Using homeopathy for a cough can help in many cases. In the case of acute symptoms in particular, you can often treat cough yourself with various globules. Homeopathy is also worth trying for a dry cough. Read everything you need to know about treating cough with homeopathy!
When is homeopathy suitable for coughs?
Cough is not a disease, but a sign (symptom) of a disease. Depending on the severity and type of cough, this symptom can be very annoying, disturbing and sometimes debilitating and painful.
The cause of an acute cough is usually an infection-related inflammation of the mucous membranes of the respiratory tract (such as a cold or the flu). Then medical help is often not necessary, but you can treat the cough yourself with homeopathy (and possibly also home remedies).
Coughs that have other causes, on the other hand, should be treated by an experienced therapist.
When using globules for coughs, you must be aware that different homeopathic remedies are often recommended for different types of cough. For example, globules such as Bryonia or Phosphorus are indicated for a dry, irritating cough.
In the case of a spasmodic cough with gagging and vomiting, for example, Drosera is the homeopathic recommendation. If the cough gets worse at night, Arsenicum or Belladonna may be a suitable choice.
When choosing suitable globules for coughing, you should therefore consider the following points:
- Is it a dry or a wet (productive) cough (with sputum)?
- Does the cough sound wet, rattling, or loose?
- With a wet cough: what does the sputum look like and what does it taste like? (e.g. thick, thin, yellow, lumpy, foul tasting)
- Does the patient feel a urge to cough? If so, where is this located?
- Is there pain when coughing? If yes, what kind of pain? (e.g. burning, stabbing, tearing)
- Is there a trigger for the cough? (e.g. cold wind, stress, wet hair)
- When is the cough worst? (e.g. at certain times of the year or day)
- What makes the cough better or worse? (e.g. warm rooms, cold air, drinking, exercise, lying down, stress)
- Are there any circumstances associated with the cough? (e.g. nausea, nosebleeds, involuntary urination, fever, weakness)
The answers to these questions will help you find the right homeopathic remedy for your cough.
Important resources at a glance
In the following list you will find the most common acute cough homeopathic remedies and which coughs they are suitable for:
Aconite
- with a dry, hard-sounding, persistent cough
- with cough without sputum
- with choking cough waking from sleep
- with a sudden onset of coughing
- when coughing after staying in a cold, dry wind
- with a feeling of dryness in the chest
- with anxious restlessness and restlessness, especially at night
- in croup cough
Arsenicum album
- wheezing with foamy sputum
- when the airways seem constricted and you cannot breathe deeply
- in asthmatic cough
- with extreme exhaustion and weakness
- if the infection moves downwards (starts with a cold and ends on the lungs)
- if cough worsens after midnight and 1 a.m
Belladonna
- with a sudden onset
- with a dry cough due to dryness in the larynx
- if violent scratching in the larynx provokes the cough
- in violent fits of coughing with a feeling that the head is about to burst
- with a barking sounding cough
- when the coughing fits end with sneezing
- when feeling as if there were a crumb in the larynx
- when children start crying before the cough starts
- if the cough gets worse at night
Bryonia
- when a cold starts with a runny nose and travels down the chest
- with a hard, dry cough with soreness in the chest
- when coughing with stitches in the chest and with headache, as if the head would burst
- if you have to press your hand on your breastbone when you cough
- when the cough forces you to jump out of bed
- when the cough shakes the whole body
- if deep breathing causes pain
- if the cough is triggered by exposure to wind or cold
- when irritable and when the patient wants to be left alone
- when very thirsty
- if the discomfort is made worse by movement or inhalation
Drosera
- with a dry, barking cough
- if the cough is triggered by tingling in the larynx
- with spasmodic cough ending with retching and vomiting
- when the cough comes from deep down
- if the cough causes pain in the abdomen
- when exhaling with difficulty due to tightness in the chest
- when the individual coughs come so quickly one after the other that you can hardly breathe in between
- with hoarseness, the larynx feels cramped and constricted
