Remedies for dry cough

Coughing is a symptom of many different illnesses such as: sore throat, laryngitis, bronchitis... Many people face persistent, dry, hacking coughs that don't go away.

In Traditional Chinese Medicine, cough is classified as "khai" or "khai tho," caused by deficiency of lung, spleen, and kidney qi. Wind, cold, dryness, and heat invade the body through the mouth, nose, or skin and muscles, causing the lung qi to become unbalanced and resulting in cough. We would like to introduce to our readers a simple, readily available, and easy-to-apply remedy for dry cough, for readers to use when needed.

Ingredient:10-15g of turmeric, 5-6 betel leaves.

Processing:Wash the turmeric thoroughly to remove dirt and sand, and wash the betel leaves (choose young, plump, glossy leaves). Grind or pound everything into a paste, add about 1/3 cup of cooled boiled water, filter to extract the juice, and divide into 4-5 portions to drink throughout the day (morning, noon, and night), 2-3 teaspoons each time. Usually, results are seen after 1-2 days. This remedy warms the liver and kidneys, clears the lungs, benefits the spleen, kills bacteria, removes pus, breaks down boils, and cleanses the throat. It is suitable for sore throats, pneumonia, tonsillitis, etc., especially dry coughs and persistent coughs of unknown origin.

According to Traditional Chinese Medicine, betel leaf has a pungent, spicy taste and a strong aroma; it is warm in nature and has the effects of warming the body, promoting qi circulation, dispelling wind and cold, reducing swelling and relieving pain, dissolving phlegm, and relieving itching... It is used as an antiseptic, skin astringent, stimulant, saliva-promoting agent, to prevent dysentery and malaria, and to treat respiratory diseases, stomach ailments, burns, etc.

From the perspective of modern medicine, betel leaves contain 0.8-2.4% aromatic essential oil with a pungent taste, mainly consisting of two phenols: betel-phenol, an isomer of eugenol, and chavicol, along with many other phenolic compounds. Turmeric, with its pungent and bitter taste and warm nature, acts on the liver and spleen meridians. Turmeric is used to break up tumors and blood clots, treat boils, disinfect, stimulate granulation tissue growth, and stop bleeding. It is commonly used to treat liver and kidney diseases, women's diseases, boils, stop bleeding, and treat wounds...

According to Traditional Chinese Medicine, turmeric contains 0.3% curcumin, 3-5% essential oil, 25% terpenic carbides, mainly zingiberene, and 65% sespuitecpenic ketones, turmerone, etc. It is used to treat coughs, gastrointestinal diseases, uterine fibroids, prostate fibroids, blood tonic, and hemostatic agents.

Note: This remedy is not for pregnant women, and postpartum women without blood stasis should not use it. To enhance effectiveness, patients should apply oil or plaster to the Yongquan acupoint (the acupoint at the junction of the anterior 2/5 and posterior 3/5 of the segment between the second toe and the posterior edge of the heel, the hollow under the foot), the gateway to the kidney. Warming the kidney and improving lung function will reduce coughing.

According to Traditional Medicine Practitioner Chu Van Tien - Health & Life - NT