Best herbs for lungs and general immunity?

Hi everybody,

I know there are posts on medicinal herbs for lung health, and for general immunity, but the lung one I saw was very dense, and all I can remember was that peppermint and horehound are supposed to be good for the lungs.

I have a family member who's developed a bad cough out of nowhere.  It started off as a dry cough, and now it's terrible.  She refuses to see a doctor, and listening to her cough is really stressing me out.

As such, does anybody know any strong herbs for lung/bronchial health, and for the immune system in general?

I'm not in the frame of mind to be able to read articles at the minute, so any herb or medicine names would be greatly appreciated.

Cheers for now,

-- Jojo

I recently read that drying mullein and smoking the dried plant is great for all lung related issues.  I haven't tried it yet myself.

They make a cough syrup from red elderberry, Sambucus. I find it really effective for what you described. Quiets and sooths that raspy cough.  Good luck.

I have found that licorice quiets a cough— either tea or candy (real black licorice).

Paul released a video several years ago that details several of the benefits of mullein. Specifically, a tea made with mullein leaves is supposedly beneficial for the lungs.

(incidentally, this is one of the Boot team's favourite videos to watch right now. It's both funny and informative.)

A wet cough like that usually means some type of bug. Instead of treating the cough, kill the bug. I suggest eating a clove of raw garlic every couple of hours. You can mash it with some honey, stuff it in a prune or date, anything to ease the sting. But it always works for me.

If you absolutely can't stomach raw garlic, try mincing it and adding it to a shotglass of water. Let sit 10 minutes, then drink the whole thing down. Sometimes it's a little easier.

I would also say don't eat raw garlic on an empty stomach. Otherwise, it's the best medicine for almost everything.

For nighttime, the homeopathic Nux Vomica is a great cough suppressant so you can get some much-needed sleep.

The cough is probably not lung unless your family member is coughing up mucus or phylum.

She may have developed an allergy to something she recently came into contact with or as mentioned a bug.

I would try a hot tea with honey and lemon or herbal teas made of peppermint, ginger, slippery elm, thyme, turmeric, or marshmallow root.

Also cough drops made with these natural ingredients can be very helpful.

I have a persistent cough and keep cough drop handy for when I start coughing.

Trace Oswald wrote:I recently read that drying mullein and smoking the dried plant is great for all lung related issues.  I haven't tried it yet myself.

Trace -- mullein's a new one on me.  I'll have to see if I can find some around.  Thanks for the suggestion. :)

Carmelo Panucci wrote:They make a cough syrup from red elderberry, Sambucus. I find it really effective for what you described. Quiets and sooths that raspy cough.  Good luck.

Carmelo -- I need to check the ingredients of the cough bottle I bought her.  I've been planning to make an elderberry syrup anyway.  Not sure they'll be red, though -- do you think regular elderberries would work?

Mk Neal wrote:I have found that licorice quiets a cough— either tea or candy (real black licorice).

Mk -- This was actually the base for the wet-cough cough bottle I found in the pharmacy!  She did say it was a dry, tickly cough, though, and the liquorice one was alcohol-based, with the warning not to take it if one has problems breathing, which she does.  I'm keeping liquorice in mind, though, so thanks for that.

As an aside, I do know that liquorice, taken as a tea, can raise blood pressure, for what that's worth.

Stephen B. Thomas wrote:Paul released a video several years ago that details several of the benefits of mullein. Specifically, a tea made with mullein leaves is supposedly beneficial for the lungs.

(incidentally, this is one of the Boot team's favourite videos to watch right now. It's both funny and informative.)

Thank you, Stephen -- I'll give it a watch.  Second toot for mullein!

Anne Miller wrote:The cough is probably not lung unless your family member is coughing up mucus or phylum.

She may have developed an allergy to something she recently came into contact with or as mentioned a bug.

I would try a hot tea with honey and lemon or herbal teas made of peppermint, ginger, slippery elm, thyme, turmeric, or marshmallow root.

Also cough drops made with these natural ingredients can be very helpful.

I have a persistent cough and keep cough drop handy for when I start coughing.

Anne -- again, this is a shrewd observation, and corroborates my suspicion that it's the result (explicitly stated to be such an auto-immune response, against nothing) of the injection.  I have indeed been using peppermint oil in her oil burner, putting turmeric in her tea, and did use an oil mix including thyme.  I'll keep trying these things, and see if I can find marshmallow root and/or slippery elm.  Thanks for the suggestions!

I hope the cough has improved. I don't know if regular elderberry you find would work. I have only used the store bought kind.  One more thing. For general robust immunity support,  Chaga is king at my house.

