Table of Contents
Cough Remedies
DISCLAIMER
Our readers offer information and opinions on Earth Clinic, not as a substitute for professional medical prevention, diagnosis, or treatment. Please consult with your physician, pharmacist, or health care provider before taking any home remedies or supplements or following any treatment suggested by anyone on this site. Only your health care provider, personal physician, or pharmacist can provide you with advice on what is safe and effective for your unique needs or diagnose your particular medical history.
GARLIC
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[QUESTION] 02/23/2009: Aeron from Middleburg, VA writes: "I have read about raw garlic helping with cough and sore throat.... has anyone tried pickled garlic? I'm hoping it would work, as it is much more palatable than raw. Thanks."
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[NAY] 10/09/2008: Leslie from Jamestown, NC writes: "I used garlic oil as a cough remedy, and it did not work. I soaked garlic in olive oil for 30 minutes, and then brushed the oil on my feet. I put socks on and went to bed. It did not help my cough at all, and it made me extremely thirsty the whole next day."
Replies12/31/2010: Matt from Los Angeles, Ca, Usa replies: "You need to let the garlic sit a couple days before its effective. What I do to speed the process up is put the garlic and oil in a blender for a minute then you can use immediately or I let it sit letting all the pieces and sediment settle at the bottom of a jar then use an eye dropper to suck out the amount of oil I need. You should also refrigerate as well as put in a dark bottle to increase shelf life. Oil I like best is sunflower seed oil."
01/02/2011: Aginto from Toronto, On replies: "Please be careful about mixing garlic and oil together to let sit for long periods. You can get botulism from that. Always crush your garlic with the flat side of your chopping knife and let it sit for 5 minutes before chopping any further or cooking with it. This increases the Allicin."
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[YEA] 03/31/2007: Judy from Seattle, Washington writes: "My Dr. suggested adding 1 minced garlic clove to 1 tablespoon UNpetroleum jelly...apply to bottome of feet, wrap in plastic bag then put on socks...over night. This helped the bronchitis problems we were having. 1 night and I am much better"
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[YEA] 10/26/2006: Nancy from Kingston, NY writes: "For the past month or so I have had a horrendous cough with watery eyes, sinus drip and tickling in my lungs. The coughs were sounding real bad - like honking almost. I did a search on the net and figured I would try the garlic before going to the doctor (fearing of course TB or cancer etc...) Well - after only 48 hours of chewing a piece of elephant garlic as soon as the tickling began -- the cough has greatly reduced!! This morning the tickling moved from one lung to the other -- and I'm still chasing it with the garlic. I have had Lymes twice and whatever this infection is - reminds me of Lymes in the way it seems to move around inside the body. Whatever this is can't escape the wonderful garlic fumes. I even dropped a few slices in my wine last night. IT WORKS!!! Thank you so much."
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[YEA] 03/12/2006: James from New Orleans writes: "I didn't boil the garlic . I've read over and over that heat destroys the allicin. Anyway , I simply use a garlic press . It's a lot easier than chopping. I take it straight and chase it with lots of water . You can ball the pressed garlic up into a wad and take it like a pill. I was able to sleep last night without waking due to coughing. I took two medium sized cloves"
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[YEA] Anonymous from Alabama writes: "I had a nagging cough for a long, long time. I drank the Garlic Tea and within two days I had stopped coughing almost altogether. I have given this remedy to a lot of my friends. Thank you so much. It really works!!"
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[YEA] Yakal from Philippines writes: "The tea was great. It helped me from my misery. It helped me solve my problems. It also helped my friends:Charmelle and Zandro. Also try putting SUGAR. Thank you very much!"
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Earth Clinic writes: "Marco, a well known soux chef in Santa Monica, California, gave us this simple soup recipe for nagging coughs. This is an old Mexican recipe from Marco's mother that aided him and his siblings' flu/cold recovery process.
Recipe:
Cut a garlic cube into quarters and add to two 2 quarts of H2O. Boil on low flame for at least one hour. Strain and sip slowly. Believe or not, this warm garlic soup has a very pleasant taste!
