One of the least pleasant types of cough is a wet one in my humble opinion. Reason being, at least with a dry cough you don’t need to go through 7 days of mucus. Sure, it might be the type of cough that tries to keep you up at night, but at least a dry cough is easily and painlessly dealt with the right herbs, no need to cough up anything over several days in order to get better.
I know this is an icky subject, but it needs to be discussed. Believe me; if and when you come down with a wet cough like, say, bronchitis, you will be glad to have this little guide to help you get rid of it as soon as possible.
The Best Wet Cough Remedies
All too often when faced with any type of cough many people head to the pharmacy to pick up cough medicine. These “remedies” usually suppress the cough and rarely take into account the type of cough a person might have. These cough medicines almost always suppress the cough. But ya know what? Coughs are good!
How can a cough be good you ask?
Well, let’s put it this way, imagine a clean lake that becomes stagnant and yucky because the river that flows into it is stopped up. Over time, pathogens and other types of germs make it their home and slowly, the once clean lake becomes boggy and marsh-like.
A productive cough would be like breaking down that blockage and clearing out the “sickness” in the lungs. We need coughs to clear out pathogens, dust, and mucus so that the germs don’t get trapped and cause a more serious respiratory infection.
What is a Productive Cough?
A productive cough is where you expel a lot of mucus with every cough. You can typically hear a lot of mucus in the lungs (that telltale wet cough sound) when breathing and, of course, when coughing. The lungs can often feel “swampy” or “boggy” in nature.
Most people don’t want to cough up mucus. It's icky business, especially when waking. This sort of thing makes cough suppressants sound like a really nice reprieve.
But guess what?
Wet coughs are your body’s attempt to expectorate mucus from the lungs and it is never a good idea to suppress this type of cough. Doing so could potentially be very harmful and will most likely prolong the illness or even allow it to progress into something more serious like pneumonia.
We never want mucus to remain trapped in the lungs any longer than necessary.
Like I said, icky business. You just have to bear with it.
Dry VS. Wet Cough
A dry cough is often very spasmodic in nature where the urge to cough is almost unbearable. It feels dry, tickly, and keeps you up at night. There's no mucus to expel, it's almost always worse when you lay down, and dry cough can make you gag with the incessant force of it.
A wet cough is characterized by a lot of mucus in the lungs. It sounds "boggy" like the mucus can't get out and is often worse in the morning since the mucus builds up at night.
A wet cough is often worse for infants, babies, and toddlers because they don't yet understand that expectorating the mucus and spitting it out when is what helps them breathe better.
How to Get Rid of a Wet Cough - Fast!
The best way to treat “lung grunge” is by helping the wet cough become more productive. Promoting the flow of mucus will assist the body in clearing out the infection and shorten the duration of a chest cold - even a persistent wet cough!
When there is an especially excessive amount of mucus, stimulating and diffusive expectorants are used to thin phlegm making it easier to support the body’s natural function of getting it out.
Again, we never want to use herbs that suppress a wet cough with a lot of mucus. This only makes things last longer than they should.
Some stimulating expectorants include:
• Elecampane- tastes icky but GREAT for heavy mucus and an amazing wet cough treatment!
• Ginger- great as a tea or infused/blended in honey. Try this awesome tea!
• Black pepper- add to teas…wonderful in herbal chai
• Horseradish- always a key addition to fire cider which incidentally is great for all manner of coughs
• Hyssop- really tasty as an oxymel (vinegar and honey preparation)
• Cayenne- add it to soups and teas…just a dash!
• Osha root- one of my favorites paired with garden sage
• Pine- this one tastes great infused in vinegar or raw honey
• Mustard- this herb has been beneficial as a poultice/plaster
• Horehound- make some homemade lozenges
• Garlic- great infused or blended raw into honey
• Onion- great infused in honey
• Cottonwood buds- also great for reducing the pain associated with forceful coughing
• Usnea- best as a tincture
Some of these herbs you may recognize as being a bit spicy or warming. These types of herbs are great for cutting through mucus (think runny nose and watery eyes) as I’m sure you have experienced when eating spicy food.
Stimulating expectorants are especially good for sticky, gooey, boggy types of mucus.
If the mucous membranes feel dried out, it’s a good idea to pair stimulating expectorants with more relaxing expectorants like slippery elm, marshmallow root, linden, or plantain.
Simple Wet Cough Syrup Recipe
So there are two different versions of this depending on the color of mucus you have. The first is for mucus that is clear or white.
Garlic Honey Cough Syrup
All you need for this recipe is:
• A blender (a magic bullet works great for this)
• One head of garlic
• A cup of raw honey (regular honey will work in a pinch)
Loving Preparation:
• Pour the cup of raw honey into the magic bullet
• Seal the lid tightly and float the container in hot water (this will make the honey more liquidy and easier to blend)
• While the honey is warming, peel your garlic. At least a few good-sized cloves
• Once finished, add one clove of raw garlic to the honey and blend until smooth
• If you can go stronger, add another clove of garlic and so on
• Once you reach a strength you can handle, pour the garlic honey into a clean jar and take by the spoonful as often as needed
Simple Herbal Tea for Wet Coughs
Usnea Tea
This is the second preparation.