Carmelo Panucci wrote:I hope the cough has improved. I don't know if regular elderberry you find would work. I have only used the store bought kind.  One more thing. For general robust immunity support,  Chaga is king at my house.

Carmelo -- Okay, we'll just have to see if it helps or not.  And I've never heard of chaga!  I'll look into it, thanks! :)

Wild Cherry Bark as a cough syrup.  An herbalist gave this to a family member in a nursing home, and he recommended this because it reduced
or even eliminated at times her coughing.
https://www.rxlist.com/supplements/wild_cherry.htm

To purchase: https://www.swansonvitamins.com/p/planetary-herbals-old-indian-wild-cherry-bark-syrup-8-oz-liquid?SourceCode=INTL4071&showPopup=f&a=1&DFA=1&utm_medium=shoppingads&utm_source=google&utm_campaign=shopping+standard+respiratory&utm_content=&SourceCode=INTL4071&gclsrc=aw.ds&gad_source=1&gclid=EAIaIQobChMI2uaKisG-hwMVGg-tBh1QcwNKEAQYBiABEgLD9vD_BwE
This is the 8 oz size,  
it is less expensive per ounce in the 16 oz size but then it is a larger, up-front cost.

Perilla is used in Chinese medicine for lung issues. It's a mint species. I have no idea if it works. We grow the Japanese version, shiso, in our garden and eat quite a bit of it.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Perilla_frutescens

I find a simple tea of fresh thyme , just the regular type. It is soothing on the throat and stomach and helps loosen mucous. Add lemon and honey if you like.

I can't speak for everyone, but this is my experience. I have planted medicinal plants specifically for this. All week long I've been visiting my medicinal garden to harvest flowers from my mullein plants and my marshmallow plants.  I also clip lemonbalm and yarrow leaves. Then I have been making tea with those ingredients and a little honey because those ingredients work so well for anything lung related. This tea is a bit blood-thinning, so be aware of that. I have no problems with an occasional blood-thinning. These ingredients can make you cough up the stubborn things in your lungs that keep you coughing all the time but it would be an unproductive cough.  I've had these ingredients calm down a sore throat as well.  I could easily add butterfly milkweed, which is good for the lungs, to this mix but haven't yet.  I could highly recommend this tea as "definitely worth a try" and have your friend drink 2-3 cups a day for 3-4 days or until they are better.  It tastes great and is great for you.  Let me know if you need help sourcing any of these ingredients. Frankincense essential oil is great too for overall health. Just rub a drop on the bottom of your feet at bedtime.
If you want something more commercial:
MountainRoseHerbs.com sells a tincture that really can be felt greatly in the lungs. I bought it during Covid and tried it. It tasted like turpentine (horrible) but very effective. I was literally unable to take this more than once because it tasted like turpentine. This is what they say about the ingredients:
Elecampane: This root has been used for its healthful properties in traditional European herbalism since the time of ancient Greece. It is considered energetically warming and drying with a special affinity for the digestive and respiratory systems. Elecampane was also a part of various Native American healing systems, where the roots were utilized for their wellness supporting qualities.
Horehound: With a long history of use for its wellbeing support in traditional European folk herbalism, this energetically bitter and cooling herb was employed for its affinity for the respiratory and digestive systems.
Marshmallow: Traditional folk practices used marshmallow to comfort the mucous membranes of the body, as well as an external poultice. Marshmallow root provides natural mucilage that supports, soothes, and moistens mucous membranes of the respiratory, digestive, and urinary tracts.*
Mullein: With its distinctive yellow blossoms, mullein has been revered for its healthful benefits for at least 2,000 years. The leaves have an exceptional affinity for the respiratory system and are regarded for their expectorant and demulcent properties. Mullein’s energetic actions include cooling, drying, and moistening.
Pleurisy: Asclepias tuberosa has been traditionally used by indigenous cultures for centuries. Much of the plant is edible, including the young shoots, flower buds, and stems. The fibers can be fashioned into fabric or rope. Pleurisy root has an affinity for the pulmonary system and is commonly used topically for a range of healthful benefits.  (This is aka butterfly milkweed or butterfly weed)
Ginger: This botanical has been valued as a zesty spice and a reliable herb for centuries, with the first recorded uses found in ancient Sanskrit and Chinese texts. Pungent and warming ginger is now a widely known herb in most parts of the world and has been incorporated into many folk herbal practices. In Traditional Chinese Medicine this root was utilized to support the lung, spleen, heart, and stomach meridians for thousands of years.
Licorice: An impressive number of Chinese herbal formulas (over 5,000) contain licorice root to sweeten teas and to “harmonize” contrasting herbs. Many traditional healing modalities treat Glycyrrhiza glabra as a tonic herb. Licorice root has an affinity for the digestive and respiratory systems and has adaptogenic tendencies.

