This is a repost of a blog I wrote several years ago, with a few additions and deletions. I am doing a class on colds, sore throats, coughs and fevers on February 22nd at the San Diego Breastfeeding Center in La Mesa, California, and wanted to give some information on coughs ahead of the class. Here is the link to the class if you are interested in reading about it or attending. It is open also to non nursing families. If you are not local to the San Diego area, and are interested in a class like this, let’s talk and see what we can arrange.
Coughs
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 colors 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. Or better when the person is all wrapped up.
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.
HOMEOPATHIC REMEDIES
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 a homeopathic remedy to what a person is experiencing.
- 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.
- 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
- 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.
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It is always good to see your physician. You may also want to see a homeopathic practitioner, a homeopath. The cough may be a part of a ongoing condition, not just an acute, and the homeopath will take a more in depth look at the person.
If I can be of help, please contact me here on this blog, or through my website www.homeopathytoheal.com.
Homeopathy To Heal 