Coughs Symptoms Remedies

Coughs Symptoms & Remedies

Homeopathy (image)

vaccinations (graphic)

Symptoms & Remedies of Coughs

Coughs - Quick Remedy Spotter:

Loose, wet, rattling: Pulsatilla, Ant Tart, Silica
Dry, chesty: Belladonna, Bryonia, Phosphorus
Croup (or dry, tight cough): Aconite, Spongia, Hepar Sulph
Whooping Cough type: Ipecac, Drosera

A cough is the result of irritation in the air passages, producing mucus. Mucus can drip down the back of the nose to collect in a glob that needs to be coughed up. The purpose of coughing is to expel foreign particles and mucus from the air passages. Cough mixtures do not resolve matters - they just suppress the cough reflex. Antibiotics are virtually useless in clearing up a cough or purulent sputum. Many cases called bronchitis are really only a phlegmy coughs which may sound chesty due to mucus that has dripped down the back of the throat.

Currently, any child presenting to a GP with a wheezing episode, or a cough lasting longer than a few weeks, is likely to be given a diagnosis of asthma. Many children with spasmodic coughs without an audible whoop (on in-breath) are not diagnosed as having whooping cough because they have been immunised. Instead, these cases are called viral asthma.

Routine Care:

Encourage the child to drink, as this will help loosen the mucus. As soon as they are old enough, teach them to cough up the phlegm. A vaporiser or steamy room will help loosen sticky phlegm or deal with a dry croupy cough. Keep the room temperature constant. Avoid suppressing the cough with cough mixture.

If you need to prescribe a remedy, choose the one that best covers the symptoms described in the following sections. Give in 6c or 30c potency 3-4 times a day for two days: if no improvement takes place, consult a qualified homeopath.

Chesty Cough

Antimonium Tartaricum

Persistent cough with rattling chest; can't expectorate
Chilly; sweaty with pale face
Weak; drowsy and breathless; has no strength to cough up phlegm
Too weak to expectorate; suitable for babies and elderly
Worse lying down; feel as if drowning in mucus; better sitting up and expectorating

Bryonia

Keynote symptoms are dryness and feeling worse for movement of any kind
Very common; hard, dry spasmodic cough with soreness in chest or abdomen
Dryness; pleurisy; chest sounds wheezy
Better pressing hand on chest/ribs while coughing, because it hurts
Pounding, bursting headache; worse entering warm room; night; better sitting up
Really worse for any movement, even eating or drinking; hurts to breath deeply
Respiration shallow and panting
Thirsty for cold drinks; gulps quite fast; lips dry; may be constipated
Very irritable; desires to be left alone; doesn't like to be fussed over

Phosphorus

Head cold moving to chest
Dry, tickling, exhausting cough from larynx or further down
Violent tickling in throat while speaking
May be tightness or weight across chest
Worse for cold or cold air; laughing; talking; eating; liquids, especially cold drinks
Thirsty for ice-cold drinks but worse for them
Feels anxious, fearful; may have nosebleeds

Phlegmy Cough

Pulsatilla

The first cough remedy for children
Loose in daytime; can go dry in evening; not thirsty
Thick, yellow/green mucus, from nose and throat
Coughing fits with gagging or choking, with feeling of a weight on chest
Worse lying down as mucous accumulates, therefore disturbs sleep
Weepy; wants sympathy; changeable mood; likes to be cuddled and made fuss of
Craves fresh air; worse in a warm room; evening; lying down

Silica

Use when a rattly cough does not clear up on Pulsatilla, or when it feels as if they haven't the strength to throw it off; lack of stamina
Usually pale, or quiet and floppy
Feel chilly, might want a scarf round their neck; may have very sweaty feet
Nose blocked with yellowish mucus
Throaty, teasing cough
Hearing may be diminished after a cough or cold

Spasmodic Cough

Drosera

Like whooping cough; feels like a feather tickling the throat
Dry, spasmodic croupy cough, barking or ringing; throaty or chesty cough
Larynx inflamed and irritable
Clutching, constricting sensation in throat, and tickling which excites cough
Spasms especially post-midnight; fits of coughing; may end in retching or vomiting
May support chest or abdomen to relieve pain
Cough as soon as lie down; mainly dry, possibly some mucus
Worse eating, and very much worse drinking

Ipecac

Like whooping cough; worse in a warm room
Spasms of incessant coughing ending in retching, gagging or vomiting, with feeling of suffocation or breathlessness
Rapid onset; may be very nauseous

Croup

Aconite - 1st

Early stages of suddenly appearing cough, often after exposure to cold, dry wind
Constant short, dry, hard, cough with croupy sound; "barking"
May wake at night, sit up and grasp throat with hands, with feeling of choking
May look frightened; behaviour anxious and restless
Generally cough is dry or with a little watery mucus
Worse evening pre-midnight; warm room; dry, cold winds; breathing in cold air

Spongia Tosta - 2nd

Most important, use if Aconite hasn't helped
Wakes with suffocating feeling; difficulty breathing; anxious
Loud, dry, barking cough - as a saw going through wood; worse for talking
Chest dry; throat often sensitive to touch
Difficult breathing as if plug in throat
Worse getting excited; talking; lying down; ice-cold drinks; after midnight

Hepar Sulph - 3rd

Dry hoarse cough; or choking rattling croaking cough
Cough worse when part of the body gets cold or uncovered
Feels very irritable and over-sensitive
A good regime for Croup is one dose of Aconite 30c followed by one dose of Spongia 30c 15 minutes later, then one dose of Hepar Sulph 15 minutes after that

Belladonna

Croupy, barking and short - may wake from sleep; very dry-sounding at night
Begins suddenly and very violently, often with feeling of something stuck in throat
Complains of tickling and burning; violent coughing spasms
Often fever with red face, burning heat, cold hands and feet
Worse lying down; noise; motion; jarring; better sitting or standing upright