Cough could also come from moldspores. Mold in a building. But also mold on food. The older the foods the more mold they contain. Mold (mycotoxins) has to be bound with antibodys. If one cannot make anti- bodies to bind to those toxins the mycotocins make the liver and bile slugisch. And sometimes the mycotoxins bring inflamation in the gut because they feed yeast like candida. This can give cough. If you lay down the gasses from the candida bring inflamation in the troath and can give dry cough. Clay, zeoliet or charcoal can bind to mycotoxins and calm down inflamation.

Stephen B. Thomas wrote:Paul released a video several years ago that details several of the benefits of mullein. Specifically, a tea made with mullein leaves is supposedly beneficial for the lungs.

(incidentally, this is one of the Boot team's favourite videos to watch right now. It's both funny and informative.)

I had heard that mullien is known as cowboy toilet paper, and one day i had occasion to try that theory while out squirrel hunting. Let's just say it doesn't really work, It tears way too easily and will help you get in touch with your inner self, if you know what I mean. I ended up leaving the woods with only one sock that day.

Mullein is always our first herb to try with any cough. I personally have smoked it in 2020 when I got covid and my breathing was difficult - after smoking (used dried leaves in a pipe for tabaco) I was breathing like normal in 15 minutes. I also drink Mullein tea whenever I feel any symptoms coming on, add a little honey and it is wonderful.

[quote=Anne Miller]The cough is probably not lung unless your family member is coughing up mucus or phylum.

She may have developed an allergy to something she recently came into contact with or as mentioned a bug.

I would try a hot tea with honey and lemon or herbal teas made of peppermint, ginger, slippery elm, thyme, turmeric, or marshmallow root.

Also cough drops made with these natural ingredients can be very helpful.

I have a persistent cough and keep cough drop handy for when I start coughing.[/quote]

We have a bee keeper near us, he
recommended  local honey that is
gathered
from the year prior and same month
the allergy starts.
This will target the current allergy.

Lots of good advice here.
As someone with asthma, I take homemade Elecampane tincture, elderberry syrup & mullein tea. These definitely help.

As someone has already posted, Wild Cherry Bark. You can buy Cherry Bark tea. Brew a very strong concoction, double the tea material, steep for a few hours. Strain and put in the fridge. Drink a shot of that every 3 or 4 hours. Helped my husband when he had a cough he couldn't get rid of. The tea stopped his cough for a few hours till the next dose. It took a few days before it stayed gone.

Tea from plantain (Plantago major) and thyme might help.

I've also had good results with lung issues using homemade elecampagne tincture, although I seem to have an allergic reaction to it where I lose much of my sense of taste and have a feeling of needles in my tounge and throat for a couple days after using even small amounts of the tincture..
I usually prefer to use fire cider, containing thyme, garlic, cayenne, ginger, horseradish, etc. The horseradish on it's own is also a great herb for the lungs.

It is always my pleasure to tell people about herbal medicine. But understand this - here is the most important thing that you do. Go to the store, like a Walmart, and buy a finger oxygen tester. They run about $20-$30. Have your friend put it on their finger. If their oxygen is way down, like less than 90, then you have reached a dangerous situation and your friend needs to get to the doctor for oxygen and care. My family member, a day after taking the covid vaccine, developed micro blood clots in his lungs, and this nearly killed him. It comes back from time to time, and it always lands him in the ER in a very scary way. He has to have blood thinners to prevent clotting, and he often needs oxygen. Don't mess around if you friend is low in oxygen. But also, find the right doctor, as many do not even look for blood clotting as a possibility.

Jojo Cameron wrote:

Anne Miller wrote:The cough is probably not lung unless your family member is coughing up mucus or phylum.

She may have developed an allergy to something she recently came into contact with or as mentioned a bug.

I would try a hot tea with honey and lemon or herbal teas made of peppermint, ginger, slippery elm, thyme, turmeric, or marshmallow root.

Also cough drops made with these natural ingredients can be very helpful.

I have a persistent cough and keep cough drop handy for when I start coughing.

Anne -- again, this is a shrewd observation, and corroborates my suspicion that it's the result (explicitly stated to be such an auto-immune response, against nothing) of the injection.  I have indeed been using peppermint oil in her oil burner, putting turmeric in her tea, and did use an oil mix including thyme.  I'll keep trying these things, and see if I can find marshmallow root and/or slippery elm.  Thanks for the suggestions!

Turmeric needs to be fresh harvested. And not been dryed or long time in the kitchen when the cough is dry. It is high in mold. Thyme will make the troath even more dry.

I have given a number of family members bottles of a herbal tincture widely available at Herbal stores called Astragalus (Milkvetch). The results even with seniors suffering from Pneumonia  was impressive. Do your research and decide for yourself.

