The comments below reflect the personal experiences and opinions of readers and do not represent medical advice or the views of this website. The information shared has not been evaluated by the FDA and is not intended to diagnose, treat, or prevent any disease or health condition. Always consult a qualified healthcare professional for medical concerns.
Lobelia
Posted by Jamie (Santa Monica, California) on 01/05/2010
★★★★★
A few years ago I had a cough with tons of mucous that lasted for weeks on end. I felt terrible and fatigued all the time. I picked up an old herbal remedy book (sorry, can't remember the name) and read about Lobelia as a fast expectorant for coughs. I think I took 1-2 doses of lobelia (whatever was recommended on the bottle), enough to make me start gagging. That's when the fun began. I then threw up a ton of mucous from deep down in my lungs, mucous that was not coming up from my coughing. Well, my coughing stopped within a day of that (not fun) cure. Lobelia is an intense herb for a desperate situation.
Last spring I got a dry cough that did not quit. Since it was a dry, irritated cough I went another route: I took elderberry extract 2 times a day and also made a strong batch of garlic tea (entire garlic cube boiled in water for 15 minutes) that I drank a small amount of throughout the day. I also went to bed every night sucking on a natural cough lozenge. It took a few days of these remedies but my cough went away about 2 days later.
Ivy Leaf Syrup
Posted by John (Trumbull, CT) on 02/21/2009
★★★★★
Ivy Leaf Syrup cured my Cough/Bronchitis. I had been struggling with bronchitis/cough for about 2 months, so I turned to this website for solutions. I never heard of apple cider vinegar before and tried it (by making a tea with it as described by others), it definitely helped, but it did not cure me. However, after a visit to my local organic food and health store, I came across some stuff called Bronchial Soothe (its Ivy Leaf Syrup), this stuff is the best thing since sliced bread. After about 1 to 2 days my Bronchitis was cured. I could not believe how effective this stuff is! I now keep 1 to 2 bottles of it in the cabinet and reach for it every time I even think I may be developing a cough and Bang its gone! Just follow the directions on the box and hope this helps you as it helped me!
Ginger
Posted by Abah (Lubbock, Texas, USA) on 06/05/2008
★★★★★
Ginger root -- remedy for cough caused by cold. Clean and wash the root, chew a couple and swallow the juice. Although it burns, but works very effectively.
White Vinegar and Honey
Posted by Mae (Mercer island, wa) on 03/02/2008
★★★★★
I had a hacking non stop cough for 3 weeks. The kind that makes you double over and kills your abs. I tried cough drops, doctor visit for pills, benadryl, lemon tea and ginger candy. Nothing worked and I was so worn out from lack of sleep. I had honey and white vinegar so i took a 1/3 cup of vinegar and a huge tablespoon of honey and heated it up slightly in the microwave and took a couple of sips.
I was not expecting it to work that quickly. It is amazing. I am not cured, but it gave me time to breath and I was able to sleep through the night and I sipped the vinegar as needed. amazing!
Flour, Dry Mustard and Egg White
Posted by C (Atlanta, Ga) on 11/22/2007
★★★★★
Cough and congested chest remedy. Three teaspoons of flour, one teaspoon of dry mustard and an egg white. My mom has a great remedy for a cough and chest cold. Three teaspoons of flour, one teaspoon of dry mustard and an egg white. Make a paste of theses ingredients. Then you should spread it on a white hankerchief or something very light weight and I assume dye free. YOu then should rub your chest with vaseline. (The paste is exothermic and can burn your chest.) After that you should place the hankerchier (with the paste foled inside) on your chest. Every so oftern chekc to see if you need to apply more vaseline (to prevent burning). Dress warmly when you rest and I promise when you wake up , you will be cough and chest-congestion free. My mother always did this for my nephew and I just did it for my 11 month old. He had congestion for a week, and the night I did this (after over the counter medicines) my son no longer had congestion or a cough. Try it. It really works.
Homeopathic Remedy for Bronchitis
Posted by Arnika (Berlin, Germany) on 09/27/2011
★★★★★
Homeopathic remedy (Spongia Tosta) worked very good both for me and my boyfriend. We had dry cough.
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.
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.
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.
Peppermint Tea
Posted by Anne Murray (New Zealand) on 03/13/2020
★★★★★
Peppermint Tea
I found this cure in a collection of natural home cures from a society in America. I had been coughing with the flu, so I tried this. Worked straight away. Now I always have a big box of peppermint tea ready for coughs, and take it with honey and a squeeze of lemon juice. (When I get the first symptom of a cold or flu, I take 'master tonic' (www.youtube.com).
Anise Seed
Posted by Friederike (TX) on 10/18/2024
Any way you can do it quickly without waiting a few weeks? Thanks
Elderberry
Posted by Aurora (Palo Alto. Ca) on 11/10/2013
★★★★★
Hi,
On the subject of cough, I got my yearly winter cough again, but was working so much I needed a remedy desperately, and happened to get elderberry concentrate (without alcohol) and phytocillin, took them together 3-4 times in one day, and slept for the first time in a couple of weeks! I kept taking them and cough didn't come back. Very happy!