- if the cough gets worse at night
- in whooping cough
Hepar sulfuris
- with a barking cough
- if the cough is triggered by cold, dry weather
- if the cough is relieved by warm, humid weather
- coughing when exposing any part of the body
- if the cough gets worse from breathing cold air
- in choking fits of coughing
- with rattling of mucus on the chest, but without expectoration
- with a croupy cough
Ipecacuanha
- in spasmodic, asthmatic cough
- with a choking cough
- wheezing with rattling noises
- in shortness of breath caused by coughing
- for coughing with nausea or nausea. The nausea does not improve with vomiting
Nux vomica
- if you have a dry, nagging cough with a strong feeling of soreness in the chest
- if the disease begins with a cold and travels downwards, settles on the chest
- in case of fever with chills
- if the cough causes choking
- if the cough is triggered by cold, dry, and windy weather
- when the cough causes a bursting headache and abdominal pain
- if there is tickling and pain in the larynx when coughing
- when feeling as if something were torn loose in the chest
Phosphorus
- with a dry cough by tickling in the larynx and below the breastbone
- with a hard, dry cough that is very distressing and exhausting
- with a very violent cough
- if pain in larynx occurs when coughing, as if it would burst
- when you have to hold your chest and stomach in pain when you cough
- if you pass urine or stool sometimes involuntarily when you cough
- with a feeling of pressure and constriction, as from a weight on the chest
- when cough is worse from laughing, talking, eating, lying on left side, in open air, change of weather from warm to cold
- with salty, yellow, sour, or sweet-tasting, bloody, or rust-colored sputum
Pulsatilla
- when coughing is triggered by inhalation
- if the cough gets worse in warm rooms or when entering warm rooms
- if the cough improves in the cool, fresh air
- if the cough is worse in the evening and when lying down, therefore problems falling asleep
- if the cough is dry in the evening, loose and wet in the morning
- when coughing, from tickling and scratching in the larynx
- when you have to gasp for air during coughing fits
- if you want the window open
- with thick, mild and yellowish-green sputum
Rumex
- when the cough starts when you breathe in cold air
- with cough when coming from the warm into the cold
- if some urine escapes with every coughing fit
- when coughing up solid, viscous and stringy mucus
- when there is mucus stuck in the larynx, which one constantly tries to cough up
- with hoarseness
- with a dry, spasmodic cough
- when the cough is worst after going to bed
- with breathlessness
Spongia
- if there is no whistling or rattling on the chest
- with a croup-like cough with a sawing noise
- when the patient wakes up from sleep coughing loudly and violently
- if the cough is made worse by talking, reading, singing, swallowing, and lying with your head down
- if, in the later stage, thick mucus develops that is difficult to cough up. You have to swallow it
Homeopathy for cough: dosage
If you want to treat cough independently with homeopathy, choose low potencies: You can take three pieces of globules of potency 6X every hour if necessary, but no more than ten times a day. Let the globules melt under your tongue.
Alternatively, you can treat cough yourself with homeopathic remedies of the potency D12. You take three globules of this five to six times a day. You can continue this self-treatment until the cough is significantly better.
Higher potencies such as 30C, 200C or 1000C are suitable for the treatment of chronic or very severe coughs. Homeopathy at such high potencies should only be prescribed by a trained therapist. This must medically control the course.
Homeopathy for coughs: when to see a doctor?
Whether it’s a wet cough or a dry, irritating cough: homeopathy has its limits when it comes to treating this symptom of the disease. A medical examination must be carried out especially in the case of whooping cough, croup cough or cardiac cough in old people. If conventional medical treatment is necessary, you can also administer homeopathy for coughs.
You should also go to the doctor if a “normal” cough becomes more severe or has persisted for more than three weeks. It is then important to rule out possible serious causes of the cough. In addition, a very long-standing cough tends to become chronic.
In most acute cases, however, it is worth trying to relieve the cough with homeopathy.
