There are 5 different types of chronic (or persistent) cough. Examples include:

1. Dry cough: is a persistent dry cough is a cough that does not produce any mucus, is irritating to the lungs and throat, and maybe a sign of a viral infection or sinus problems.
2. Chronic wet cough: is a cough that produces mucus (sputum), and depending on the color, may indicate a bacterial infection or fluid in the lungs (congestive heart failure).
3. Stress cough: a reflexive spasm of the airways caused when you are under stress. It usually produces no mucus and is not generally related to infections.
4. ‘Barking’ cough’: is usually found in children and may be associated with croup or other viral illnesses. The harsh, barking sound of a croup cough is caused by a swollen windpipe (trachea).
5. Whooping cough: a cough that causes a ‘whooping’ sound after the cough may be indicative of a serious infection. Whooping cough (pertussis) is a highly contagious respiratory disease that can be deadly for patients under 1 year of age.

The allopathic treatment of chronic cough is directed at the cause. Symptoms may be relieved with over the counter (OTC) cough medicines.

The following are allopathic treatments for chronic cough caused by diseases:

• Asthma: Inhaled bronchodilators and inhaled steroids are given to decrease inflammation of the airways and reduce wheezing. In some cases, short-term oral steroids are prescribed to relieve chronic cough.
• Gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD): Treatment for chronic cough of GERD includes avoiding foods that increase reflux, avoiding meals before lying down, elevating the head while sleeping, and taking medication to decrease stomach acidity.
• Sinus problems and postnasal drip: Use of decongestants such as pseudoephedrine or antihistamines may improve symptoms of postnasal drip or runny nose, which can lead to a persistent, nagging, cough. Inhaled nasal steroids are very effective in treating allergic rhinitis (hay fever), a common cause of cough. Antibiotics may be prescribed if the cause is determined to be sinusitis.

In severe cases of chronic cough, a doctor may prescribe codeine or other similar narcotic drugs, which are effective as cough suppressants.

Bacterial pneumonia and bronchitis are typically treated with antibiotics. If the pneumonia is close to the chest wall inflammation of the surface of the lung can cause pain, known as pleurisy, and pain relievers (analgesics) can be helpful. Cough suppressants are used with caution in these situations because clearing the lung of the infected mucus by coughing helps clear the infection. Most bronchitis in adults is caused by viral infections. Therefore, treatment is much the same as that of the common cold including rest, fluids, pain relievers, and humidification. Some people find expectorant cough medicines containing guaifenesin helpful in alleviating their discomfort. Sometimes it is hard to differentiate viral bronchitis from bacterial bronchitis, and antibiotics are prescribed. In some cases, asthmatics can produce green mucus that looks infected. Your doctor can have the mucus examined to determine if an infection is present.

Medications: Patients with chronic cough who are taking blood pressure medicines called ACE inhibitors (angiotensin-converting enzyme). A newer generation of ACE inhibitors like medicines called ARBs (angiotensin receptor blockers).

Homeopathic Treatment for cough

Drosera Rotundfolia

Affects markedly the respiratory organs and is the principal remedy for whooping-cough. Drosera can break down resistance to tubercle.  Phthisis pulmonal; vomiting of food from coughing with gastric irritation and profuse expectoration. Spasmodic, dry irritative cough, whooping cough. yellow expectoration, with bleeding from nose and mouth, laryngitis. Rough, scraping sensation deep in the faucet and soft palate.

Antimuonium Tartaricum

Rattling of mucus with little expectoration with drowsiness, debility and sweat, trembling of whole body, great prostration and faintness. Hoarseness. Rattling of mucus, but hard to expectorate. Burning sensation in chest. Cough excited by eating, with pain in chest and larynx. Edema and impending paralysis of lungs.

Coldness, trembling, and chilliness. Intense heat. Copious perspiration. Cold, clammy sweat, with great faintness. Intermittent fever with lethargic condition.

All symptoms worse, in evening; from lying down at night; from warmth; in damp cold weather; from all sour things and milk. Better, from sitting erect; from eructation and expectoration.

Ammonium Carbonica

Hoarseness. Cough every morning. Emphysema. Burning in chest. Asthenic Pneumonia. Rattling pulmonal sounds. Slimy sputum and specks of blood. Pulmonary edema.

All symptoms worse in warm, especially in morning (warm room/bed).

Conium Maculate

Dry hacking cough, almost continuous; worse, evening and at night, when lying down, talking or laughing, and during pregnancy. Expectoration only after long coughing.

The patient has a cough at night on lying down.  They are restless at night and tend to sit up many times due to coughing spells. A tickling sensation in the throat pit may be prominently present. A few individuals may complain of an unusually dry spot in the larynx. In some cases, a headache on coughing may arise.

