Effective Natural Remedies for Cough Relief

Elderberry

Posted by Traderjosie (Maricopa, AZ) on 11/11/2008
★★★★★

I have experienced the lingering cough...how about 10 years. So I can help those with it...I felt I should post this. ELDERBERRY SYRUP/CAPS this is definitely what got rid of it for me. I first took elderberry syrup for a week or so....this is important to do before you go to the caps.

Then after a week or so I felt mucous drain out of my head and up out of my lungs and I blew it all out. What a mess. After that I had no more coughing.

Apparently the elderberry causes whatever pathogen I had, to run from elderberry. I am not sure why, but I really don't care. I just know elderberry will work for anyone with this problem...it's tops. Ok so just remember to take more than the normal dose when initially taking the syrup.

Now I just take elderberry caps when I feel myself beginning to cough again and it nips it in the bud.

So there you have it---a great herb.

traderjosie

Chocolate

Posted by KTY (Virginia, USA) on 09/08/2008
★★★★★

Ailment: non-productive cough, especially disturbing when trying to sleep

Cure: Dark chocolate. Buy chocolate with the highest percentage of chocolate you can find. I got 85% from a local drug store. Eat about 1/3 of the standard, rectangular-shaped sizes they sell in Europe and USA. Works for me, works for my kids.

Riboflavin B2

Posted by Karen (Alpharetta, Georgia) on 03/25/2008
★★★★★

Riboflavin B2 100mg right before bedtime will take care of sinus drainage.It will work in about 20 minutes. If not,try up to 250mg. I had severe sinus drainage for years.I found it hard to sit through meetings,church etc, without coughing my head off. I would eat and have a reaction to food and start coughing uncontrollably.Sometimes medications worked,sometimes not. Sometimes I would double up on medication. Now I take NOTHING!

Natural Cough Syrup

Posted by Michelle (Lamora, Mexico) on 03/06/2008
★★★★★

My mother always had us make cough syrup when coughs were going around. here's the recipe

1/2 cup lemon juice
12 garlic cloves
1/4 onion
1/2 cup of honey
teaspoon powder vitamin c
pinch of cayenne pepper

we don't always measure exactly just dump and make according to taste. it actually tastes really good.

Vinegar

Posted by Tammy (Covington , Ga) on 01/14/2008
★★★★★

re: unbareable cough. well i read every ones feed back, so i got up to make my self some some apple cider vinger and honey but i only had reg. vinger and honey and it work within 30min i fell much better thanks folks. those old remdies still work even better.

Turmeric

Posted by Shireen (Khartoum, Sudan) on 12/13/2007
★★★★★

I am a true believer that every illness has a cure in nature without being tampered with, but I have never heard of turmeric to cure coughs and sinuses.Since I found your website by sheer coincidence, while searching for a natural remedy for my wheezing cough and river-running nose, I thought I'd give turmeric a try( 1 tsp turmeric, 1 tsp honey with 1 cup of warm milk) VOILA! I could breathe again. Thank You So Much EC, you're a life saver.

Thyme

Posted by Brenda (San Antonio, Texas) on 03/15/2007
★★★★★

My 79 year old Mother had an upper respiratory infection. She could not shake the cough. I had recently read an article that said steep 1 teaspoon of your kitchen variety thyme in a cup of hot water, as you would a teabag, and sip. She tried it and it worked. Encouraged, I told my friend who has the start of COPD about it, she tried it and is amazed also. The article stated it relaxes the bronchials. Yet another alternative.

Vitamin C, Herbs

Posted by Let It Go (Los Angeles, California) on 01/21/2017 10 posts
★★★★★

Editor's Choice

Vit C, herbs for coughs

My son had several bad coughs (bronchitis) within a few months, and colds almost every month, so I started giving him vitamin C daily - usually about 4-5 grams a day in 2-3 doses. He didn't have a cold for 7 months, and so far didn't get any serious cough.

When we did have coughs, we used herbs - I have lots of tinctures I buy from Oregon online store or make my own with brandy (vodka just tastes very bad even in small amounts), and make mixtures using my intuition, but the main ones were wild cherry bark, mullein, Echinacea, Umckaloabo (Pelargonium sidoides), and lobelia. We also used propolis with good results, however it tastes not so good. We would take 2-3 droppers of mixture of several of these. It works within 10-15 minutes, so if it doesn't stop coughing in that time, another dose might be needed. But usually it did and he could go back to sleep at night.

There is another herb, that is very effective, but it tastes bad -like a sap or a paint thinner - lomatium (lomatium dissectum). Once I kicked the cold with it -although I had to take a few more doses every 4 hours to kick it for good. That said, I get one cold a year at the most, so I am not sure it would work for everyone. I take vitamin C and other supplements for other reasons, which I think helps to prevent them.

Cayenne

Posted by Nicole (Chantilly, Va) on 01/04/2017
★★★★★

Feeling persistent cough and tickle in my throat, my hot tea was no longer cutting it. So I added several dashes of cayenne pepper to my tea and instantly my cough stopped. My throat felt mild heat at first and then quickly became very soothed after just a few sips. And the taste wasn't that bad actually. After a couple minutes I barely noticed the cayenne in my tea....my taste buds seem to adjust.

Mullein

Posted by Kazzakazzarooney (London) on 09/21/2016
★★★★★

Mullein Tincture - very powerful

I first tried this a few years ago when I had the most dreadful chesty phlemy cough. After 1/2 hour of taking the ready made shopped bought tincture it all came up! Funnily not by coughing. I blew my nose and I am not joking when I say, for about 20 mins non stop! The relief of being able to breathe better and not having a chesty cough was incredible! I carried on having the chesty cough later that day but then just took more of the tincture.

