Honey for the treatment of cough
Cough is a protective reaction of the body, intended to clean the respiratory tract of foreign substances (mucus, sputum, pus, blood). As a general rule, the uncomplicated bacterial infection common cough happens within 2-3 weeks.
This is evidenced by a general practitioner and group president for the development of guidelines for prescribing antibiotics Tessa Lewis.
should I take antibiotics? Or honey?
Often, cough is the answer for colds caused by viruses that are not susceptible to antibiotic treatment.
They just do not work here. In most cases, the cough disappears on its own within 2 to 3 weeks, when the lungs are completely clear of the mucus accumulated in them.
But in our time, a long cough scares people. people drink liters of antibiotics without thinking if necessary or not. And the whole problem is that the uncontrolled use of antibiotics only leads to the fact that they stop helping.
Scientists are concerned about the approach of the "bacterial apocalypse" & quot; Even Alexander Fleming, the inventor of penicillin, once said that penicillin should not be used until the disease is diagnosed. And if the antibiotic is necessary, it can not be used for a short time and in very small amounts, since a resistance develops.
Due to its uncontrolled and inadequate reception, the microorganisms mutate. They learn to survive even under the influence of drugs, and drugs simply stop working. Therefore, it becomes much more difficult to cure an infection. And if it continues like this, we will remain defenseless against bacteria.
In addition, antibiotics have a series of side effects: dysbiosis, nausea, diarrhea, aphthae. The most unpleasant of them is dysbacteriosis. After all, dysbacteriosis is a direct consequence of reduced immunity.
From up to 80% of the immune cells of our body mature in the intestine. And if it does not work, then our immunity does not work either.
Mark Baker, professor, director of the guidelines development center at NICE, says:
We want to emphasize that in most cases, antibiotics are not necessary to treat cough. We want people to be offered alternative means that can help relieve their symptoms. It is important to consider the effects of bacterial resistance and offer antibiotics to people who really need them.
Antibiotics are necessary only in cases where acute cough is part of a serious illness. or in cases where there is a risk of additional complications. For example, such as lung disease, immunosuppression or cystic fibrosis.
Honey and over the counter medications
In the United Kingdom, the Department of Health has updated the guidelines for doctors. They advise British doctors to prescribe cough medicines and cough medicines without a prescription.
Therefore, they want to limit the use of antibiotics to patients. This is the so-called part of the strategy to combat resistance to antibiotics.
But in reality, honey helps very well to cure cough in the context of colds. Even in our good times, the cough was always treated with honey and herbal infusions.
It is proven that honey has antimicrobial, antibacterial, antifungal action. Its use contributes to the dilution and elimination of mucus from the bronchi. And the special substances contained in honey, suppress the center of the cough and help get rid of the obsessive dry cough.
The use of honey along with over-the-counter medications for the treatment of cough will increase the mutual effect. Therefore, the recovery will come faster.