Caveats: The good news is that garlic kills off bacteria in the body. The bad news is that it also kills off the friendly bacteria. Thus - women especially - make sure you take acidophilus after consuming garlic soup, otherwise a yeast infection (aka candida) may ensue.
Click here to see all books on the healing properties of garlic."
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[YEA] "By accident I was told that raw garlic was good for slimming so I went and bought some garlic, at the time I had a chronic cough, and it silence my cough all night, but I didn't not like the taste, So I will make garlic tea, or Soup sounds like a more tasty idea, thanks for the advice."
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GARLIC AND TURMERIC
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[YEA] 12/07/2007: T.S.Rajah from Wimbledon, UK writes: "Take 250ml water, one medium crushed galic bulb and 1 teaspoon of turmeric powder. Boil this mixture and reduce it to half. Add some honey and drink while warm sip by sip. It is a useful remedy for chronic cough."
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GARLIC, HONEY, LIME
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[YEA] 12/22/2008: Marcela from ealge mountain, utah, usa writes: "My son 7 years old and he had a bad cough the kind that would not let anyone sleep..i heard about the garlic honey and lime..i blended 6 cloves of garlic 2 tablespoons of 100% bee honey and 2 big limes..this will last a few days..i gave my son 1 small tablespoon and right away calmed his coughing..he did not cough at all and when i heard him cough i gave hime another dosage..for three days i gave him this remedy and now he doesn't cough at all.."
Replies11/11/2010: Kara from Chatham, Ma replies: "My husband is from the moutains in Jamaica. When I was pregnant and could not have cough syrup, I learned this remedy from him. It works! You can make a thick syrup or tea. Something about the three ingredients together soothes the cough for hours."
01/09/2012: Anonymous from Arlington, Usa replies: "Do you use the juice of the 2 limes, or do you blend them whole with the garlic and honey? Thanks."
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GARLIC, ONION, HONEY AND RED PEPPERS
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[YEA] 10/18/2005: Curtis from Worcester, Ma writes: "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) and one-quarter teaspoon of crushed red pepper. Mix all ingredients together in a small bowl and eat.
Garlic-natural antibiotic
Onion- helps with nasal passage
Honey- throat soother
Red crushed pepper- The capsicum helps kill the cold or flu virus."
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GINGER
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[YEA] 03/15/2011: Chuck from Cypress, California writes: "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."
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[YEA] 06/05/2008: Abah from Lubbock, Texas, USA writes: "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."
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GOLDENSEAL
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[WORKED TEMPORARILY] 01/03/2010: Michelle from Minnetonka, Mn writes: "Goldenseal is killing the fungus that was causing my son to cough. My son (age 13) is on day 9 of a cough that was so bad that he would gag sometimes. We tried so many remedies I found on Earth Clinic to get rid of it and nothing worked. Finally took him to a doctor and she gave him an inhaler. The only thing that did was give him thrush. Then I took him to a Kinesiologist. She told me it was fungal and to make him tea using Goldenseal Root Powder. I gave him his 1st dose yesterday (day 8) and he slept all night which he hasn't been able to do since the cough started. I am giving him 1/4 tsp three times a day. I have to bribe him to take it though because it is pretty bitter. I mix it with tea he likes and raw honey. He drinks without complaining too much knowing it is the only thing that has worked for him."
Replies01/04/2010: Michelle from Minnetonka, Mn replies: "Ahhhhhh!!!!!! The cough is back and worse. Help. I am so frustrated and he is exhausted!"
01/05/2010: Pam from The Wildlands, Wyoming replies: "have you tried a steam vaporizer? You can add a bit of peppermint or eucalyptis oil to the water to quiet the cough. Also try google for directions for mustard plaster. my mom used them on us and they seemed to work well. If I recall correctly a plaster can also be made out of nettle and applied to the chest."
01/05/2010: Diane from Oliver, Pa replies: "I've had bronchitis frequently for the past several years. The last time was from September through October. The antibiotic the doctor prescribed did help some, but then I seemed to get worse again.
That last time I had bronchitis, I coughed so hard that I lost my voice for over six weeks, and my doctor eventually diagnosed me with chronic laryngitis. (Fortunately, once I got rid of the cough, I did get my voice back, although it took some time.)
