| Everyone occasionally gets a cough. And, while | | | | to address the cause. Drugstore and grocery store |
| coughing can be annoying, it does serve a positive | | | | shelves are lined with cough suppressants, and this |
| purpose. Coughing is a reflex started by the nerves in | | | | temporary solution can be quite counterproductive. |
| the respiratory passages, which culminates in a | | | | Think of this analogy: if the oil light in your car comes |
| high-speed air blast that clears away dust, dirt, or | | | | on while you're driving, do you merely tape over the |
| excess secretions. Coughing is a vital part of the | | | | warning light and proceed as though nothing is |
| body's defense system. | | | | wrong? Or, do you seek to address the underlying |
| Commonly, the "tickle in the throat" that leads to a | | | | cause(s)? This oil light is a sign (symptom) of an |
| cough is caused by postnasal drip from colds, | | | | underlying problem. Many medicines merely place tape |
| influenza, or allergies. However, there can be other | | | | over our warning lights (symptoms) and do little for |
| causes that are more serious. Pertussis (or whooping | | | | what is causing the warning. This approach obviously |
| cough) is an infection characterized by a severe | | | | ends up with more serious problems later! |
| cough in which there is difficulty in breathing during | | | | Instead of suppressing a cough, homeopathy |
| coughing episodes and bronchitis is a painful | | | | activates the body's natural healing potential and |
| inflammation of the bronchial tubes. Pneumonia, a | | | | causes it to respond naturally to the underlying |
| very serious inflammation or infection of the lungs, | | | | causes of the cough. All natural, homeopathic |
| can be viral, bacterial, or fungal. It is imperative to | | | | formulas work safely without any side effects or |
| note that if a cough persists for more than a week, | | | | known drug interactions. While your body is affecting |
| tends to recur, or is accompanied by a fever, rash, | | | | its defense against a common cough, the following |
| or persistent headache, it could be a sign of a serious | | | | may help to comfort and lessen the effects: |
| condition, and you should consult a healthcare | | | | -Dry air often makes coughs worse; use a cool-mist |
| professional. | | | | vaporizer in the bedroom, especially during winter |
| Most coughing, however, is not serious; it's not, in | | | | when the air tends to be drier. |
| itself, a disease. It's just a symptom, which is the | | | | -Warm liquids, such as herbal teas, relax the airways |
| body's method of communicating that something is | | | | and loosen coughs. |
| wrong. The key to dealing safely with symptoms is | | | | -Salt-water nose drops help loosen the thick nasal |
| to understand and correct the underlying cause(s). | | | | mucus in the throat. |
| With coughing, conventional allopathic medicines | | | | -Tobacco smoke--first-hand or passive--will make the |
| simply stifle and restrain, rather than allow the body | | | | cough worse. |