COUGHS and Croup- HOW TO TREAT THEM NATURALLY

Homeopathic remedies for cough

​A cough is a protective reflex action of your body to try to clear mucus or irritants from your airways. 

Asthma, allergies viral infections and bacteria are all common causes of coughs.

Mainly, there are two types of cough dry or wet coughs:

1. Dry coughs do not produce mucus and people may describe them as dry or thickly. These coughs are more likely to be located in the larynx but can also be located in the lungs, they are coughs that are irritating to the lungs and throat.
2. Wet coughs are those which produce an excess of mucus or phlegm and they are also called chesty coughs. However, a cough in the throat can also be producing an excess of mucus.

REMEMBER WHEN CHOOSING A REMEDY!

Just remember to know what type of a cough you are treating as it will
become important when trying to choose 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.

​On the other hand, you will also need to know if a cough is hacking, incessant, worse in the morning, during the night. Make notes of what is striking to that particular cough.

Get your free worksheet for working out what questions to ask when choosing a remedy!

​Acute colds and flu can produce coughs that last for weeks, and some coughs are notoriously annoying at night!

If you are suffering from a cough yourself, you will feel grumpy and tired in the morning and if your child is the one with a cough, you will get no rest at night either! 

And the joy of viral infections! they spread like fire so the cough is passed from one member of the family to the next.

There are a large number of remedies that deal with coughs but here are some homeopathic remedies commonly indicated that can help to clear them.

The remedies are the same for children or adults!
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HOMEOPATHIC MEDICINES FOR COUGHS

BRYONIA suited for dry, hacking coughs that are hard and very painful.

Cough with a feeling that the chest would fly into pieces, must support the chest.

Stitching pain in the chest worst for inhaling is another indication for this remedy.

This cough is worse by eating or drinking and by moving around and the person can be very irritable with this cough.

ARSENICUM ALBUM, 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 with it.

PULSATILLA, typically this is 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 by a load and you may feel short of breath.

The discharge from this cough is thick, slimy, sweet, saltish, bitter as it loosens up.

The cough is also worse when coming into a warm room and lying down. At night, you may need to sit up in bed to get relief.

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.

​PHOSPHORUS, this cough can be dry or loose cough and people needing this remedy tend to suffer from colds that quickly descend to the chest. 

It is first dry and tight and then with a lot of expectoration and 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 be also feelings of tightness across the chest.

ANTIMONIUM TARTARICUM, with this cough there is a lot of rattling in the chest but there is little expectoration.

This is a remedy that affects Bronchi and lungs causing great accumulation of mucus.

The chest feels full. This is a loose cough were the bronchial tubes seem to be overloaded with mucus. This cough can be accompanied by nausea.

The respiration can be difficult and laboured.

IPECAC,  this 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 by Ipecac.

DROSERA periodical fits of rapid, deep barking or choking prolonged incessant cough. It takes the  breath away.

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 that can be worse after talking or laughing, after midnight and on lying down.

HEPAR-SULPH the cough of this remedy is loose and rattling with slight expectoration of thick yellow phlegm.

Cough is loose but can not expectorate.

The cough tends to come on when any part of the body gets cold or uncovered. For instance, you may need to cover your mouth with a scarf  when you go out to prevent the cough. 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.

Most coughs respond well to the chosen remedy in 30c repeated 2/3 times per day according to the severity of the symptoms for a 4-5 days.

CAUSTICUM 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 as if you can not cough deep enough to expectorate or bring up phlegm. The phlegm slip back again.

Chest tight. Short of breath before coughing.


​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.
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​BANERJI PROTOCOLS TIP

The Banerjis use the following remedies for coughs:

1. Ipecac 30 for wet or chesty coughs
2. Hepar Sulph 6c for drier coughs
3. Bryonia30+Aconite 200 for a bronchitis cough. This is also a good remedy for  dry coughs in Bronchiectasis 
4. Chelidonium 6x for coughs that are deep seated on the chest where there is some kind of pathology. This is also a good remedy for coughs in Pneumonia   

​BOENNINGHAUSEN'S TRIO OF HOMEOPATHIC REMEDIES FOR CROUP
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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*

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.

HEPAR SULPHUR 200 
This is the 2nd remedy that follows well Aconite if the croup is not improving during the second day.

The cough at this point will be worse towards the morning. 

Aconite and Hepar Sulph are remedies that help with the inflammatory condition.

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.

SPONGIA 30
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 12:00am at night.

HOW TO USE THE ​BOENNINGHAUSEN'S TRIO
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Above are the keynotes of the most indicated remedies in croup but the following protocol, also proves to be very useful if you are unsure of what to give.  

1. ​Give Aconite first, this is the first remedy to take from this trio.
2. Wait and if necessary, give another dose every 2 hours.
3. After 2 hours give Spongia if needed and repeat as needed
4. In the early morning move to Hepar-Sulph if needed and dose every 2 hours.

​Dose every 2 hours as per needed for as long as needed.

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 be improved and each nigh should be better.
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