Types of Cough and Therapeutic Recommendations from the Perspective of Persian Medicine

Although many treatments reduce cough and its complications, cough is still one of the most common and annoying problems of patients who refer to medical centers. Therefore, finding simple and effective treatments is of great interest to the medical community. This study aimed to determine the types of cough and find simple and effective therapies based on Persian medicine (PM).

This research is a kind of narrative review study. Firstly the keyword “soaal” (cough) in authentic Persian medical manuscripts was investigated using Jame Teb software version 1/5 of the Computer Research Center of Islamic Sciences [Noor]. After data gathering, types of coughs and their diagnostic signs and symptoms and appropriate treatments were identified and categorized. Data analysis was done by directed content analysis. Furthermore, some of the common recommendations were discussed from the point of view of conventional medicine.

Based on the results of this study, from the point of view of PM, there are different types of cough, including hot and cold post nasal discharge, hot, cold, humid, dry, cough caused by loud noise or dust, and smoke, cough caused by lung ulcer, swellings, participatory cough, and children's cough. The type is determined based on the patient's clinical symptoms and detailed history. The appropriate treatment is selected based on the type of cough, such as gargling, fumigation, anointment, warm compress with drug, bathtubs, poultice, decoction, cupping, leech, and phlebotomy.

Considering the wide range of treatments mentioned for different types of cough, it seems that using the opinions of PM and paying attention to the type of cough can open a new window for researchers to find new treatments.