Cough could also come from moldspores. Mold in a building. But also mold on food. The older the foods the more mold they contain. Mold (mycotoxins) has to be bound with antibodys. If one cannot make anti- bodies to bind to those toxins the mycotocins make the liver and bile slugisch. And sometimes the mycotoxins bring inflamation in the gut because they feed yeast like candida. This can give cough. If you lay down the gasses from the candida bring inflamation in the troath and can give dry cough. Clay, zeoliet or charcoal can bind to mycotoxins and calm down inflamation.
For herbs fenegriek or butterflypea flower (a blue flower) can bring down recirculation of the slugisch bile. Fenegriek is also from the pea family. But charcoal can immidiatly stop cough. Avoid nuts, grains, seeds, fruits, dried fruits, (dried) roots, chilli, pepper, dairy as they are high in molds. You can look up more about aflatoxin and more molds. If the liver is full of toxins, oxigen goes down like somebody else already mentioned.

Thank you, everybody, for all the responses to this thread -- they're amazing!  I've still to read through them all properly, but thank you all so much!  =oD

equal on spoon raw honey (good taste- and health benefits) with sunflower oil - this stops irritation for couple hours so rest/sleep is achieved,  There's Rosemary Gladstar's fire cider recipe.  I have Mullein tea (I treat myself) but if you wish to grow it - know it takes 2years cycle for flowering.  Echinacea  is known for its abilities and immune qualities.  I see people recommending Licorice - this is and does work but its licorice root dried - make a tea from it (But it has warnings that go with it too) - so please do your research!  Not everyone is the same and what works for me may have an allergic reaction for others;  Children take extra care with dosages and age of child.  I hope this gives you a helping hand.  Herbalists study for years - to know about the plants they use.

Herbs like these help in a tea help open the lungs:
Rosemary,
Grindelia, ( AKA gumweed flowering this time of year)
Mullein,
Elecampagne,
Black elder leaf,
Peppermint,
Thyme
I like to steam my sinuses by standing over the tea as it seeps.

I make an infused honey with grindelia and thyme and garlic for my kids,

I agree with garlic kicking most germs. I also use it along with these and other herbs in a vinegar infusion known as fire cider. A shot down the hatch every hour.

Finally, cherry bark and onion make an awesome cough syrup.

Good luck, Jojo!!

Hello hello,

First, good thoughts and blessings to anyone feeling under the weather.
Amazing volume of wonderful advice, great choice, easier to find what is readily available.

Sambucus nigra, elder, is not the same as ground elder. Best to check to be sure if one is foraging.
Here, one is tall, the one to use, and ground elder is, yes, much shorter, closer to the ground.

Whilst in intensive care a couple of years ago with pulmonary embolism and very persistent cough, friends managed to smuggle in a bottle of peppermint essential oil.
This is a life saver for spasms, in my experience, once I started coughing, I coughed and coughed, until I started sniffing the oil. The relief was very quick, the coughing stopped.
Sniffed in each nostril, breathing in as deeply as possible.

I believe it is equally effective for gastric discomfort.

As a therapy, a steam bath might be helpful.

Thanks to al, for this valuable thread.
M-H

Since your family member isn’t keen on seeing a doctor, maybe some herbal remedies could help ease things a bit. For lung and bronchial health, you’re right about peppermint—it’s great for soothing the respiratory tract. Horehound is also solid, especially for clearing out mucus.Mullein is often used for respiratory issues; it helps reduce inflammation in the lungs and can make coughing less harsh. Thyme has antibacterial properties and is good for clearing out congestion. Echinacea and elderberry are popular for boosting the immune system if you’re looking to support overall health.I hope that you will all be well

I just wanted to post an update:

My family member moved to stay with some other relatives shortly after I started this thread.  I did try burning some different essential oils, and also tried a garlic infusion, but it was too brief to really see a difference.  It turns out the change of location has agreed with her, and this makes me think there was a psychological ingredient to the cough.  There were no environmental changes that would have accounted for the development of the cough, and other than the speculation I've made surrounding one case of her taking some questionable medicine, the only other factor was our relationship.  Psychosomatic things are difficult to diagnose at the best of times, but she seemed to spontaneously recover upon moving out.  How much of this is just due to the fact that she always claims to be fine, despite evidence to the contrary, is open to question.  However, I have seen her since, and the cough does seem to have cleared up to a large extent.

So, that's that!  This thread has turned out to be a treasure trove of information, though, and I hope other people are benefitting from it.

I'm gonna start a similar thread on good herbs for the heart -- specifically weak hearts and arrhythmia, because I need some help with this!

Cheers for now,

-- Jojo