Coughing is a body’s mechanism for expelling from the lungs and windpipe anything that shouldn’t be there. Actually, it can be an indicator of many different types of illness. If you or someone in your home is coughing, you are probably worried that it might be a symptom of COVID.
It is important to note that many conditions can cause a chronic cough, including cold or flu, bronchitis, pertussis, asthma, and allergies, to mention a few. There are many different types of cough: a dry, hacking cough, a wet, ‘productive’ cough, a cough that is worse at night etc. The particular nature of the cough can tell a healthcare provider a lot about what sort of illness a patient may be suffering.
Luckily, you can now count on TCM for cough when you want to deal with this issue once and for all. Traditional Chinese Medicine is a system of health care that draws from a variety of modalities, including herbal medicine, acupuncture, bodywork, meditation and forms of movement such as Qi Gong and Tai QI.
In TCM, we don’t conduct testing to find specific microbial organisms such as bacteria or viruses. Rather, TCM aims to treat the condition of a cough, for example, by looking and listening carefully to the patient’s symptoms, sensations, appearance of the tongue and skin, pulse, and even smell.
It is important to note that Chinese medicine acknowledges for major factors that cause illnesses. They include external factors, internal factors, injury, and toxins. Understanding the mechanism behind each one of them goes a long way in making sure you treat your cough once and for all.
According to TCM, coughs can be caused by external factors or internal factors. Coughs due to external factors differentiations include; wind with cold, wind with heat, and wind with dryness. Coughs due to internal factors include phlegm and dampness, phlegm with heat, liver heat attacks the lungs or Yin deficiency in lungs.
If you’re coughing, you should always take care to keep the throat moist at all times. Consider starting off the morning with body temperature lemon water, Drinks lots of teas. Herbs and green teas are preferable to black tea and coffee, which have high acidity. Ensure you eat light, nutritious food and try avoiding fried foods and dairy. Emphasize fish and chicken for protein and avoid spicy foods, coffee, and alcohol.