I stumbled on this cure by accident, because I coughed so hard when I was sleeping, not one time, but on two separate occasions, that I woke up with a pounding, nauseating headache!
I took the Walmart equivalant of a name brand pain reliever for migraines. (The name brand says migraine, not the Walmart brand). It contains 250 mg acetaminophen, 250 mg aspirin, and 65 mg caffeine. My cough got better for a day or so, (but I didn't realize it at the time) then worse again, and when it happened the second time (waking up coughing with that horrible headache), I took this pain reliever again.
That's when I realized that my cough was better. I have no idea why this worked for me, but this is what finally cured my cough/bronchitis, and it didn't take a long time. Just a couple of days afterward of taking the pain reliever according to directions, every 6 hours, or at least when I remembered. And I had a really terrible cough! Anyone that's had bronchitis knows how it's worse at night when you're trying to sleep, so I was exhausted...
Since then, I've wondered about Ted's swine flu cure, and if it's just the aspirin in the pain reliever that cured my cough, or if it's all the ingredients combined, but it works for me. I did get a bit of a cough sometime after that, but I took a couple of doses of the pain reliever, and it knocked it right out that time.
In the past, if I started getting a runny nose, sneezing, coughing, I'd feel like, "oh, no!" because it would progress to bronchitis, but I've finally found something that oddly enough, keeps me from getting to that point. Hope this helps someone else, because it's cheap, easy, and effective for me. (No more antibiotics! Yippee!)"
01/05/2010: Jamie from Santa Monica, California replies: "Hi Michelle,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. Hope something in here helps your son. Let us know how he is doing."
01/05/2010: Tamara from Fort Collins, Colorado replies: "Do you have a carbon monoxide detector? Is it working? About a month ago a friend of mine had a 3 week cough that was getting worse and started sounding like it could've been pneumonia. Then, one day her landlord came over to check the furnace and found it was breaking down. They measured the carbon monoxide levels and found they were nearly fatal. After replacing the furnace with a new one and installing a CO2 level detector she was immediately better! No coughing and her roommate felt better after suffering from persistant cold and flu-like symptoms. Please check your CO2 and radon levels, since radon causes lung disorders as well."
EC: Great point, Tamara. About five years ago my next door neighbor in Los Angeles got carbon monoxide poisoning from an old furnace in her unit that had not been checked in years. She starting feeling deathly ill and coughing up some nasty black soot before realizing it might be carbon monoxide poisoning. The landlord ignored her calls, but the gas company came immediately and discovered a bad leak. A few more nights of that and she would have died.
Deirdre
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GRAPEFRUIT SEED EXTRACT
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[YEA] 10/13/2010: Michael from Indianapolis, In/usa writes: "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."
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GREEN TEA WITH JASMINE
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[YEA] 06/08/2011: Suzanne from London, England writes: "Last winter I had one of those coughs that really hurt my chest and made it feel raw. It was getting worse and I was on the point of going to see my doctor for help. I bought a fruit tea drink and, after drinking it, my cough stopped instantly. I discovered that one of the ingredients was Jasmine Green Tea and that it is supposedly used by the Chinese to cure coughs! I don't think it was coincidence as I bought a supply of Jasmine Green tea and always use it now when I get a cough and it always works."
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[YEA] 03/04/2008: Suzanne from London, UK writes: "I had a virus which included a cough and sore throat. It was so bad that I saw my doctor and got antibiotics for it. By this time I was bringing up blood with the mucus and was raw inside. I was drinking gallons of water and fruit juice and of course cough medicine, all without any relief. When I ran out of other fruit juices I only had left a bottle of apricot and peach green tea with jasmine. My cough stopped instantly as soon as I had the first gulp and the tickle disappeared from my throat. I was totally amazed. I have been sipping the mixture for a few days now and my cough has cleared. I looked up jasmine and green tea on the Internet and it appears to be a Chinese remedy for coughs. Its so amazing that it actually works! I thought you should all know."
