Video Transcript

Hi, my name is Bob Linde. I'm an acupuncturist and herbalist in St. Petersburg, Florida. Today, I am talking to you about home remedies for chest congestion and cough. One of the most important things for us to figure out is why we are having some chest congestion or cough. There's many different reasons. It can be because we have a bad cold or flu. Even something as bad as bronchitis or pneumonia. Or, it may be just the after effects of having an antibiotic from a cold we've had a couple of weeks prior. It can also be something that's seemingly unrelated like acid reflux. Where our cough or chest congestion may get worse after meals or when we lay down. So, after you've figured out what the main cause is, we can look at what the best remedy is that we can use to help alleviate some of those symptoms from the chest and cough that we have. So, there's a number of things that we may have in our kitchen at any time. There's herbs like thyme, basil, mint that can be very helpful in alleviating some of those symptoms such as cough and chest congestion. The peels from any of the citrus but in particular limes and lemons can be helpful. And one of my favorites is actually cherries. So, the ideal use is actually to use the leaves or the bark of the cherry tree but often times that can be damaging to the trees. So we want to go ahead and if nothing else we always got cherry fruit. So if we can find some cherry fruit in our local grocery store or at our own backyard if we are lucky enough. Just by consuming small amounts of those throughout the day can really help to alleviate some of that cough and chest congestion and break it up. If it's more acute kind of problem where we are just combating a cold we can add some fresh ginger and some scallions from our local store. And those will help to break it up. And if you are really able to handle it you can even add some fresh garlic. Chop that up and make a strong tea out of it and you can drink it up. So, make sure that you find out why you've got that chest congestion and cough and often times you can find a simple remedy from your local grocery store or in your own backyard. So, please enjoy your herbs, this is Bob Linde in St. Petersburg.