Chapter List

• Care for Your Health
• Get Your Exercise
• Balance Your Diet
• Aches and Pains
• Age Spots
• Anemia
• Angina
• Arm Flab
• Arthritis
• Asthma
• Back Pain
• Bad Breath
• Bedsores
• Body Odor
• Bone Spurs
• Brittle Nails
• Bruises
• Bunions
• Burns
• Bursitis and Tendinitis
• Caffeine Dependency
• Canker Sores
• Clumsiness
• Cold Hands and Feet
• Colds
• Cold Sores
• Constipation
• Corns and Calluses
• Coughing
• Crows-Feet
• Cuts and Scrapes
• Cysts and Sties
• Dehydration
• Denture Pain
• Depression
• Diabetes
• Diarrhea
• Diverticulosis
• Dizziness
• Dry Eyes
• Dry Hair
• Dry Hands
• Dry Mouth
• Dry Skin
• Earaches
• Ear Hair
• Earwax
• Eczema
• Emphysema
• Eyestrain
• Fatigue
• Fears and Anxiety
• Fever
• Flatulence
• Food Poisoning
• Foot Odor
• Foot Pain
• Fragile Skin
• Gallstones
• Glaucoma
• Gout
• Grief
• Gum Problems and Tooth Loss
• Hair Loss
• Hammertoes
• Headache
• Hearing Loss
• Heartburn
• Heart Palpitations
• Heat Exhaustion
• Hemorrhoids
• High Blood Pressure
• High Cholesterol
• Hip Pain
• Hives
• Impotence
• Incontinence
• Ingrown Toenails
• Insomnia
• Intermittent Claudication
• Irritability
• Jaw Pain and Tmd
• Laryngitis
• Lowered Sexual Desire
• Lyme Disease
• Macular Degeneration
• Memory Loss
• Mobility Problems
• Morning Aches and Pains
• Mouth Sores
• Muscle Soreness
• Nausea
• Neck Pain
• Neuroma
• Night Vision Problems
• Nosebleeds
• Numbness and Tingling
• Osteoporosis
• Overweight
• Phlebitis
• Pneumonia
• Poor Appetite
• Poor Concentration
• Poor Smell and Taste
• Prostate Problems
• Rashes
• Reading Problems
• Restless Legs Syndrome
• Rosacea
• Scars
• Sciatica
• Shingles
• Sleep Interruptions
• Slowed Reaction Time
• Slow Healing
• Smoking Addiction
• Snoring and Sleep Apnea
• Stomachache
• Stress
• Sunburn
• Television Addiction
• Tinnitus
• Toenail Fungus
• Toothache
• Tooth Stains
• Ulcers
• Underweight
• Urinary Tract Infections
• Varicose Veins
• Prevent Accidents
• Stay Mentally Sharp

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Coughing

Coughing

No matter how hard you try to stifle it, medicate it, or otherwise circumvent it, a cough is one of your body’s defense mechanisms. A cough usually means that something is bothering your airway, whether it’s a buildup of phlegm from a cold or pollutants from your environment.

But if you have a run-of-the-mill, bothersome cough that could stand to be muffled, try these methods to calm it down.

Try This First

Huff and cough. To minimize a coughing spell, try coughing in a rhythm that begins with several smaller, gentler coughs and then one large one. When you start with several little coughs, you move things up toward the upper part of your air passage, the trachea, explains Anne L. Davis, M.D., associate professor of clinical medicine at New York University in New York City. “Then it can be coughed out.” If you use this gradual technique instead of coughing with all of your might, you’ll run less of a chance of straining a muscle or further irritating your throat.

Other Wise Ways

Have a nice cup of tea. Hot tea with a little bit of honey can be just the thing to settle down a cough. As the tea is brewing, breathe in the steam to open air passages and ease the cough. Then drink the tea and let the honey coat your throat, says Dr. Davis. Just be sure to keep your eyes closed while you’re breathing in the steam, and don’t get so close that you burn your skin. Steam for 5 to 15 minutes. This remedy is more likely to help a dry, irritative cough.

Kill the pain carefully. Sometimes, coughing can leave you with a raw feeling in the upper part of your chest and your throat, notes Dr. Davis. Taking a painkiller such as acetaminophen can help. Follow the instructions on the label, though, and don’t take any more than the recommended daily dosage, she advises. Gargling with warm salt water also can help.

Shun smoky environments. Chemicals and smoke can irritate airways, which will trigger coughing. So if you’re sick and already coughing, don’t smoke. “Ideally, you should also avoid other people who are smoking and smoky environments such as bars,” Dr. Davis says.

Managing Your Meds Coughing may be a side effect of a class of drugs called angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors used to treat high blood pressure and congestive heart failure. These drugs, such as captopril (Capoten) and enalapril (Vasotec), cause coughing in about 20 percent of people who take them, says Anne L. Davis, M.D., associate professor of clinical medicine at New York Univer sity in New York City. Other drugs that may cause coughing include beta-blocker drugs for high blood pressure, such as propranolol (Inderal); drugs for hyperthyroidism, such as methimazole (Tapazole); and beta-blocker eyedrops for glaucoma, for example, timolol (Timoptic). But even if these drugs make you cough, don’t stop taking them without seeing your doctor, who may be able to prescribe a substitute.

Humidify your world. If you’re coughing because of a buildup of mucus from a cold, help clear your passages with some humidity. “Steam does tend to open up airways,” according to Dr. Davis. Using a humidifier or even taking a warm shower can help get your secretions flowing and make your cough more productive. It is important to keep humidifiers clean because they can be a source of other infectious agents, she adds.

Keep liquids flowing. You can also help your cough by thinning your secretions with liquids. Water is by far the best, Dr. Davis says. Keep a glass handy and sip from it throughout the day, aiming for eight glasses.