| Dear Celia
Strangely this is not an uncommon situation. In fact not that long ago a study on children with persistent coughs was conducted in Oxford University and it was found that almost 4 out of 10 had recently been infected by Bordetella pertussis which is the bacterium found in whooping cough. Even though 85% had been immunized when they were younger they still became infected. Researchers claim that vaccination probably lessened the severity of the condition but never the less the 100 day cough as they coined it was endemic among younger school age children. Regardless of the diagnosis a homoeopath would prescribe on the whole of the symptom picture which includes what makes it better or worse and how the patient is dealing with the condition so things like violent paroxysms of coughing, coughs so much he cant get his breath, worse lying down, worse at night, coughs so much he may be sick, dryness and irritation of throat or larynx provokes cough, has to hold the chest when coughs, persistent cough coming from deep down in chest etc could indicate the remedy Drosera. We have seen a few children at our homoeopathic clinic with similar persistent coughs and modalities and have had some success with Drosera 30. When the symptom picture of the remedy is similar to the symptom picture produced by the patient the remedy then becomes truly homoeopathic and can not fail to work and will bring the patient back to health. There are of course a number of other remedies that have this persistent and distressing cough and they may be indicated if they have some individualizing symptoms that your son has but Drosera does not have. For example Rumex has cough from breathing cold air or changing rooms from warm to cold air and has a lot of mucous that can not be brought up. Spongia has a very dry croupy cough that sounds like sawing wood. It wakes the patient who feels suffocated and is alarmed by the violence of the cough. Arsenicum has cough with wheezing and constricted breathing. But try Drosera 30 night and morning leave it for a few days and let me know what happens. I would also recommend Thyme and Liquorice cough linctus as it helps to sooth the larynx irritation and also acts as an expectorant helping to bring up any mucous that may be stuck there. Best of Health |
