Effective Natural Remedies for Cough Relief

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.

Fresh Purple Cabbage Juice

Posted by Antonio (Miami, FL) on 02/12/2007
★★★★★

I suffer from severe acid reflux, and I was starting to cough much at night and at times during the day. I read on your very useful web site, about some one suffering from severe coughing [her name jill A. posted on 5/2/2006]. Well what I think got me almost rid of the coughing was this remedy i got from a book: fresh purple cabbage juice [10-13fl. oz [300-400ml] --sip it daily on an empty stomach [you can toss it in the blender with 10-13 oz. of water to get the juice out]. The book said to add also a hand full of fresh basil, marjoram, and/or oregano, which I did. I also used the jelly of aloe vera leaves, before every meal and before going to bed [chew on a small portion or blended as a shake and drink it.

Oregano

Posted by Jennifer (Albuquerque, NM) on 12/03/2006
★★★★★

I tried ACV, the spicy tomato tea, the onion halves with brown sugar, and the garlic soup. Especially the tomato tea and ACV brought some temporary relief from a month-long cough and sinus congestion that I'd had almost as long. As far as I'm concerned, though, the #1 choice and remedy should be Oil of Oregano. I bought a jar last Tues. and began taking three per day with meals. I am so encouraged and feel at least 95% well again. After doing some research on it I now know that this is an amazing product! Perhaps it doesn't work the same for everyone but it has done so much for me in six days. I've also been using a good quality colloidal silver in a nasal spray bottle. This has probably worked alongside the Oil of Oregano for the sinus congestion. It cured a month-long cough/bronchitis and sinus congestion. I'm wondering now if I could have increased the dosage of Oil of Oregano to say four a day. I've stayed at 3/day since I couldn't find any info. to let me know if more would be too much of a good thing. Any thoughts on that?

Pickle Juice

Posted by Shirley (VA) on 11/07/2006
★★★★★

I tried Claussen Kosher Dill Pickle Juice. After reading your other post .. I tried to find something with vinegar.. I could not stop coughing badly..found pickle juice, the kind that is found in chiller section at the store.. this also has garlic in it..Work within seconds have been taking little sips. That is all as it is high in salt.. but that seems to be clearing congestion as well.

Warm Milk

Posted by Liz (Fresno, CA) on 11/02/2006
★★★★★

Even though everyone has always told me that dairy products encourage mucus production, what I have found is that very warm milk soothes my throat and stops the cough, just long enough so I can fall asleep

Lemon

Posted by Sandy (Manassas, VA) on 01/14/2007
★★★★★

Honey and Lemon Cough Remedy...Honey and lemon mixed together and used as cough medicine or for just a sore throat ...This helps us with high blood pressure as regular store bought cough medicine will raise my blood pressure sometimes...This does not raise my blood pressure at all

Chocolate

Posted by Anonymous (USA) on 04/10/2006
★★★★★

Many researches pay attention on chocolate for curing coughs. An ingredient in chocolate could be used to stop persistent coughs and lead to more effective medicines. theobromine, found in cocoa, was nearly a third more effective in stopping persistent coughs than codeine, currently considered the best cough medicine. good try!

Garlic, Onion

Posted by Curtis (Worcester, Ma) on 10/18/2005
★★★★★

Here is a cold and flu remedy that will help with your cough and flu symptoms.

Take one clove of garlic crushed and chopped fine.
2 slices of onion also chopped fine.
One to two tablespoons of honey (to taste)
one-quarter teaspoon of cayenne or crushed red pepper.

Mix all ingredients together in a small bowl and eat.

Garlic-natural antibiotic
Onion- helps with nasal passage
Honey- throat soother
Cayenne- The capsicum helps kill the cold or flu virus.

N-Acetycysteine

Posted by Ted (Bangkok, Thailand) 392 posts

The most effective cough medicine I have tried is N-Acetycysteine (a natural amino acid and modified to aid absorption). Vinegar and oregano or vinegar and garlic seems to solve sore throat the best and reduced the coughing faster. The key is to avoid sugar and cough drops as sugar accelerates viral growth causing a quick return to coughing.

There is an amino supplement form hidden in your local drug store as a mucus clearing medicine to help clear breathing passages, which goes (at least in Thailand) under the label brand of Flumucil, Mysolven, NAC-Long etc. This is the only bioavailable form of the amino acid cysteine. (N-Acetyl amino acid holds great promise in alternative medicine, but I think many doctors don't know about this.) An example is N-Acetyl Carnitine for cataracts. If you know your biochemistry, N-Acetycysteine is an antioxidant and very helpful when used alongside with selenium. Holds promise for SARS, bird flu, AIDS and cancer due to its antioxidant properties. The amount is either 100 mg., 200 mg., 800 mg. My mom and my sister are o.k. with 100 mg, but I use up to 800 mg.

