illnesses from dust 477
Treatment
Black lung and silicosis cannot be cured. But you can reduce the suffering they
cause.
• Drink plenty of water to help loosen mucus from the lungs.
• Keep breathing passages open. Fill a bowl with steaming hot
water and strong-smelling herbs such as eucalyptus, oregano,
mint, or thyme. Put your head over the bowl, cover yourself
with a towel or cloth, and breathe the vapors. Do this for
15 minutes at a time, several times a day.
• Medicines called bronchodilators can help open the
breathing passages. The kinds that are inhaled work
fastest.
• Hospitals may give oxygen to help a person breathe more easily.
• Home-made cough syrup can reduce painful coughing. Mix:
+
1 part honey
1 part lemon juice
Take a teaspoonful
every 2 or 3 hours
• Some people believe dairy foods like milk, cheese, and butter make
mucus thicker and more difficult to cough up. If eating these foods
makes you feel worse, avoid them as long as you can get good nutrition
from other foods.
important: It is not true that drinking alcohol clears the lungs of dust.
Drinking alcohol only makes health problems worse.
Related health problems
People with black lung disease or silicosis have a higher risk of developing
other health problems such as:
• tuberculosis (TB)
(see pages 356
and 481)
• chronic bronchitis
(see page 331)
• heart disease
• lung cancer
• pneumonia
• asthma (see page 331)
• rheumatoid
arthritis
• lupus
• rheumatic fever
• sclerosis
See a general health book like Where There Is No Doctor for more information.
A Community Guide to Environmental Health 2012