Croup is a viral respiratory infection that affects young children’s upper airways, particularly the larynx, and trachea. It causes swelling and narrowing of the air passages, making breathing difficult and producing a characteristic barking cough.
Symptoms of croup usually begin with a cold-like illness, including a runny nose, fever, and cough. The cough typically develops into a barking or seal-like sound, especially at night, due to the narrowing of the air passages. In severe cases, the child may have difficulty breathing, and their skin may turn bluish due to the lack of oxygen.
It can be treated with many Homeopathic remedies, but there is a Homeopathic trio of Croup that includes Aconite, Spongia, and HeparSulph that works definitely and treats the acute condition. It is usually taken in the same order depending on the intensity and severity of the complaints. Let us have a look:
This recommendation is made by Boenninghausen as mentioned in the book Disease of Children by C. Sigmund Raue as seen in HOMPATH ZOMEO.
Aconite:
When it comes to treating croup, Aconite is the preferred remedy for sudden attacks that come on without warning, often before midnight, and can be very frightening for both the child and the parent. Aconite is the first of the Homeopathic trio for Croup.
However, if Aconite is not available, it is not recommended to give it the next day, as it is most effective in the first few hours of inflammation. In this case, Spongia is the next choice of remedy.
Indications of Aconite:
- Croup from exposure to dry, cold northwest wind
- Child is aroused from sleep by long suffocative attacks
- Dry, hard barking cough, but not yet wheezing nor sawing respiration
- COUGH AND LOUD BREATHING DURING EXPIRATION, but not during inspiration
- Every expiration ends with a coarse hacking cough
- Fear of choking to death, high fever, dry skin, anxiety, and restlessness
- Child is in agony and throws itself about
- Feels better from cold drinks and aggravated after eating.
- Relapses may set in if Aconite is given in insufficient doses and repetition or left off too soon.
Spongia:
If you don’t notice much improvement in the child’s condition 15 minutes after administering the Aconite, you may consider using Spongia as the second option.
Spongia is an effective cough medicine that works well for dry, barking coughs commonly associated with croup. It is recommended to use Spongiafrom the Homeopathy trio of croup as the second option after Aconite, or as the first option if the child has already developed a dry cough.
Indications:
- Indicated in children with fair complexion.
- NO MUCOUS RALES WITH THE CROUP
- Cough is dry and sibilant or it sounds like a saw driven through a pine-board.
- Each cough corresponding to a thrust with the saw
- Fear of choking to death
- Stuffed, obstructed sensation with difficult inspiration
- Breathing harsh and dry, with some relief to breathing when head and shoulders are raised into a sitting position
- Aggravated when lying down before midnight and ameliorated from warm food and drink
- Croup does not extend below the larynx.
Hompath Zomeo has in its library a book on therapeutics called “A Dictionary of Domestic Medicine” by John Clarke. Have a look at what it says for Croup:
HeparSulph
It is the third-choice remedy from the Homeopathic trio of croup and may be indicated towards morning or a day or two if the cough turns loose and rattling. Heparsulph is a great cough remedy that is useful later on, not usually on the first day.
Indications:
- Cough brought on or aggravated by the dry, cold wind, with swelling below the larynx
- RATTLING, CHOKING COUGH, COMING ON OR GETTING WORSE IN THE EARLY HOURS OF THE MORNING
- The child chokes with every coughing spell, has to sit up and bend the head back, and is better by being kept warm (opposite to Brom.)
- Least exposure causes a spell of coughing
- Cough is aggravated by drinking and eating.
- Every little motion causes slight perspiration, or profuse, clammy, sour sweat, mostly before midnight
- Cough comes on as soon as the child lies down at night and gets worse toward morning
- No expectoration at night but only in the daytime with the suffocating coughing spells
- RATTLING OF MUCUS, which the child is unable to get rid of, but still has little or no difficulty of breathing
- Sensation as if there was a fishbone in the throat, or internal swelling, causing stitching pains from ear to ear when swallowing or turning around.
However, some children may have a susceptibility to developing croup and may require a constitutional remedy instead of the Homeopathic Trio of Croup.
Have a look at the Practical Homeopathic Therapeutics by Dewey W.A:
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