There are several things you can do at home to ease your emphysema symptoms without resorting to prescription drugs and inhalers. One of the most important things you can do to keep emphysema symptoms from escalating is to protect your lungs from exposure to smoke and other airborne toxins. If you smoke, get whatever help you need to quit as soon as possible.
If family members or friends smoke, encourage them to quit. Meanwhile, establish a smoking area outside your home and ask that smokers use it when necessary.
Shortness of Breath
If you find yourself feeling breathless when you climb stairs or exercise, the first thing to do is try to relax. Train yourself to take five slow abdominal breaths to remind you to stop and relax. When you breathe, make sure your stomach rises and falls with the breath. An effective exercise to build lung capacity is to use the pursed lip method of breathing. Inhale to a count of four through your nose then exhale to a count of eight through pursed lips. Practice until you can do this six or eight times. This exercise relieves the emphysema symptoms of shortness of breath by increasing the oxygen in your body and helping your lungs to empty out the old air.
Dry, Unproductive Cough
If there is an irritant in the lungs, we need to cough it up. If you have a dry cough, make an aromatic steam inhaler by boiling one lemon cut in quarters with a handful of eucalyptus leaves. Boil for 15 minutes then pour into a bowl, make a tent over your head with a towel and breathe in this healing steam. An infusion of mullein leaves and blossoms with comfrey root can be prepared to relieve emphysema symptoms. Both herbs can be mixed in equal parts. Two teaspoons of the herb mixture in one cup of water, boiled and steeped for 15 minutes, can be drunk two times a day.
Taking garlic capsules for their expectorant properties is recommended by many herbalists. Garlic has many other healthful benefits such as toning the heart and circulatory system that also relieve emphysema symptoms.
Caution: Please use Home Remedies after Proper Research and Guidance. You accept that you are following any advice at your own risk and will properly research or consult healthcare professional.