How to deal with cough / Advice from Katka’s pharmacy
Hello and welcome, I am back and bringing you exciting but also, for me, very important topic of today and this is cough.
I am sure, everyone knows, what I am talking about, everyone went through struggle with coughing and feeling under the weather. But not everyone knows what and how to use, while you are coughing.
Lets get started, what is cough and why do we have to deal with it?
Cough is simply a protective mechanism, which your body is using to let you know, that something is not right in your lungs area. You might experience two types of coughs, which are dry and chesty (often called productive).
With dry cough, you can feel irritation, tickling and you are not bringing anything out, you can find yourself having “cough attack”, which could be very stressful and annoying, especially, when you are at work or very often in theatre.
Relieving dry cough is much much harder, than dealing with chesty one. There are not many products available in chemists in UK, and all of them are in form of syrups, which are full of sugar or sweeteners, not the best for your body. If you are like me and you don’t want to take any of this “chemical medicines” unless it is necessary, and you are always trying to find better, healthier and more natural way, how to help your body, then welcome again :)
First, there is a warning, I like herbs and herbal teas, because they are natural, very effective, but unfortunately not very easy to get in UK. Luckily, thanks to internet and all different healthy online shops it’s not impossible.
Because dry cough is mostly irritation and reflex, your intention is to calm and sooth.
I have three favourite herbs, which will help you to achieve it : Ribwort plantain, Thyme and Eucalyptus. All three of them are available in dried drugs (tea). They can be used separately, or you can mix them together and make yourself your own tea mixture. Recommendation from me will be to drink 3 cups a day, probably for 3-4 days. By then, you will be probably fed up with taste anyway :)
I love herbal teas, they are amazing in winter times, because, you can keep yourself warm, hydrated and also you are dealing with your current health problems.
If you are struggling with a cough for a long time (more than 3-4 weeks) I would definitely go to see your GP and have it checked, this can be a sign of something more serious going on in your body.
Chesty or productive cough shouldn’t be ignored. When you have mucus or phlegm in your lungs and you will just leave it as it is, without trying to bring it up, you can cause yourself some more troubles, as pneumonia for example. I met a lot of people, during my career, who wanted to suppress their chesty cough, because they were, lets just say lazy, and didn’t want to cough, which is very wrong, you should clear your lungs and prevent any other infections from happening.
I have a good news, all the herbs, which are helping with chesty cough are very tasty and very helpful too. They can help you to dilute the phlegm and make it easier for you to bring all the yucky stuff out.
Licorice, Mint, Wild thyme and Fennel, all four of them are amazing and very helpful with this type of cough. Again, you can have them separately or mix them together for delicious tea mixture. (3 cups 3-4 days). Again, if you are experiencing a problems with a cough for longer period of time (the same as dry cough) do not hesitate and book an appointment with your GP surgery.
With a herbal tea I will always pick the free dried herbs, not the ones, which are already packed in tea bags. This will make it easier to mix them together and also, you can see exactly, what are you going to drink, while tea bags can hide some little surprises :) (just my opinion). Even better is, when you can grow them in your garden and save yourself money and time, you can grow your own organic herbs, dried them and keep them preserved for a winter time. ( I managed to do it just with Mint so far, but I am now on the hunt for some Rosehip too)
When you are feeling, that herbs are not enough, you can always pop into your closest pharmacy and ask for some cough mixture, you can even use them together with your herbs, but I think herbs do deserve our attention and many people are not giving them enough of credit, which is wrong. Herbs could be very effective if we will give them a chance to prove it.
Unfortunately herbal products are not as great for people suffering with allergic reactions and asthma, if you are one of these people, be careful, if you feel adventurous and you are willing to try them, always ask your doctor first, stay safe.