 Ipecacuanha

The chief action is on the ramifications of the pneumogastric nerve, producing spasmodic irritation in chest and stomach. Dyspnea; constant constriction in chest. Asthma. Yearly attacks of difficult shortness of breathing. Continued sneezing; coryza; wheezing cough. Cough incessant and violent, with every breath. Chest seems full of phlegm, but does not yield to coughing. Bubbling rales. Suffocative cough; child becomes stiff, and blue in the face. Whooping-cough, with nosebleed, and from mouth. Bleeding from lungs, with nausea; feeling of constriction; rattling cough. Croup. Hemoptysis from slightest exertion. Hoarseness, especially at end of a cold. Complete aphonia.

Spongia Tosta

A remedy especially marked in the symptoms of the respiratory organs, cough, croup, thyroid gland swollen. stitches and dryness in throat, burning stinging and sore throat etc. Tickling causes cough. Clears throat constantly. Laryngeal phthisis. Goiter.

Great dryness of all air-passages. Hoarseness: larynx dry, burns, constricted. Cough, dry, barking, croupy; larynx sensitive to touch. Croup; worse, during inspiration and before midnight. Respiration short, panting, difficult; feeling of a plug-in larynx. Cough abates after eating or drinking, especially warm drinks. Wheezing asthmatic cough, worse cold air and lying, head low and in warm, with profuse expectoration and suffocation. Oppression and heat of chest.

Swelling and induration of glands; also, exophthalmic; cervical glands swollen with tensive pain on turning head, painful on pressure; Goiter. Itching; measles

Corallium Rubrum

Whooping and spasmodic coughs, especially when the attack comes on with a very rapid cough, and the attacks follow so closely as to almost run into each other. Often preceded by sensation of smothering, followed by exhaustion. Profuse, nasal catarrh. Cough that results from PND (postnasal dripping). Hawking of profuse mucus. Throat very sensitive, especially to air.

The cough appears in quick, short attacks that follow each other in quick succession, hysterical cough. Dry, spasmodic, suffocative cough; very rapid cough, short, barking, whooping-cough. Extreme exhaustion is felt along with the cough. A vital symptom that attends the above symptoms are extremely sensitive air passages to air (inhaled air feels cold).

Millifolium

 Millifolium is and antiviral medicine. Cough with bloody sputa or in any lung disease with accompanying cough. Shortness of breath, difficulty in breathing, oppression of chest. Hemoptysis after injury or following violent exertion.

Natrum Muriaticum

Cough from a tickling in the pit of stomach, accompanied by stitches in liver and spurting of urine. Stitches all over chest. Cough, with bursting pain in head. Shortness of breath. Whooping-cough with flow of tears with cough and with salty sputum.

Kali Sulph

Rattling of mucus in chest. Post-grippe cough, especially in children. Bronchial asthma, with yellow expectoration. Cough; worse in evening and in hot atmosphere. Croupy hoarseness.

Pulsatilla Nigricans

Capricious hoarseness.  Dry cough in evening and at night; must sit up in bed to get relief; and loose cough in the morning, with copious mucous expectoration. Expectoration bland, thick, bitter, greenish. Short breath, anxiety, and palpitation when lying on left side.

Heper Sulph

Cough troublesome when walking. Dry, hoarse cough. Cough excited whenever any part of the body gets cold or uncovered, or from eating anything cold. Croup with loose, rattling cough; worse in morning. Choking cough. Rattling, croaking cough; suffocative attacks; has to rise up and bend head backwards. Anxious, wheezing, moist breathing, asthma worse in dry cold air.

Phosphorus

Cough from tickling in throat; worse, cold air, reading, laughing, talking, from going from warm room into cold air. Sweetish taste while coughing. Hard, dry, tight, racking cough. Congestion of lungs. Burning pains, frothy or blood-stained sputum. The phlegm may be salty or sweet to taste. Strong odors may trigger a cough. Pneumonia, with oppression.

Arsenic Album

Asthma worse midnight. Burning in chest. Suffocative catarrh. Cough worse after midnight; worse lying on back. Expectoration scanty, frothy. Darting pain through upper third of right lung. Wheezing respiration. Hemoptysis with pain between shoulders; burning heat all over. Cough dry.

Throat: Swollen, edematous, constricted, burning, unable to swallow. Diphtheritic membrane looks dry and wrinkled.

Bryonia Alba

Soreness in larynx and trachea. Hoarseness; worse in open air. Dry, hacking cough from irritation in upper trachea. Cough, dry, at night; must sit up; worse after eating or drinking, with vomiting, with stitches in chest, and expectoration of rust-colored sputa. Frequent desire to take a long breath; must expand lungs. Difficult, quick respiration; worse every movement; caused by stitches in chest. Cough, with feeling as if chest would fly to pieces; presses his head on sternum; must support chest. Croupous and pleuro-pneumonia. Expectoration brick shade, tough, and falls like lumps of jelly. Tough mucus in trachea, loosened only with much hawking. Coming into warm room excites cough. Heaviness beneath the sternum extending towards the right shoulder. Cough worse by going into warm room.

Throat: Dryness, sticking on swallowing, scraped and constricted. Tough mucus in larynx and trachea, loosened only after much hawking, worse coming into warm room.