While the herb itself doesn’t make much of a tea, the tincture added to a tea certainly gets the medicine delivered where it’s needed.
I like to mix a dropperful of usnea with peppermint tea to treat mucus that is yellow, green, and copious.
Be sure to drink the tea hot 3 times daily for best results.
You can find usnea at your local health food store or HERE. Since this herb might be hard to find, I recommend having usnea tincture on hand in your medicine chest during the winter months to avoid needing it and not being able to get it.
You can read more about the amazing properties of Usnea here.
What have been your best wet cough remedies?
You may also enjoy reading:
Herbal Remedies for Dry Cough
The Best Remedy for Cough
12 Home Remedies for Cough That Actually Work!
Anti-Catarrhal Essential Oils and How to Use Them
Sources:
Elecampane: A Natural Cough Remedy
Preventing the common cold with a garlic supplement: a double-blind, placebo-controlled survey
Supplementation with aged garlic extract improves both NK and γδ-T cell function and reduces the severity of cold and flu symptoms: a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled nutrition intervention
Hyssop Benefits
Paliya, B. S., et al. "The genus Usnea: a potent phytomedicine with multifarious ethnobotany, phytochemistry and pharmacology." RSC Advances 6.26 (2016): 21672-21696.
Kalra, M., M. Khatak, and S. Khatak. "Cold And Flu: Conventional vs Botanical & Nutritional Therapy." International Journal of Drug Development and Research 3 (2011): 314-327.
Aziz, Abdul, et al. "Evaluation of antitussive activity of Lycopus europaeus on cough reflex induced by different cough induced models in mice." Int J Pharma Sci 3.6 (2013): 412-416.
Sunny says
Also I forgot to ask, what teas would be ok to drink for a very watery cough that wouldnt make it worse? Would something like mullein tea be ok? By the way I found your article to be very helpful in describing the different types of coughs.
Sunny says
What herbs would work for a cough that is producing too much very watery mucus and a lot of inflammation? I have a cold and this only lasts for a few hours in the morning. Drinking ginger is my go to for coughs but not when it's this watery. It just makes it worse.
Derek Rooney says
I had COPD for 9 years. My first symptoms were dry cough, chest tightness and shortness of breath. My first chest x-ray only showed bronchitis. Finally I went to a pulmonologist and was diagnosed with COPD.i have used all the medication yet they don’t work, last year December I was told by a formal emphysema patient to use https://totalcureherbalfou5.wixsite.com/herbal/contact herbal treatment which I really did,i was surprise the herbal products effectively get rid of my COPD totally. When you get where you cannot breathe it may be too late. Good luck to each and every one that will be trying their herbal treatment .
Oceana says
you don't strain the garlic from the honey? I also wonder what adding some fresh ginger would be like!!
Tash says
You can certainly strain it out if you like. it never lasts long enough in my house to warrant straining 😉 Ginger is LOVELY btw!
Michele says
Hi Tash!
Any suggestions for cleaning out the lungs for asthma and/or COPD?
Kimberly Bledsoe says
My husband has a teribble wet cough. He is spitting up lots of gunk. The most effective herb I have on hand is ginger root. And Tumeric I should definetly add he is on dialysis and can't have much fluid. How about Tumeric milk or tea?
Thank you.
Tash says
Hi Kimberly!
Sorry to hear about your husband's cough! You can definitely use turmeric to help get rid of the gunk. From what I gather, making turmeric milk is more effective than the tea. Be sure to add black pepper as well to help the body absorb the benefits from the turmeric. I would keep using the ginger as well if possible. It can be simmered on the stove (covered) to help make a stronger tea with less liquid. Since he is on dialysis, I would just advise him to drink small amounts that are suitable for HIM. These herbs are both great for wet cough, I hope he feels better soon!
anna@greentalk says
I never knew hyssop and bee balm were good for coughs.
Tash says
Yes! Hyssop is one of my favorite herbs to use for wet cough 🙂 Tastes good too!
Stan K says
I found the way to stop a 7 month
wet cough filled with mucus everyday.
I took NAC supplement for 7 days
and it stopped. the cough and mucus.
BJ says
there is no mention of Ginger in your Ginger Honey Cough Syrup recipe. Am I missing something?
Tash says
Hi BJ!
LOL....it was supposed to say garlic! I edited the post. Thanks for letting me know 🙂
Sarah says
How can you tell the difference between a wet cough and whooping cough?
Tash says
Hi Sarah!
Whooping cough sounds like the person can't catch their breath while coughing up icky mucus. They will also have a sort of whooping/choking/gagging sound while coughing and the coughs are really forceful sounding. Essential whooping cough IS a wet cough, but not all wet coughs are whooping coughs.