Is your coughing keeping you up the whole night? You are not alone! Chronic dry cough is reported in 10-20% of the general population worldwide. Chronic cough which persists for more than 8 weeks can lead to considerable disturbance of sleep, urinary stress incontinence, exhaustion and work absenteeism. It can also be a warning sign of underlying respiratory and non-respiratory health issues.
What is dry cough?
Cough is a natural defense mechanism of the respiratory tract. It is the body’s way to clear lungs and the airways of irritants. A dry cough is known as unproductive cough because it doesn’t clear up phlegm or open up the lungs or airways. It essentially coughs up air.
Symptoms of chronic dry cough
- Chest tightness and pain
- Scratchy itchy feeling at the back of throat
- Coughing is sometimes more at night because we produce less saliva during sleep making throat drier. The dry throat becomes more sensitive to irritants that triggers coughing
Common causes of chronic dry cough
- Allergies like flu, cold, covid
- Stuffy nose
- Chronic lung disease like COPD (chronic obstructive pulmonary disorder), asthma, pneumonia, bronchitis
- GERD is chronic acid reflux that can trigger cough
- Smoking
- Postnasal drip happens while lying down, when mucus drips from nasal passageways down the throat
- Environmental irritants like pollution, smoke, dust, mold, pollen, chemicals like sulfur dioxide or nitric oxide
- Clean dry or cold air can also cause dry cough
Monisha’s Mantra formula
- Effective treatment is gargling with turmeric and salt warm water, 4 times daily. Salt and turmeric both have anti-inflammatory and anti-microbial properties
- Drink the immuno-herbal lemongrass tea twice daily (Check the link)
- Drink at least 10-12 glasses of warm water daily to keep throat moist
- At bedtime do steam inhalation which helps in moisturizing the dry and irritated lining of nasal passages and throat (Breathe in through nose, breathe out through mouth, alternately breathe in through mouth and breathe out through nose)
- Use humidifier which adds moisture to the air
- Avoid dairy, cold drinks, pickles, refined sweets. Eat light simple food at night
- Quit smoking and avoid secondary smoking
- Sujok therapy:
- Apply ginger juice on the palm area inside life line and inner side of thumb corresponding to the respiratory system, twice daily.
- Apply blue colour band on the joint of big toe and then a line of whole moong seeds as shown in picture.
- Find the painful point with a probe in the area just below the thumb joint and make 3 dots with dark blue color there. Then, we have to apply three dried peas on these blue colored points as shown in picture.
- To manage acid reflux, apply carom seeds (ajwain) band on the inner side of any finger, below middle joint daily at night.
- Along with seed therapy, you can also do magnet therapy. You have to apply the bar magnet on the index finger and little finger in this way for two hours.
- Turmeric is very beneficial for cough and infections. So, apply a slice of turmeric on the finger as shown in picture.
At Monisha’s Mantra, we have managed to treat many cases of chronic cough without medicine using the self-healing power of the individual.
Monisha's Mantra :
- Control of blood sugar levels and blood pressure.
- Restrict salt intake and avoid eating packaged, processed, non-vegetarian and outside foods.
- Eat healthy balanced diet (Join our upcoming Nutritional Healing workshop to know more about it).
- Quit smoking and alcohol intake.
- Regular morning and evening brisk walks.
- Maintain healthy weight.
- Destress with yoga, pranayama and meditation daily.
- Avoid over the counter medicines without doctor’s advice.
- Sujok therapy – a drugless therapy
- Find the painful corresponding points of kidneys at the back of hand with diagnostic probe or fingers as shown in picture. Massage the points for a minute 4 times daily with fingers or massager
- At night apply kidney beans on the stimulated points daily
- During the day, apply the bar magnet for 2 hours on the inner side of the thumb at the upper joint as shown in the picture.