Sambucus Nigra

Hoarseness with tenacious mucus in larynx. Paroxysmal, suffocative cough, coming on about midnight, with crying and dyspnea. Spasmodic croup. Dry coryza. Sniffles of infants; nose dry and obstructed. Loose choking cough. When nursing child must let go of nipple, nose blocked up, cannot breathe. Child awakes suddenly, nearly suffocating, sits up, turns blue. Cannot expire. Millar’s asthma.

Mephitis Putorius

Sudden contraction of glottis, when drinking or talking. Food goes down wrong way. False croup; cannot exhale. Spasmodic and whooping-cough. Few paroxysms in daytime, but many at night; with vomiting after eating. Asthma, as if inhaling Sulphur; cough from talking; hollow, deep, with rawness, hoarseness, and pains through chest. Violent spasmodic cough; worse at night.

Senega

Hoarseness. Hurts to talk. Bursting pain in back on coughing. Catarrh of larynx. Loss of voice. Hacking cough. Thorax feels too narrow. Cough often ends in a sneeze. Rattling in chest. Chest oppressed on ascending. Bronchial catarrh, with sore chest walls; much mucus; sensation of oppression and weight of chest. Difficult raising of tough, profuse mucus, in the aged. Asthenic bronchitis of old people with chronic interstitial nephritis or chronic emphysema. Old asthmatics with congestive attacks. Exudations in Pleura. Hydrothorax. Pressure on chest as though lungs were forced back to spine. Voice unsteadies, vocal cords partially paralyzed.

Throat: Catarrhal inflammation of throat and faucets, with scraping hoarseness. Burning and rawness. Sensation as if membrane had been abraded.

Mercurius Sulphuricus

Throat. Heat and sensation of constriction in throat. Dryness of tongue and throat. Burning in mouth and throat.  Respiratory Organs. Roughness in throat and hoarseness. Sensation of heat in larynx. Increased expectoration of mucus from larynx” and trachea. Dyspnea; in children; hydrothorax.

Cina

Gagging cough in the morning. Whooping-cough. Violent recurring paroxysms, as of down in throat. Cough ends in a spasm. Cough so violent as to bring tears and sternal pains; feels as if something had been torn off. Periodic; returning spring and fall. Swallows after coughing. Gurgling from throat to stomach after coughing. Child is afraid to speak or move for fear of bringing on paroxysm of coughing. After coughing, moaning, anxious, gasps for air and turns pale.

Coccus Cacti

Constant hawking from enlarged uvula; coryza, with inflamed faucets; accumulation of thick viscid mucus, which is expectorated with great difficulty. Tickling in larynx. Sensation of a crumb behind larynx, must swallow continually; brushing teeth causes cough. Faucets very sensitive. Suffocative cough; worse, first waking, with tough, white mucus, which strangles. Spasmodic morning cough. Whooping cough attacks end with vomiting of this tough mucus. Chronic bronchitis complicated with gravel; large quantities of aluminous, tenacious mucus, are expectorated. Walking against wind takes breath away.

Nux Vomica

Catarrhal hoarseness, with scraping in throat. Spasmodic constriction. Asthma, with fullness in stomach, morning or after eating. Cough, with sensation as if something were torn loose in chest. Shallow respiration. Oppressed breathing. Tight, dry hacking cough; at times with bloody expectoration. Cough brings on bursting headache and bruised pain in epigastric region.

Throat: Rough, scraped feeling. Tickling after waking in morning. Sensation of roughness, tightness, and tension. Pharynx constricted. Uvula swollen. Stitches into ear.

1. Stay hydrated. Fluids can help thin secretions.
2. Gargle with warm saltwater to help cleanse the throat and rid it of mucus.
3. Elevate your head with extra pillows at night to ease a chronic dry cough.
4. Inhale steam in a shower or use a cool-mist humidifier to relieve dry cough.
5. Cough drops may soothe an irritated throat.
6. Do not smoke or use tobacco products.
7. Avoid inhaled irritants such as smoke, dust, or other pollutants.
8. Honey often can be an effective treatment for a persistent cough. Add honey to hot tea, or even grape juice.
9. Ginger, prepared as tea, is often used to help reduce symptoms of chronic cough and clear the nasal passages.
10. Other herbs such as eucalyptus or mint are often used to relieve cough symptoms.

P. S: This article is only for doctors having good knowledge about Homeopathy and allopathy, for learning purpose(s).

For proper consultation and treatment, please visit our clinic.

None of above-mentioned medicine(s) is/are the full/complete treatment, but just hints for treatment; every patient has his/her own constitutional medicine.

To order medicine by courier, please send your details at WhatsApp– +923119884588

Dr. Sayyad Qaisar Ahmed (MD {Ukraine}, DHMS), Abdominal Surgeries, Oncological surgeries, Gastroenterologist, Specialist Homeopathic Medicines.

  Senior research officer at Dnepropetrovsk state medical academy Ukraine.

Location:  Al-Haytham clinic, Umer Farooq Chowk Risalpur Sadder (0923631023, 03119884588), K.P.K, Pakistan.

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