Can bronchitis really be treated with alternative remedies? The thing is, most cases of bronchitis are caused due to viral infections and antibiotics are useless against them, So a doctor will just treat the symptoms for as long as the course of the disease runs and it’s only if things don’t seem to be getting better or there are other complications that he will think of steps like hospitalization.
Though the term bronchitis was coined just over 200 years ago, the condition finds mention in so many ancient texts as caused by excessive phlegm. So all over the world, there were various ways to treat this disease. Each country probably had its own remedy and today, with the world getting smaller as communication speeds grow, we can get the best of all these folklore medicines.
One herb that has been touted as being excellent for bronchitis is honeysuckle and people who suffer from this disease are given hot tea made of this herb through the day to relieve the cough and all the other symptoms as well. Some recommend tea which is an infusion of both honeysuckle and forsythia. Studies have been done in China with children who were suffering from bronchitis and this tea proved to have better results than even antibiotics. The botanical names for these herbs are Lonicera japonica and Forsythia suspensa. Thyme has also been used to help bronchitis. A tea made with this and drunk thrice daily helps to make the cough much better. You can sweeten all these teas with honey as honey soothes and relieves as well. What you need to avoid when you have bronchitis or any respiratory illness is milk and milk products as dairy is supposed to be mucus forming and you don’t want more of this at a time like this.
Other remedies that are used include eucalyptus oil which loosens the mucus and brings it out so you don’t suffer from the discomfort of too much coughing. Some people rub it on the chest, others add it to a steam bath and inhale the vapors. You can also make a tea out of the leaves and drink it. Cayenne pepper is also supposed to be a great way to treat respiratory illnesses. It helps to loosen the mucus and relieves most of the symptoms very quickly. One way to have it is to mix 1 teaspoon of cayenne powder in a glass of orange juice and drink it down. The orange juice cuts the pungency and the Vitamin C in the juice is good as well. If you can’t stomach this, take a cayenne pepper tablet once a day every day.
The old adage of chicken soup has its merits and any respiratory illness benefits from chicken soup. The soup seems to act on the congestion, break it up and loosen it so it can come up. Garlic too is very effective and you can boil it in a bit of water and sip it like a tea as well. Garlic releases allicin, one of the most potent natural antiseptics and it not only soothes the symptoms of bronchitis, people say it also acts as a preventive. For respiratory illnesses, many ancient cultures strung a necklace of garlic cloves and hung it around the patient’s neck to take away the evil spirits that possessed the person – or so they believed. Onions are also good and many older people swear by a honey and onion juice mixture – a teaspoon full twice a day. People used to keep a peeled onion in their rooms during a flu epidemic as a preventive because they said the onion absorbed the germs and didn’t let it affect the people in the room.
Hot pads on your chest are also helpful. You can soak a towel in hot water, wring it out and put it on your chest or you could use a hot water bottle. Heat tends to loosen any stubborn phlegm in the chest and it comes out easily.
Other therapies that are used are acupuncture, acupressure, reflexology and massage. All these help to bring out the excess mucus from the respiratory tract. Once this happens, the coughing gets less and the person is on his way to getting well.
Echinacea tincture is also known to be beneficial. You need to take around 20 drops three or four times a day. This tincture can be bought at most health stores and it is said to boost the immune system.
People who want a quick cure take Vitamin C 1000 units to get better. This usually helps when you are just about starting the attack. Some people combine this with Vitamin A 5000 units. In most tests, Vitamin C seemed to help in any respiratory disease so if you keep your Vitamin C intake up with foods containing it or with citrus juices or fruits, it stands to reason that you will be more protected and less likely to succumb to any infection.