocol as per Boenninghausen’s instructions.
The protocol was sold as the 5 croup powders and required to be taken in a certain order: Aconite- Aconite- Spongia- Spongia- Hepar
These are his instructions in The Lesser Writings; O. F. Boenninghausen ‘MY TREATMENT OF MEMBRANOUS CROUP’
Give Aconite 200 first, this is the first remedy to take from this trio.
Wait and if necessary, give another dose every 2 hours.
After 2 hours, give Spongia 200 if needed.
Repeat Spongia 200 after 3 hours if needed
If cough returns and does not change, move to Hepar S 200
This may not happen all in a sequence, but it can happen in one night, over a few nights or repeated for several nights.
It should improve, and each night it should get better.