Why persistent cough

If a doctor cannot determine the exact cause straight away, they might decide to treat the most common contributing factors for a chronic cough. Postnasal drip is a common cause, so a doctor may recommend the person takes decongestants or antihistamines.

These medications can help to dry up secretions and reduce inflammation that can lead to postnasal drip. Decongestant or nasal steroid sprays may also help. Other treatments may be more specific to a particular underlying medical condition. For example, a person may be able to control their GERD through making lifestyle changes and taking medications that reduce the effects of acid on the stomach. Examples of these changes can include:.

Those who have a cough related to ACE inhibitors may wish to talk to their doctor. There are some medications that may be able to reduce high blood pressure without causing a cough. Unless side effects are serious, a person should not stop taking medication without first speaking to their doctor. Smoking cigarettes can increase the risk of developing a chronic cough. The smoke can irritate the airways and lead to a chronic cough as well as lung damage. Exposure to chemicals in the air, such as from working in a factory or laboratory, can also lead to long-term coughing.

Taking ACE inhibitors is a significant risk factor for coughing. A chronic cough can have the following additional effects:. Most cases of a chronic cough can be treated, typically with over-the-counter treatments. For anyone older than 1 year of age, one teaspoon of honey times a day helps reduce the frequency and severity of cough.

It may also help improve sleep. Liquid can help to thin the mucus in your throat and improve the function of your immune system.

Warm liquids such as tea or broth can open up your airways and help the mucus more easily move. Using a humidifier or running a hot and steamy shower can also help to open up airways and loosen mucus. Caffeine, alcohol and tobacco diuretics will clear out the water you have in your body, drying up your airways and allowing mucus to become thicker. Try to avoid tobacco smoke and drinking alcohol or caffeine. Cough drops are another solution that may offer safe and temporary relief for your dry or congested throat.

The menthol in cough drops helps cool the airway passages and lubricate irritated throat tissue. If you are pregnant, consult your doctor before taking over the counter medication.

If you have a cough that won't go away, it may be time to see your doctor. Learn about 10 different remedies and lifestyle changes that can help relieve your nighttime cough.

Coughing is one symptom of asthma. Left untreated, asthma cough can persist. Learn about other symptoms and how they're treated. Coughing can cause a primary or secondary headache. Primary cough headaches are not usually serious. Secondary ones may indicate an underlying…. A cough that persists for eight or more weeks is known as a chronic cough, and it can occur along with a variety of other symptoms like shortness of….

Most dry coughs can be treated at home with…. An incentive spirometer is a device that can help you strengthen your lungs. Learn how it works, who it helps, and where to get one. Belly or abdominal breathing offers a number of benefits for health and well-being. Health Conditions Discover Plan Connect. Why Am I Coughing?

Medically reviewed by Daniel Murrell, M. Causes Emergencies Treatment Outcome Prevention What to know about your cough Coughing is a common reflex action that clears your throat of mucus or foreign irritants. What causes a cough? When is coughing an emergency? How is a cough treated? What preventive measures can be taken to avoid a cough? In one form or another, these medications are generally effective and safe, but some people complain of a racing heart and souped-up feeling due to the decongestant , while others feel sleepy due to the antihistamine.

Men with benign prostatic hyperplasia BPH may have difficulty passing urine while they're taking decongestants, and antihistamines can occasionally trigger acute glaucoma. As with all medications, read the directions carefully.

Home remedies can help as well. Inhaling steam from a hot shower or kettle is the simplest. Nasal irrigations may also help by cleaning out irritating secretions. You can purchase saline nose sprays at your drugstore or you can do it yourself. Next, hold the dripping wet cloth up to your nostrils and sniff in the saline solution. If saline irrigations seem to help, repeat them one to three times per day.

Wheezing and breathlessness are the usual symptoms of asthma. But not all patients with asthma wheeze. Indeed, some just cough. Asthma results from bronchospasm, the temporary, reversible narrowing of the medium-sized tubes that carry air into the lungs. In most cases, that air makes a whistling or wheezing sound as it moves through narrowed passages.

Excessive mucus production, shortness of breath, and cough are the other classic symptoms of asthma. But in cough-variant asthma, coughing is the only symptom. In most cases, cough-variant asthma produces a persistent, dry cough that occurs around the clock but may begin at night. Exposure to allergens, dust, or cold air often triggers coughing, as does exercise.

If doctors suspect that asthma is responsible for a chronic cough, they can order pulmonary function tests to confirm the diagnosis; if these tests are inconclusive, patients may be asked to inhale small doses of methacholine, a drug that often triggers wheezing in asthmatics. Another approach to the diagnosis of cough-variant asthma is to see if the cough responds to anti-asthmatic treatment. Doctors often suggest a bronchodilator spray such as albuterol Proventil, Ventolin. It's short acting.

So, in addition your doctor might prescribe an inhaled cortico steroid, such as fluticasone Flovent , triamcinolone Azmacort or budesonide Pulmicort. If you have a chronic cough that may be due to asthma, ask your doctor to consider testing or treating. But if asthma is not the answer, ask him to think about the third leading cause of the cough that lingers. Gastroesophageal reflux disease.

Just as people are surprised to learn that asthma can cause coughing without wheezing; many people are shocked to learn that gastroesophageal reflux disease GERD can cause coughing without heartburn. GERD occurs when stomach contents travel upstream, making their way up into the esophagus instead of down into the intestines. Heartburn is the usual symptom; belching, a sour taste in the mouth, and bad breath are common too.

But acid also irritates nerves in the lower esophagus, and these nerves can trigger the cough reflex even without the distress signal of pain. In fact, up to one-third of patients with GERD are pain-free, complaining instead of cough, recurrent laryngitis, or unexplained sore throats. GERD can be tricky to diagnose when there's no pain. Barium swallow x-rays and esophagoscopy can help, but the gold standard is esophageal pH monitoring, in which the patient swallows a probe that remains in the lower esophagus for 24 hours to detect the presence of acid.

It's not as uncomfortable as it sounds, but it is expensive and inconvenient. As with the other causes of chronic cough, a simpler approach to diagnosis is to try treatment. You can begin on your own. Avoid alcohol and foods that often trigger GERD, including those that contain chocolate, peppermint, caffeine, garlic, onions, citrus fruits, tomato sauce, or lots of fat. Eat small meals, and never lie down until two hours after you've eaten.

Take liquid antacids, particularly at bedtime, and consider elevating the head of your bed or sleeping on a wedge-shaped pillow to keep your stomach's contents flowing down at night. If you're constantly coughing after a week or so, you can add an over-the-counter acid suppressor.

Today there are many to choose from, including ranitidine Zantac , cimetidine Tagamet , famotidine Pepcid , omeprazole Prilosec and lansoprazole Prevacid. Stronger versions are available by prescription. It may take three or four weeks of gradually escalating therapy to control GERD. But if your program doesn't work, you are probably coughing for some other reason. Chronic bronchitis and bronchiectasis. Chronic bronchitis is persistent inflammation of the bronchial tubes causing airway narrowing and production of excess mucus.

It usually happens from tobacco use or long-term exposure to high levels of industrial air pollutants. Bronchiectasis is also a result of chronic inflammation that damages the walls of the bronchial tubes. In either variant, the inflammation leads to a chronic cough. The most effective treatment is to quit smoking and avoid air pollutants.