Asthma, smoking, Chronic Obstructive Airways Disease, allergies, poor air quality.... there are SO MANY reasons for a hacking cough and gluggy, congested bronchial passages. In a world suddenly coming to terms with the enormous importance of optimal lung health, it seemed a really great time to get into my witchy, herbal Thai kitchen yesterday and brew up some Natural Decongestant Cough Syrup.
My personal journey through multiple and serious bouts of pneumonia whilst working on bone issues has left me with some lung damage. After multiple Tuberculosis tests (all negative) and a lung biopsy (clear) the lung specialist came to the conclusion that I simply have "highly reactive airways". Stress, poor or dry air quality, catching a mild cold or just household dust can trigger really icky congestion. Although I have (and sometimes use) a preventative lung steroid, of necessity, I much prefer to do things naturally.
For me that means 4 cups of warm moringa tea on waking every day, lots of hot steamy showers, topical magnesium treatments, essential oils and staying superbly hydrated. When that's not enough, I level up with herbs - andrographis paniculata in particular - and my "special syrup".
The active ingredients are simple, easily available even for me here in Northern Thailand, and inexpensive. Best of all, they are natural, organic and have other important immune boosting functions.
- Ginger
- Thyme
- Liquorice Root
- Black Pepper
- Lime
- Honey
GINGER
Ginger helps rapidly reduce the inflammation that takes place in the bronchia, the throat and the nasal passage. I like to think of it as having the mechanical assistant role here. It OPENS the bronchial passages to help expel the mucous that makes breathing difficult. Less mucous means the cough response is reduced. There is SO MUCH published clinical evidence regarding the efficacy of ginger to assist in the reduction of inflammation, particularly in the lungs; I found this compilation of clinical research particularly useful.
An important thing to note is that in Thailand, all ginger is not equal. We use "young ginger" for cooking and flavouring - it is juicy, milder tasting and has a lighter colour. For natural medicines, every Thai herbalist automatically goes for what we call "two seasons ginger".
It is woodier and looks a bit dried up, is spicy and much stronger to taste, less juicy, and a darker colour inside. We use only this grade of ginger for medicinal teas, tinctures and potions here.
Ginger being a well-documented anti-viral agent, particularly in relation to respiratory virus? Big bonus. You can read more about ginger's anti-viral function Here.
THYME.
Fresh thyme is hard to grow in tropical Asia, but dried thyme is cheap and easy to find at our local equivalent of Costco. The European Medicines Agency has specifically evaluated Thyme for its use as a therapeutic herb for cough, and come to this conclusion:
"A clinical study involving 60 adults with productive cough treated either with a thyme preparation or bromhexine, an established treatment for productive coughs. Although no significant difference was observed between thyme and bromhexine in treating the cough, there were shortcomings in the study such as the small number of patients and lack of details of the thyme preparation, so firm conclusions could not be drawn. Therefore, the HMPC conclusions on the use of these thyme medicines are based on their longstanding use." Source
In summary, thyme works as effectively as its chemical counterpart, has been used for eons and no one thinks its worth the money to test or prove that further.
BLACK PEPPER
Called He Hu Jiao in Traditional Chinese Medicine, Black pepper has been used for millennia, usually paired with honey and ginger, and sometimes cinnamon, to soothe what they call a "wet cough".
You may be interested to read about other Chinese folk prescriptions for wind-cold cough in this article from The Journal of Traditional And Complementary Medicine.
LICORICE ROOT
A classical remedy for both cough and mucous build up in the lungs, licorice root has been well studied. You can read specifically about the active compounds in licorice root Here.
I am eternally grateful to the Buddha who wandered over to Thailand from India, and seems to have brought licorice root into the culture with him. Yes, my local Costco-equivalent (called Makro) has licorice root cheaply for sale, along with the Indian herbs, curry pastes and spices.
LIMES
I use limes in two ways. I slice a whole lime and simmer it gently, with the herbs - it extracts the essential oils from the lime skin. And adds a lovely flavour. The essential oils from limes (and lemons) are anti-inflammatory, in nature.
I also add a LOT of fresh lime juice at the end, for some serious vitamin C.
HONEY
Soothing, calming, eases coughing. It's hard to believe that someone actually funded a study to research what has been known by moms for literally millennia, but yes, someone funded a Study to Evaluate Honey as a Remedy for Cough in Children. Surprise - they found even a single dose calmed cough, enabled the release of mucous and eased breathing.
Sooo.... now that you know what's in it, and why, how do I make my Natural Decongestant Cough Syrup?
METHOD
In a small pot, heat 1 liter of pure water (no chlorine or fluoride, please!). Add a few sticks of licorice root chopped into half inch lengths, 2 tablespoons of dried thyme, a big teaspoon full of black peppercorns, about 2 inches of "2 season ginger" sliced and a whole lime (or lemon) sliced. Bring to the boil and simmer very softly until the water is reduced by half. Cool till warm (but not cool) and strain.
Add half a cup of 100% pure, raw, untreated honey. Mix very well. Pure, raw honey does NOT blend easily. The harder it is to mix, the higher quality your honey is! It mixes easiest when the liquid is still warm, but we don't want to degrade the important healing components of the honey by applying to much heat. When mixed, let it cool to room temperature.
Add a qQuarter of a cup of lime or lemon juice, freshly squeezed. And a quarter of a cup of raw ginger juice (extracted using a normal vegetable juicer).
Mix and store in a glass container, in the fridge.
DOSAGE
x1 small shot glass full, x3 daily. Or more, as required, for severe cough.
HOW DOES IT TASTE?
Mostly sweet and ginger-limey-honey but with a spicy twist and warming as it goes down. Soothes and calms. Makes coughing out the gunk much easier. Opens airways for easier breathing.
ADULT VERSION FOR COLDS-FLU & BETTER SLEEP?
Make a hot-toddy of half "special syrup" and half gently warmed neat whiskey. You're welcome. Sleep well.
In this time of viruses, pandemics, immunity and many people needing to self-isolate and worried when they have coughs, colds and congestion, it makes sense to soothe and ease any-all symptoms as naturally and simply as we can, so our bodies have better oxygenation, better sleep and stronger immunity.
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