Whooping cough is an airway inflammation and infection caused by the Bordetella pertussis bacteria. Mostly in adults it acts like a cough which lasts for up to 3 months. In small children whooping cough can be life threatening as they can’t cough up mucus effectively. Then there is the characteristic “whoop” as a coughing fit. Besides the exposure to someone who has whooping cough, I suspect a weakened immune system plays a part in contracting the bacteria.
Exposure to others coughing while carrying whopping cough can lead to an incubation period of 4 to 15 days; the next stage of whooping cough is the mucus and spasmodic stage where we see the “whoop” or coughing fits mostly at night with the face turning red with the coughing episodes. The final stage, or resolution stage, happens when one recovers lung function and breathing and reduces mucus capacity. There may be other respiratory issues such as pneumonia.
Medical treatment for whooping cough includes vaccination, multiple times; some have reported no significant help. Antibiotics can be useful in the first week or two if whooping cough is recognized early. After that, antibiotics are often ineffective. Steroids may be used for coughing spasms while other cough medications can make symptoms worse.
From the natural perspective whooping cough has been treated successfully by homeopathics and herbs for many decades. In small children, use standard medical treatment or hospitalization if you feel the symptoms are not yet responding or you feel uncomfortable. You can still use natural treatments with prescription medication to good effect. Natural treatments may also be used preventatively to strengthen the immune system.
Diet – most children lose their appetite during the first stage and will gain appetite on their own timeline and terms; this will keep their mucus to a minimum.
One natural supplement to boost the immune system is Zinc; in children 10 mg of a liquid, and up to 100 mg a day for adults.
Herbs for Whooping Cough
Herbs are plants valued for their specific strengthening/ tonifying properties.
Use a combination of the following herbs for whooping cough in capsule or powder for maximum benefit, and adjust as your condition improves. This formula can be used in all of the stages. Use equal parts of each. You may use it every hour when needed. Therapeutic dose is equal to one capsule of each herb or 1 liquid dropper full of an herbal tincture 3 times a day. Use a glycerin extract for small children or capsules for adults.
Thyme herb is antimicrobial and protects the lungs as well as soothing the respiratory tract; dries mucus.
Elecampane is an herb for whooping cough which acts as a mucus decongestant.
Echinacea herb boosts the immune system and acts as and antimicrobial to help with whooping cough.
Add Cramp bark herb for spasms during whooping cough as needed.
Cell Salts to Help with Whooping Cough
To make a cell salt solution, put up to 10 tablets of each cell salt in a 16- to 24-ounce bottle; fill with water and swirl to dissolve tablets. Sip throughout the day.
#5 Kali mur 6X – lung support, whit mucus, medium fevers; asthma with digestive problems
#7 Kali sulph 6X – rattling mucus in lungs, yellow mucus, medium fevers, weepy
#12 Silicea 6X – shortness of breath, emphysema; chronic colds settle in chest; delicate constitution, feels cold
Whooping Cough Homeopathic Remedies
Homeopathic remedies are non-toxic natural medicines safe for everyone including infants and pregnant or nursing women. You may use 6X, 30X, 6C or 30C potencies.
Most children’s herbal books also recommend homeopathics as they are very effective.
Use Pertussin 30c once a day if you suspect whooping cough is in your area or neighborhood. It is both preventative and helpful used with other indicated homeopathic remedies, cell salts and herbs. Use the most indicated remedy for whooping cough for your situation.
Drosera (#1 Homeopathic Remedy for Whooping Cough) – nervous; violent spasmodic cough; worse at night with nausea or vomiting; mucus sometimes blood streaked; perspires upon awakening; feels better moving; wheezing cough; worse around midnight.
Best Homeopathic Remedies for Whooping Cough
according to Jahr’s Clinical Guide 1850
In the first period, period of incubation
Dulcamara: moist cough from the commencement, with easy expectoration and hoarseness, and when the cough was brought on by taking cold.
Pulsatilla: moist cough from the first with vomiting of mucus of the ingesta or mucous diarrhea.
In the spasmodic period, with vomiting and bleeding from nose and mouth
Cuprum: the body becomes rigid during the paroxysm, with arrest of breathing and loss of consciousness; vomiting after the paroxysms and rattling of mucus in the chest between the paroxysms. (After cupr, veratrum is frequently suitable.)
Drosera (top remedy if nothing else): excessive violence of the paroxysms, wheezing cough,; no fever or else high fever with chills and heat, thirst only after the chills, the sweat is rather hot then cool, and sometime sets in only at night; aggravation during rest, relief form motions. Drosera is generally the best remedy for fully developed whooping-cough, with vomiting of food or mucus and bleeding from the mouth and nose. (After dros, veratrum is sometimes suitable.)
The convulsive form of whooping-cough is not always fully developed, and it frequently happens that, at a period when the whooping-cough is epidemic, children are seized with a spasmodic cough which is without a great many of the characteristic symptoms of whooping-cough
Belladonna: cerebral irritation of the cough is preceded by a painful sensation in the region of the stomach, with bleeding of the nose and mouth, or ecchymosis in the eye; or when other spasmodic symptoms such as tetanus, convulsive asthma etc are present or when the paroxysms terminate in sneezing.
Bryonia: the paroxysms set in principally in the evening or at night, or after eating or drinking with loss of breath, want of air, and vomiting of the ingesta.
Mercurius: cough only at night or only in the daytime, two paroxysm succeeding each other closely, and separated from the next two paroxysms by a longer interval or repose; or suitable for the real whooping cough, when the children, during the vomiting bleed profusely from the nose and mouth, with profuse sweat at night and great nervousness; especially when the children are affected with worm and are liable to convulsions. (The last mentioned symptoms sometimes require Carb-veg after Merc.)
If the convulsive period has run its course, and catarrhal symptoms remain
Carbo-veg: the catarrhal cough frequently becomes spasmodic, or the vomiting keeps up though the other symptoms of whooping-cough have disappeared.
Hepar: the cough abates, but is hacking, dry and rough with desire to vomit after the paroxysms, and frequent weeping.
Although we have distinguished whooping-cough into stages, yet it must not be supposed that the remedies which have been respectively indicated for the different stages cannot be used for any other; on the contrary, many of the remedies which we have mentioned for the spasmodic stage may in many cases be required in the precursory stage and vice versa.
Let it be remembered that the selection of a remedy does not depend upon the name of the disease, but upon the symptoms, the pathological character of the disease and the state of the person.
Source: Dave’s Healing Notes
