I have asthma which seems to come from my allergy to my dog, and probably other factors as well, but the symptom I manifest is lots of coughing when it is left untreated. Triggers for my coughing spells include dust of any kind, smoke, pretty much anything that pollutes the air.

My wife read of the use of the spice turmeric in a Yale study on mice bred to have cystic fibrosis, a genetic disease that causes the lungs to suffer excess mucous production and other more deadly effects. The mice which were fed huge doses of turmeric had a 60% higher survival rate [1]. Since my asthma relates to this in that I develop similar symptoms in the lungs we decided to try it, though the mechanism does not seem to be related to the explanation in the study. However we found that there appears to be some lung soothing property involved.

She filled many capsules with organic turmeric (both purchased at the local health-nut store) and had me start taking 4-6 a day. Within several hours of taking it my lungs ceased to be as irritated as they had been before. The effects of not taking it now are pretty evident, so the effect seems to be short lived, probably 12 hours at the most. I speculate that it could be because the turmeric contains some very good substance for soothing the lungs but in a small enough quantity to be quickly metabolized.

I have ceased using the powerful corticosteroids and bronchodilators that my physician prescribed at this point because my breathing is fine and I have little to no cough as long as I have several capsules of turmeric twice a day. I also suffered some pain in my lungs both without treatment and with the drugs prescribed and these pains have gone away since I switched to turmeric.

According to my physician my condition is not serious, but I post this in the hopes that it will be helpful to others looking for supplementary treatments for their lung conditions.

[1] http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/7575.php