Overview
Home cough remedies combine herbs with water and sweeteners to rid the body of airway irritants. Coughing defends you against chemicals, smoke, pollen, food or mucus that could damage your lungs. Substances that relieve coughing include bronchodilators, antispasmodics and expectorants. While decongestants and suppressants also reduce coughing, they are not advised. Suppressing a cough before eliminating the trigger substance leaves you with no defense.
Types
Bronchodilators relax airways, expanding available airspace. Theophylline, a bronchodilator found in black tea, is more effective when combined with piperine, an ingredient found in black pepper, according to a study reported in the European Journal of Clinical Pharmacology in 1991. Boil 1 tsp. black pepper with four black pekoe tea bags in 2 cups water for 5 minutes. Remove it from heat, and strain it through a cheesecloth. If mucus is thick, inhale the steam from the tea for several minutes before drinking. Take slow sips, allowing the warm tea to sit on your tongue and coat the back of your throat before swallowing.
Antispasmodics relax the smooth muscles in your airway. Antispasmodic herbs include star anise seeds, or Illicium parviflorum; coltsfoot leaves, known as Tusillago farfara; blue hyssop, or Hyssopus officinalis; mullein flowers, or Verbascum thapsus; chamomile, known as Anthemis nobilis; and red clover flowers, called Trifolium pratense.
Expectorants thin mucus secretions to make them easier to expel from the body. Marrubium vulgare, known as white horehound, and Glycyrrhiza glabra, known as licorice root, stimulate tissues of the upper digestive tract to help expel mucus. Herbs that relax respiratory tissue include mullein; ginger, or Zingiber officinali; and the bark of wild cherry, or Prunus virginiana. These herbs are good for a chronic cough that has become painful due to muscle overuse.
Time Frame
Many home cough remedies can be made in minutes as herbal infusions. Infusions are mixtures of fresh or dry plant leaves and roots that are boiled in water and strained into a cup or glass. Do not use milk when making tea because it increases mucus production, defeating the purpose of the herbs. Some herbs, such as black pepper, horehound and wild cherry bark, should come to a rolling boil for at least 5 minutes before consuming, for best results.
Cough syrups are infusions of herbs, plus sugar and other sweeteners, that are boiled until they make soft blobs if dropped into a glass of cold water. Cough candies are syrups that boil until they reach the hard crack stage. Syrups take about 20 minutes to make, and candies take 30 minutes or more.
History
Humans have been using herbal cough remedies for more than 60,000 years, according to an archaeological expedition in Iraq in 1975, where pollen from yarrow, mallow ephedra-type plants was found in a Neanderthal burial site. Ephedra is a bronchodilator. Clay tablets found in Sumer, dating to 4000 B.C., prescribe herbs “giving the names, parts of plants, methods of preparation and dose,” according to Charlotte Erichsen-Brown in “Medical and Other Uses of North American Plants.”
Misconceptions
Many people want to suppress their cough right away, but this prolongs the condition that is causing the cough. The inability to cough could keep the irritant trapped in the lungs until mucus secretions thicken and bronchitis or pneumonia result.
Identification
Use a field guide with full-color plates to identify medicinal herbs, or have someone who gathers and uses the herbs on a regular basis point them out to you and demonstrate how to gather and prepare them. Charlotte Erichsen-Brown cautions, “only when a species is identified by a competent observer, who is told by the user how he uses that particular plant, is there a valid record of use.”
Misidentification of herbs can be harmful or fatal. Christopher McCandless’s slow death from starvation was caused by ingesting a look-alike plant that prevents food from being metabolized. His journal, found after his death, became the book and movie “Into the Wild.” If you are not certain you have the right plant, do not gather it, handle it or consume it.
About this Author
Jane Smith received her Bachelor of Science in Education from Kent State University in 1995. “Giving Him the Blues,” was published March 2008. She provided educational supports 11 years, served people with multiple challenges 26 years, rescued animals 5 years, designed and repaired household items 31 years and is currently an apprentice metalworker.