Replies[YEA] 03/18/2010: Wendy from Dahlonega, Ga replies: "I read about using the green tea with jasmine and it works! I have been getting an awful cough the past few winter/spring seasons. The cough is a dry one. This time I coughed so much I felt like I was going to cough my insides out. My green tea has orange, passionfruit and jasmine in it. I started to cough up phlegm immediately. It worked truly wonderful. I only drank maybe 2 cups for about 2-3 days and my cough was gone."
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HEATHER'S COUGH FORMULA
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[YEA] 03/04/2010: Heather from Ortonville, Michigan, Usa writes: "Hi recently out of frustration i mixed this up for my 5yr old because he was coughing constantly for a week and nothing was coming out. i knew he was at risk for infection because i had the same thing and got myself over it in less then 4 days, however it is not so easy to get a little one to take things. should have treated him sooner. i took freshly sqeezed juice of a half of an organic orange, half of an organic lemon, 1 tsp organic non pasteurized etc. apple cider vinegar, 1/8 tsp cayenne pepper, 1/8 tsp tumeric powder, 1 tsp cinnoman, splash of tobassco sauce, few drops of organic garlic juice, few drops of juice from freshly chopped onion (after sprinkling sugar on chopped onion and setting in fridge for 20min or longer till juice comes out) and finally a large spoon of raw organic honey. mix all together in pan on stove till warm not boiling. drink with plenty of water after. will be spicy but sweet and tangy. does not taste near as bad as it sounds! my 5yr old son started pouring out snot after one dose and stopped coughing right away! i gave him one more dose that night and he slept through the night. i gave him one more the next day and he went back to school the following day!! when i was using these ingredients on myself i increased the amounts, 1tsp instead of 1/2 etc. use common sense. thank you earth clinic for helping me through trial and error figure out a magic potion to heal myself and my baby! medicine in your cuboard i tell everyone. thanks again and God bless!!! have been trying magnesium for pms,tmj, and migraines, still researching. wish me luck!!"
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HOMEOPATHIC REMEDY FOR BRONCHITIS
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[YEA] 09/27/2007: Diana from San Diego, CA writes: "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."
Replies[YEA] 09/27/2011: Arnika from Berlin, Germany replies: "Homeopathic remedy (Spongia Tosta) worked very good both for me and my boyfriend. We had dry cough."
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HONEY
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[YEA] 01/23/2009: Angel from Salisbury, Md writes: "i used about 3 or 4 tablespoons of honey as a remedy for a cough and it worked amazing!!! no cough,no side-effects no nothing!!!"
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HONEY AND LEMON
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[YEA] 10/11/2008: Leslie from Jamestown, NC writes: "I mixed a spoonful of honey with a spoonful of lemon for my cough, and I was finally able to sleep! I didn't wake up coughing during the night, and I am coughing less today!"
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[YEA] 01/14/2007: Sandy from Manassas, VA writes: "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"
Replies[WORKED TEMPORARILY] 01/22/2009: JP from LA, CA replies: "This worked for me when i first used it. But now, it temporarily cures it. At some times, it works though."
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HONEY ON THE CHEST
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[YEA] 11/26/2008: Ani from Ontario, Canada writes: "This remedy is especially good for kids but works for adults as well. It is mainly for coughs due to colds (not pneumonia or bronchitis - those require antibiotics). The honey is to be gently warmed so it's easier to spread on the chest, rub on chest like you would Vicks, and cover with cloth or towel. Best done at bed time so that you are laying down and not moving too much. Remove in morning. The honey causes the cough to ripen much quicker and releases all the mucous built up in the chest so you can expel it. It will not make you cough LESS, it will just allow your body to release the mucous quicker and hence get over the cough much faster. You can repeat the honey procedure every night until cured. My family has used this remedy for many years. Reminder, this is not like a cough syrup which simply suppresses your urge to cough. This is a method that allows enables your body to heal faster by expediting the process."
EC: Thanks for more great remedies, Ani!
Note to readers - Ani is the author of the popular egg whites for fever remedy!
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HONEY TEA AND TOAST WITH APPLE BUTTER
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[YEA] 10/22/2005: Ginger from Missouri writes: "one cup of hot water, one tablespoon of pure honey, mix them both together makes one cup drink with a slice of toast with apple butter. this really works, sounds weird but it helps."
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