Guest Author - Rebecca Lee Graf
Having a cough is a big nuisance. It is disruptive. It prevents peaceful sleep. It can be extremely painful. Coughing is never pleasant and typically occurs at the most inconvenient times.
Our natural instinct is to search for treatments that suppress our cough. It is only natural as we want to get through a day of work, school, or family activities without having to cough our lungs out. That can work fine if the cough is due to dryness or an irritation of the throat. What if the cough developed because of fluid in the lungs?
Fluid can develop in the lungs for a number of reasons. It can even come from sinus and nasal drainage. The cough then develops so that the garbage in the lungs can be removed and healthy breathing can resume. Taking a cough suppressant can prevent that. What is needed at a time like this is an expectorant.
Expectorants encourage the body to cough. It loosens the material inside the lungs. The cough it produces then removed the garbage. You know that the expectorant is successful if you begin to cough up mucus. This is good. You should only worry when the matter is bloody. Take into account that some blood can occur if the coughing is harsh. Intense coughing can cause the blood vessels near the surface of the throat to rupture. In this case, a little blood is nothing to panic about. A lot of blood means that you need to seek immediate medical attention.
Nature has remedies for everything. This includes ridding the body of things that it does not need and that can cause damage. Fluid within the lungs can lead to bronchitis and eventually to pneumonia. All of these can be very bad and lead to death when untreated. Using a cough suppressant at this time is not the wisest road to take.
Which herbs has Nature given us to use as expectorants? There is a very long list that you can look into and see which ones work best for you.
Angelica
Asafoetida
Basil
Benzoin
Black Cohosh
Bloodroot
Borage
Cajeput
Cedar
Celandine
Colt’s Foot
Confrey
Couch Grass
Elecampane
Eucalyptus
Fennel
Garlic
Ginger
Grindelia
Holy Basil
Honeysuckle
Horehound
Hyssop
Kava-Kava
Licorice
Lobelia
Marshamallow
Mullein
Myrrh
Peppermint
Pleurisy Root
Red Clover
Red Root
Reishi
Sandalwood
Soapwort
Slippery Elm
Spearment
Speedwell
Spruce
St. John’s Wort
Sunflower
Sweet Marjoram
Thuja
Thyme
White Horehound
White Peony
Wild cherry
Yarrow
Note: Never take your health lightly. Check with a medical professional or herbalist before taking any herb for herb interaction or in case your cough is a symptom of something much more serious.
