How To Stop A Continuous Cough

Two of my daughters have had a continuous cough recently.  By continuous, I mean that they coughed about every 5-10 seconds.  One of these daughters has asthma tendencies, which means I have to really stay consistent and be persistent when she has any respiratory illness at all.  It seems to take her a day or two longer to recover from respiratory illnesses than her sisters.

When a person shows any signs of illness, it’s always important to immediately start herbal treatments before the illness gets the upper-hand.  If you hit it hard at the beginning, it normally will not progress into anything serious.

Continuous coughing is so miserable.  It can cause sore ribs, sleepless nights, and  make the person feel like they could vomit if the cough doesn’t stop.

Let me give you the routine I’ve had success with when it comes to coughing {whether continuous or not}.  There are different causes of coughing, so I try to cover all my bases.  Keep in mind that most likely I will experiment with other herbal concoctions in the future and may find others things that work just as well.  If I do, I will share!

And yes I do use all of these remedies at the same time when I’m dealing with a severe cough.

1. Lung Tea

Lung tea is the first herbal concoction I turn to for coughs and congestion.  I talk about it often for anything lung-related.  It calms coughing spasms, yet expels mucous .  Find the recipe for this amazing tea here.  For adults, I give 3-4 cups a day for a bad cough.  For children, I give about 2 cups a day.  What I normally do is put the tea in a pint jar for the kids and a quart jar for adults for them to sip on all day.  If you are adding juice to the tea for children to take it more willingly, I would warm up the juice first.  Warm teas in themselves help calm a cough.

2. Onion/Honey Cough Syrup

Onions and honey both help to calm coughs and expel mucous.  I love that these are 2 ingredients most people have on hand so it’s easy to whip up a batch of effective, safe cough syrup.  Use raw honey if at all possible.  I administer a spoonful every 15 minutes with a bad cough until the coughing lessens.  I then lessen my dose to every hour or two until the patient is much better.  You can find this cough syrup recipe HERE.

3. Eucalyptus Oil

Mix about 1 tablespoon of olive oil with 9 or 10 drops of eucalyptus oil.  Rub this mixture on the back and chest several times a day.  Eucalyptus is one of the most essential essential oils {yes I meant to say that twice 🙂 } you could have on hand.  Read more about how to use it in times of illness HERE.

4.  Garlic Salve

Garlic is such a powerful natural antibiotic.  When someone really comes down with an illness, I grab the ingredients to whip up this easy 5-minute salve.  I put this on the bottoms of the feet several times a day and cover them with socks.  This is also great on the back and chest.  Find the recipe HERE!

5. Vitamin C

I give high hourly doses of vitamin C when someone is having a hard time with an illness.  The most effective vitamin C is in the powdered form, and my current favorite is Ascorbic Acid Crystalline Powder Pure Vitamin C by Nutribotic.  I typically find a good price on Amazon.  If you prefer capsules or chewables, I love the quality of Beeyoutiful.

6. Natural Antibiotic

In addition to the antibiotics that are received from the garlic salve, I like to give an internal natural antibiotic as well.  Garlic can be taken internally, but children tend to not prefer that, so I go for something tastier if possible, or that is easy to mix with juice.  The natural antibiotics I use the most is colloidal silver and echinacea. {You can find my favorite echinacea mixture in this post.}

I give natural antibiotics hourly when someone is coughing continuously, has a high fever, or something else more serious.  I taper off the doses as the symptoms subside, giving the natural antibiotic for a total of 7-10 days.  I normally give it hourly for a few days, then 5 times a day the next few days, then 3 times a day for a few days, then once or twice a day the last few days, depending on how well the patient is doing.

7. Blow Nose Often

And last but not least, anytime one of my children has a cold, runny nose, or continuous cough, I have them blow their nose all the time.  This results in less drainage, which will help there to be less coughing and congestion.  Many times a continuous cough is caused by drainage down the throat.  Sniffing is not good – you need to blow it all out.  This goes a long way to helping a person get over a cold or cough.

Like I’ve said, a more serious illness calls for serious action.  When my girls cough almost non-stop, my mama-bear instincts rise up to the challenge and I hit the illness hard with these 7 steps.  Normally without fail, the cough is much, much better by nightfall with only an occasional cough here and there.

*If the cough does not get better after following these steps for a few days to a week, please seek medical help.  I am not a medical professional nor licensed to give medical advice.  This post is for informational purposes only.  Nothing I say has been evaluated by the FDA and is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent disease.

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