Coughs are the way our bodies try to clear something out of our throats, airways or lungs.
There could be a tickle in our throats. We may have chocked on something, food or just swallowed the wrong way. And then we cough. It could just be one cough, or an outgoing coughing spell. The cough could be loose and wet, or dry and hard. A hard cough can be very painful, and tiring. Mucus/phlegm of different colours or thicknesses could be coughed up. Even blood could be coughed up. Vomiting may occur after a coughing spell, or even loss of urine.
The cough could be worse at a certain time of day.Or worse from cool air felt on the body. The person may feel fearful, irritable, want to be alone or want to be surrounded by other people. This could be an acute cough situation, or a flare up of a chronic cough.
Here is a list of some homeopathic remedies with a short description of how the cough is experienced in this remedy picture. Please know that there are many more homeopathic remedies that could be useful for a cough. You will see when reading these descriptions, how different each cough can be. All coughs are not the same.
Observe the person who is coughing, then match that to these short descriptions.
The main principle of homeopathy is Like Cures Like or the Law of Similars. Very simply, you are matching the symptoms of the person to that of the homeopathic remedy.
• ACONITE – cough comes on suddenly. After exposure to cold, dry wind. Constant short, dry cough with a croupy sound that wakens the person from sleep. Anxious feeling. cough arises from the larynx as the person enters a warm room. Very fearful.
• BELLADONNA – person is red faced. Burning hot. Dilated pupils. Cough begins as if there is a speck has settled in the larynx. Sudden onset. Dry teasing cough, keeps the whole house awake at night.
• BRYONIA – hard, dry cough with a painful chest. Needs to sit up in bed. Similar to Aconite, in that the cough becomes worse when entering a warm room. Thirst for cold drinks. Irritable, wants to be left alone. Worse from any movement.
• FERRUM PHOSPHORICUM – short, painful cough from irritation or tickling in the windpipe.
• HEPAR SULPH – oversensitive, especially to cold air and the slightest drafts. Very cold. wants to be wrapped up, cannot bear to be uncovered. Coughs even when putting a hand out of the covers. Cough is loose, rattling and croupy. May cough up a thick yellow mucus. Sometimes a coughing spell causes strangling and gagging. Worse in morning.
• KALI BICHROMICUM – cough sounds brassy and hacking. Seems to come from a tickle at the base of the throat. Expectoration is a long, string of ropy and tough mucus. Maybe of a yellowish color.
• NUX VOMICA – dry, teasing cough. worse in larynx and chest. Cough may come in spells and end with retching. Occurs more often in cold, dry windy weather. person is often feverish. Shivers when moving or when uncovered. Oversensitive to noise, odors, light, music. Easily offended.
• PHOSPHORUS – when a head cold has gone to the chest. dry, tickling, exhausting cough coming from the larynx or farther down in the chest. May feel a sensation of tightness across chest or as if there is a great weight pressing on the chest. Cough from talking or being in the open air. May have a bursting headache. Thirst for ice cold drinks and fruity juices.
• PULSATILLA – dry cough in the evening that sounds loose in the morning. May have paroxysms of coughing with gagging and choking, bringing up thick, yellowish mucus. Feels as if there is a weight on the chest. Worse from coming into a warm room. Better in open air.
• RUMEX CRISPUS – cough occurs when going outside, opposite to symptoms of Aconite. Dry, short paroxysms of coughing or a constant hack.
• SPONGIA – wakes from sleep with a suffocation feeling. Difficulty breathing. Anxious, as with croup. Loud cough sounding like a saw through a board. Worse: from talking and before midnight.