For emergencies in stopping coughs, I eat very small crystals of menthol. The cough medicine I mentioned here is better than any cough medicine in the market. No kidding. I used to have persistent coughs which lasted 6 months, and at that time I was only 22 years old and supposedly the prime of my life!

Vinegar and food grade hydrogen peroxide is another story which reduces sore throat in minutes, but seems to be helpful in coughs by reducing the irritation.

Lemon

Posted by Anna (Australia)
★★★★★

I find this good for coughs: equal parts of honey, pure olive oil and lemon juice. Sip tiny amounts when cough threatens.

Olive Oil, Apple Cider Vinegar and Lemon

Posted by Tash (London, UK) on 03/20/2007
★★★★★

I had a very bad and nagging cough since i had a flu. Everything like millions of cough syrups and ginger and lemon and honey and all other things and cures were suggested me but nothing worked. I thought I would choke and die with the enormity of the cough; then I read this on google and after reading all the confident e-mails, I decided to try apple Cider Vinegar with Olive Oil. Initially it did not work but I think that was because mine was really bad cough, but then slowly and steadily it brought me back to normality and now I am good as new. Thanks to the person who put it here first. This works, maybe not instantly but it does with regular morning and evening doses. It is better than any cough syrup, I promise you that. THANKS!!!:

Olive Oil, Apple Cider Vinegar and Lemon

Posted by Sonia (Orlando, FL)
★★★★★

greetings to all and god bless. a few weeks ago i was starting to get laryngitis. my throat was starting to hurt and i was losing my voice. i was drinking apple cider so i added lemon to distilled water and it seemed to stop the progress, i kept drinking water with a squeezed lemon and 2 tablespoons of apple cider vinegar. the pain stopped but then i started coughing persistently a dry cough. i had no cough medicine nor honey. so i remembered reading that olive oil was a good cough stopper. so i went to my kitchen and i drank 2 tablespoons and went to sleep. and i slept peacefully thru the night w/o coughing once. now in the morning when i woke up. it started again. so again i drank 2 tablespoons again. i then started experiencing again a copious cough but for my surprise this time i was coughing with phlegm. the coughing lasted about 30 mins. it was serving me as an expectorant also. it cleared me up and no more coughing.

Oregano

Posted by Tasha (Seattle, Washington) on 05/14/2007
★★★★★

My cough went on for more than a month, often keeping me up at night. I tried chewing on the clove of garlic each day but it didn't lessen the symptoms. Finally fearing a more serious medical situation, I consulted this website. I drank the apple cider vinegar and water in the morning followed by 4 oil of oregano capsules throughout the day. I made sure to expectorate the phlegm that I could and by the next day, my lungs were clear. THANK YOU!

Homeopathic Remedy for Bronchitis

Posted by Diana (San Diego, CA) on 09/27/2007
★★★★★

I have found that if I eat anything with corn in it I will get a sinus infection I have alway thought it was the high frutose corn syrup because if I eat or drink anything with the corn syrup in it I get sinus infections. Also just corn tortillas will do it. I don't know if it is just all the altering of the corn to to enhance the growing process but something is wrong with corn now. Also, when something tends to be in everything...just the amounts that are consumed can create allergies to it. All I know is that Corn is one of my biggest factors in getting sinus infections and bronchitis. If it does go into my chest... Lymphomyosot by Heel is a good homeopatic remedy for it. I can alway clear up the bronchitis within 24 hours with it. Just take it every 20 minutes until you feel it getting better then do it 2 to 3 time day until well. I don't get bronchitis anymore since using it. I use to get bronchitis 2 to 3 times a year before.

Cayenne

Posted by Samantha (Portland, Oregon) on 10/17/2007
★★★★★

I found cayenne a great cure for pretty much everything some time ago. It wasnt long ago that I came down with a bad sinus infection, cough, and fatigue. I decided to boil water on the stove, and add cayenne (open 3 capsules and pour them in), crushed garlic (4 cloves), half an onion, and grated ginger. THIS COMBINATION IS AMAZING. It is SO powerful. The most vital ingredients are the cayenne and garlic, but the onion and ginger are also very helpful. Make sure and boil everything until the onion is mushy and the garlic is too. Keep a lid on, but every so often inhale the steam from the boiling remedy.. very soothing! Pour it into a glass and drink the whole thing. It is very potent, so what I do is add honey to it and it really tastes like liquid food- like a soup base or something.

Another remedy that I use is cayenne tea- just put a tea bag of your favorite tea in boiling water, and add a capsule of cayenne & some honey. Since I have been using cayenne in tea, and orally, and drinking the onion ginger garlic tincture, I rarely get sick.. When I do, I can kick it within 3 days maximum. Cayenne is also extremely helpful for menstrual cramps.