Another problem;
Yesterday I got yet another episode of a cough, that I have learned is not a cold or flu, but possibly some kind of allergic reaction; something will start a tickle in my throat, and I start coughing. I cannot seems to pinpoint what is the trigger, because the episodes are so random, at all odd hours of the day, different places, no food commonality. Sometimes the episode unravels and goes haywire from there; the cough makes the tickle worse, my body seems to think I have an intruder in my throat, and is violently trying to "throw it out"-by coughing until gagging and throwing up, tears streaming down my face, and I'm desperately trying to get air in-between gagging and violently coughing. Horrible, especially when in public. I don't see any thread on this "allergic" kind of cough, that just comes once and then dissappears, sometimes for days or weeks, to trike again from out of no-where....
Any ideas appreciated! I see online I'm not alone with this. Doctor says "30% of coughs have no explanation" and wants to give anitbiotics. Sigh.
Magnesium
Posted by Heather (Leicester ) on 09/24/2012
★★★★★
Hi, If your cough keeps you awake at night then it could be asthma or maybe a residue infection. I developed ashma very badly when I was 30 after having a bad cold on returning from the far east at first the docs thought it was tb but it wasn't- inhalers eventually improved it as did removing irritants like carpets( hold dust) and aerosols, smoke from open fires. Sometimes it would flare up in the summer and I couldn't get my breath and would have to sit up in bed and put my head out of the window for air. But this summer has been fine- I was taking lugols iodine which could have killed any lingering infection and I have been bathing in Epsom salts which is magnesium which helps the lungs. I hope this helps. I would ask your doctor to rule out tb and lung cancer etc.
Mullein
Posted by Lilyelectrolux (Twentynine Palms, Ca, Usa) on 12/11/2010
★★★★★
Common mullein flowers, brewed as a tea, make a powerful cure for cough or upper respiratory disease, among other things. There are no side effects, and it tastes wonderful.
Grapefruit Seed Extract
Posted by Michael (Indianapolis, In/usa) on 10/13/2010
★★★★★
I wrote about this about 6 years ago and once again I have found it to be an awesome remedy for a cough following a bad cold that doesn't seem to go away. I am a dental hygienist, so I can usually get a doc to write me a script for an anti-biotic. I tried a couple different types of them to try and get rid of the rest of whatever was still living in my bronchial passages causing my nagging cough. In conjunction I went on a ACV stint for about a week. Nothing rid me of the cough. Yesterday I decided to try the GSE approach again. About 7-8 drops in some juice, 2x yesterday. The juice does little to hide the bitterness; you just need to endure it and drink it down. Today I feel the best I have felt in weeks.
Flaxseed Tea
Posted by Peter (Chicago, Il) on 04/22/2010
Do you drink the flaxseeds also ? or Just the liquid ?
Flaxseed Tea
Posted by Janet (Phoenix, Az, Usa) on 01/08/2011
★★★☆☆WORKED TEMPORARILY
My husband used it once & slept all night without coughing. BUT, the cough was back next day & flax tea didn't do as much good. Just how much should one drink each time? A tbsp? A cup? He is 83 and it is wearing him down.
Magnesium
Posted by Selah (Ny, Ny, Us) on 03/03/2010
★★★★★
Cutting down on sodium and increasing magnesium, cured my cough. I cut down on the amount of salt I was using. I had also been taking sodium ascorbate (vitamin C)~175mgs 5 or 6 times daily. I switched to magnesium ascorbate. The magnesium seems to help relax the muscles. I had been having an unrelenting dry cough that was causing sore stomach muscles. Switching to magnesium ascorbate and cutting out the sodium helped to loosen the mucous but didn't produce a runny nose. I had to take calcium along with the magnesium to prevent muscle cramping. Just eating milk products like cheese seems to be good enough.
I also started taking N-acetyl cysteine to help get rid of the wheezing. I took 1/2 a tablet (300 mgs) twice a day.
I think asthma could be helped by this method.
Magnesium
Posted by Selah (Ny, Ny, Us) on 03/10/2010
Update: It seems I had the flu. The 1st thing I did was to get intravenous vitamin C (35 grams in 1 liter of water). This cleared up the congestion immediately (1/2 way thru the drip) and made it possible to sleep without breathing thru my mouth. After that I cut down on sodium and switched to oral magnesium ascorbate plus n-acetyl cysteine. This cut down on the coughing. I eventually increased the NAC to 600 mgs 3 times a day. These things didn't completely get rid of the cough. I'm now trying cayenne gargle and taking cayenne capsules and it seems pretty effective although I haven't found the right level yet to completely eliminate the cough.
Magnesium
Posted by Selah (Ny, Ny, Us) on 03/20/2010
Conclusion:
The cough is almost completely gone now. I had a post-nasal drip for years. I also would have to start clearing my throat if I would talk alot. I now realize that the flu just increased a problem that I've had for a long time.
The n-acetyl cysteine seemed to be the main thing that got rid of the cough. The dosage would vary according to need. If I started coughing I would take it - between 300 and 600 mgs. - and would cut down when my stomach started to feel irritated.
Oral vitamin C and cayenne were also helpful. I would take about 150 mgs of sodium ascorbate along with the NAC. I was taking between an 1/8 and 1/4 tsp of the cayenne and also putting it on food.
Steam Inhalation
Posted by Corinna (London, Kent, England) on 02/05/2010
★★★★★
Sometimes I got rid of a bronchitis with raw garlic but a stubborn dry cough persists. I get rid of that by inhaling water with a simple steam inhaler 3 times a day for 5 - 10 minutes. The dry cough is gone within 4 - 5 days. God bless to all!