Since discovering ACV on this site, I think that would be good to take as well and seems to speed up the healing process too!

Thyme

Posted by Traveler (Detroit) on 12/18/2015
★★★★★

Have a hiatial hernia thanks to coughing really badly from a bacterial infection last year (clean your humidifiers regularly people.) It flares up off and on and I treat that by going to the chiropractor who's treatment makes an immediate difference.

This time around, I got a bad cold. Though I seemed to be remaining functional by gargling cayenne pepper water, and a few other things, my coughing was starting to scare me because I didn't want my hiatial hernia to worsen (it's a near constant pressure on your diaphragm, either making you feel falsely hungry, or nauseated like you don't want to eat.)

A few of the things I tried here helped (cayenne pepper for sore throat) but the vicks, for example, worked only for a couple of nights. I tried the thyme tea and that worked out very well. Brewed up a bunch and drank it over two days and nights. My cough is now very rare and seems to just be about expelling phlegm, rather than an irritated throat that feels itchy but not sore.

As a side note, something that may or may not be related is that I think the thyme tea made my period show up 4 days early, similar to how parsley tea does the same thing. It might not be related but it is something that I will keep in mind.

Oregano

Posted by Harriet (Dumont, Nj) on 12/11/2015
★★★★★

For coughs, Oil of Oregano is an amazing secret. You can buy it in liquid form or in pill form. It tastse terrible and it burns going down so I recommend the capsules. It stops wheezing and has natural antibiotic action and you never build up immunity to it.

Dosage: 3 drops in a 8 ounce glass of water or 1 capsule. I take it one a day during the inter months and I'm 63 and going strong. I take no rx meds at all.

Almonds

Posted by Helena (london) on 02/08/2023

Hi, How much raw almonds did you give to your daughter? Were the almonds soaked? Did she eat it first thing in the morning or before sleep? Thank you

Chocolate

Posted by Vetta (Northeast, Usa) on 12/14/2011
★★★★★

Faster than anything I've ever tried: One glass water (8-10 oz. ) drunk all at once. This thins the phlegm. Then one small plain chocolate bar, about 2-3 inches, like a "fun size" for halloween. Cough disappeared instantly for 3 hours. Had to repeat during the night, but fell back asleep right away with no coughing!

I suggest using plain chocolate (like Hersheys) without anything added to it.

The British have been researching this since 2004. Lots on Google. Works so well!

Ginger

Posted by Chuck (Cypress, California) on 03/15/2011
★★★★★

Have miserable chronic dry cough when catching cold, almost caused hernia once. One night can't sleep cause of cough, so look up remedies on Line & find ginger root. Cut piece size three quarters stuck together & stop cough immediately & lasted 4 while b4 having 2 pop some more .

Recently found more pleasant remedy. Cut ginger into McDonald french fry sized pieces about 1&1/2 inch long & squeeze bead of honey onto same. The honey kills harsh ginger taste & ginger keeps honey from being 2 sweet. All that's left is that hot healing feeling. Love it.

Chocolate

Posted by Cleoppa (Cleburne, Tx) on 08/28/2010
★★★★★

Chocolate is amazing for coughs. Research has shown it's even better than cough syrup. Not so good is sugar. When I'm getting sick, I take pure chocolate. I don't think it necessarily helps me recover from my cold or flu quicker in itself. However, having a peaceful night where I can breathe easily definitely helps me recover quicker. I have tried many types of unsugared chocolate. All are gross. Sometimes I use baking squares. Sometimes I mix chocolate powder in water. Sometimes I eat cacao nibs. I think perhaps the most effective (and this may have to do with how much I can stand) is the baking squares.

Flaxseed Tea

Posted by Grannyguru (Oro Valley, Az) on 09/01/2010

You do not drink the seeds. You strain the seeds out of the mixture after it has boiled and begun to thicken. Discard the seeds. Pour the liquid into a thermos and add the honey and vitamin c, or freshly squeezed lemon or lime juice and maple syrup or whatever you want to use to sweeten it to taste. Tighten the lid on the thermos and shake it to mix it. Then just take drinks of it as needed.

Flaxseed Tea

Posted by Busy Mom (Ma) on 01/31/2014
★★★★★

I just tried this earlier tonight and I didn't have whole flax seeds on hand but do have ground that I use. So I used that and after it thickened which took about 10 minutes I used a fine strainer and funnel to separate the ground seeds from the syrupy tea. I strained it 2x since the strainer was small and I didn't have a container to hold it properly. The tea was pleasant in taste and I did add some honey and fresh lemon juice to it. It seemed to help my cough a lot as I have been dealing with it for over a week I had gotten it after I got the flu and I think its because of a sinus infection I am on antibiotics to rid. Though they are low dose since I am pregnant. The coughing is less severe but has come back a bit since eating dinner. I am going to try making another cup before bed and I hope this will allow me to actually sleep. The only other relief I have been getting at night is to bite into a lemon wedge and swallow the juice. It stops my cough for about 5 min so I can fall asleep.

Natural Cough Syrup

Posted by Sara (Louisville, Kentucky) on 03/30/2008
★★★★★

Tried the remedy from Michelle from Lamora, Mexico. The NATURAL COUGH SYRUP Posted on 3/6/2008. I did just as she said except added a couple of tablets of turmeric also. My son coughed of few times and then finally slept thru the night, no coughing. My husband had the same cough. He took it and he stopped coughing. There must be something to it. Thanks so much Michelle for your post. Thanks to everyone who makes this site run.