Every morning my daily habit is to check my emails and sign in to my yahoo messenger. Yesterday, I notice that one of my friends is online so I decided to send her message. I also asked her permission to view her camera. She looks like crying and I asked why? She said she has a cough. It is actually a common topic that all people are interested to tackle. We are all experiencing having a cough and honestly, I hate it because it stops me for being active the whole day.

According to National Heart Lung and Blood Institute, coughing occurs when the nerve endings in your airways become irritated. The most common reasons that irritate nerve endings are something you’re sensitive to such as smoke, Inhaling secondhand smoke, air pollution, paint fumes, or scented products. Another cause is something that you’re allergic to such as such as dust, animal dander, mold, or pollens from trees, grasses, and flowers. Aside from that, there are also medical conditions and medicines that can cause cough.

When I have a cough, the very first thing that comes into my mind is to cure it. I always hear different suggestion from my friends and family. Some will say synthetic medicine and some will say herbal medicine. Actually, I heard about Synthetic Versus Herbal Medicine. The followings are herbal medicine for cough recommended to me:

Lagundi/Five-leaved Chaste tree

Recently, Bureau of Foods and Drugs (BFAD) approved the registration of Lagundi as medicine. Department of Health (DOH) also promotes it as an effective herbal medicine. Different parts of Lagundi provide benefits like the leaves, which can be use to cure asthma and cough.

Alagaw/Fragrant Premna

Alagaw is one of the most popular herbal medicines in the Philippines. Many people find its effectiveness to loosen phlegm and relieve cough. Aside from that, it provides benefit to headache and tuberculosis. You can also use it for bathing infants.

Mansanilya/ Indian chrysanthemum

Mansanilya is a well known herbal treatment to prevent cough, flu and epidemic meningitis. Aside from that, it can also be used for eczema infections, hypertension and cervic infections.

Mangga/Mangoes

Mangoes are not only a delicious fruit but also use as a herbal treatment. If you have a dry cough, drink the juice of Mango. It gives relief in cough and eliminates all the bronchial congestion.

Kantutay/Stink Grass

Kantutay is considered as invasive weed for some countries. In the Philippines, it is considered as an effective herbal treatment for influenza, malaria, incessant high fever, mumps and cough.

Oregano/ Marjoram

Oregano is a well known herbal medicine because it has strong anti-oxidant properties. It is effective for healing wounds, bronchitis medications, cold, flu and whooping cough.

Honestly, before deciding what kind of cough synthetic medicine or herbal medicine I will take, I always make sure to ask the following questions:
a) Is it effective?
b) Have you tried it?
c) How many hours or days it will take to see the improvements?
d) Where can I find it?
e) How much it cost?

Aside from the suggestion of my friends and family, I also listen or read advertisement about it on the radio, television, newspaper and internet. Those advertisements also help me to decide. Once I read or watch them, I cannot stop myself from researching more information online or question some people who used it already. Actually, I tried herbal medicine oregano and synthetic medicine solmux capsule before and i like them both.

Btw, if you have coughed I suggest reading my do and don’ts:

Do:

1) Drink a lot of water
2) Cover your mouth and noise when coughing and sneezing
3) Learn to have a proper diet
4) Take a rest

Don’ts:

1) Do not eat cold foods like ice cream
2) Do not eat fruits and vegetables like papayas and cucumber that can cause excessive cooling in your body.
3) Do not eat high oil content foods like nuts.
4) Stop Smoking and if you don’t smoke Avoid exposure on it.

Did I mention that I took up nursing? Yes, I took up nursing and my husband too. My brother in law is a registered nurse now. When I am studying, we have a famous rhyme about cough and it says “Cover up that cough and sneeze. If you don’t, you will spread disease.” I hope you learn something about my post. I really appreciate your effort for reading