Bechico

See also: herbal tea against cough; bromhexine; expectorants

Definition

The adjective bechico is reserved for all those medicines, natural or synthetic, useful in the treatment of coughs.

Natural Bechici

The group of natural bechici includes marshmallow root, mallow flowers, plantain leaves, Icelandic lichen, coltsfoot leaves and linden flowers.

These are mucilaginous drugs, with a protective effect on the pharyngeal and tracheobronchial mucosa, especially useful against dry cough. Thanks to the discrete water solubility of the mucilages, these plants are generally taken in the form of an infusion.

Numerous essential oil drugs are also considered bechiche, which due to their strong expectorant and demulcent effect, are used against fat cough. Among these we remember the essential oil of anise, mint, thyme, fennel and eucalyptus.

Opioids and Opioids

The last category of natural cough remedies is represented by opiates obtained from the condensed latex of immature capsules of Papaver somniferum.

Among the numerous alkaloids present, codeine is the one with the greatest antitussive activity, which it performs by activating the opioid receptors of the cough center and raising the threshold of onset of this annoying reflex. To limit the side effects of opium powder, in which morphine is also present, synthetic bechics (dextromethorphan, hydrocodone and hydromorphone) have been studied.