The Homeopathic Cough Remedies! Let’s Differentiate a Few!

As we know, more than the diagnosis of any given case, symptoms of the case are important while treating any case homeopathically. You do not attribute the successful case taking to considering the signs and symptoms of the disease per say but the characteristic symptoms on physical, mental, and emotional planes of the sufferer. This makes homeopathy more of an art, as the homeopathic physician has to possess tact to seek these details from the patient with the help of careful history taking.

Here we are going to see one of the common symptoms “COUGH” in its various aspects and homeopathic approach to a patient of cough.

Cough as a Protective Reflex-

The “COUGH” is one such symptom that can be associated with variety of disorders ranging from common cold to asthma. Primarily ‘cough’ is a protective reflex instituted by higher centers in brain. So, actually coughing means that you are driving out the unnecessary toxins present in the body or the body is trying to get rid of those toxins by forceful and natural expectoration. Therefore, this discretion, whether the cough is due to some kind of reflex activity by the body or an exaggerated form of this reflex, needs to be verified before treating any patient with cough.

Do not treat each and all cases presenting with mild to moderate cough with medicines. Understand the necessity behind this cough reflex. Many times, physicians do a big mistake of treating a protective cough that is insinuated by the lungs to throw off the sputum produced as a result of some infection or allergy. This cough if helps the person to reduce his chest congestion when in moderate degrees. The fine line of demarcation to recognize between a patient protected by cough reflex and a patient needing cough treatment comes with the academic qualification and practice; one who possesses that excels no doubt!

Classification of ‘Cough’-

Most rough classification of cough can be- (1) Dry cough and (2) Wet cough. Most obviously dry cough is the one in which there is little or no expectoration while coughing; however the cough reflex can be severe enough to bother the patient through his day to day activities. If sputum comes, the patient has to try hard to evacuate his lungs in this dry variety. In wet variety, usually easy sputum production occurs and the patient spits many times to feel at ease. In either case, there can be wheezes depending upon the patient’s constitutional tendencies. Crepitations are usually heard with wet variety.

Though varied causes of cough can be given ranging from seasonal bronchitis to low immunity due to AIDS, when we treat homeopathically, rarely we need to consider the diagnostic aspect in any patient, because we have our exceedingly powerful weapons ready in the form of similarly acting homeopathic medicines. These medicines however have to be chosen very carefully to end the spells of cough in the patient and impart a lasting relief.

Let’s consider some of the most important “Cough-Remedies” homeopathy offers—

(1) Spongia-

-         This is one of the crucial remedies for dry coughs

-         Gasping cough with feeling as if he is breathing through sponge

-         Great anxiety accompanying cough with heavy breathing, palpitations

-         Hollow sounding cough without sputum associated with fullness in chest

-         Tight croupy varieties with sawing, barking cough

-         Worse- talking, touching larynx region, signing, swallowing, cold drinks, thinking of cough, night after head touches the pillow (or worse after sleep/ sleeps into aggravation), sweets, mental excitement

-         Better by eating, drinking warm drinkss

(2) Antimonium tart-

-         Cough resulting after eating sour fruit, especially in a child

-         Huge secretion of mucus; mother tells his chest makes wheezy sounds at night

-         Despite lot of secretion, has to exert a lot to expectorate

-         Whining and moaning before coughing

-         Clinging tendency in the children suffering from recurrent colds coughs

-         Craving for apples

-         Icy cold finger tips

-         Excessive sleepiness and drowsiness

-         Incessant sweating with suffocative feeling in chest

-         Coughing and yawning alternately

-         Worse- anger, warm room, lying down, mornings, overeating

-         Better- expectoration, vomiting, sitting erect

(3) Ipecac-

-         Loose cough with rattling in chest

-         Bronchopneumonia with bloody sputum

-         Entire system pervaded by a nauseating feeling that gets aggravated as he coughs

-         Tightness pf chest and larynx with spasm of vocal cords

-         Gasping for breath with asthmatic breathing

-         Incessant suffocative cough with paroxysms of retching, vomiting

-         He kind of stiffens with each paroxysm of cough, with each breath, turns red or bluish and finally gags and vomits but nausea still prevails

-         Marked periodicity

-         Worse- warmth, dampness, pork, rich food

-         Better open air

(4) Arsenicum album-

-         Alternate dry and wet cough

-         Must sit up and bend forward as he is short of breath

-         Whistling inspiration with wheezy chest

-         Excessive restlessness with cough or asthmatic breathing

-         After an attack, extreme prostration out of proportion to the illness

-         After 12 o’clock at night, springs out of the bed due to shortness of breath and then inability to lie down for fear of suffocation

-         Associated with cold sweat and debility

-         Worse- cold drinks, cold food, cold air, after vegetables, bad meat, suppressed eruptions, tobacco, exertion

-         Better- elevating head, sweating, movement, hot food and hot drinks

(5) Argentum met-

-         Hoarseness of voice with cough of professional singers and speakers

-         Total loss of voice

-         Throat of larynx feel raw or sore on swallowing or coughing

-         Laughing excites cough and produces profuse mucus

-         Has to hem and hawk while talking

-         Cough with easy expectoration of gelatinous mucus with too much  viscidity that looks like boiled starch

-         Great weakness of chest worse on left side

-         At the bifurcation of trachea, feels a raw spot

-         Worse- using voice, mental strain, noon, 3 to 5 am

-         Better- coffee, wrapping up, movement

(6) Squilla-

-         Stubborn coughs with rattling

-         Associated frequently with sneezing, coryza, watery discharge

-         Urine spurts while coughing

-         Cough ends in a gag

-         Easy heavy expectoration with stitches in chest

-         Pleurisy

-         Heat in chest

-         Absence of sweat

-         Worse- early morning, evening, movement, uncovering

-         Better by wrapping up