Cough

Overview

Quiet, please!

One of the most annoyingly common symptoms is the cough. You naturally cough a couple times an hour every day, as your body clears out your lungs. When you begin to cough more often, however, it can signal an irritation or illness.

Detailed Description

A cough is an important way the body defends itself against harm: it clears the lungs and throat of mucus and foreign particles, including bacteria. Coughing really helps the lungs to receive oxygen correctly. In a sense, it's a life-affirming response.

It's important for you to distinguish between acute and chronic cough, and know when to tell your doctor. An acute cough of about three weeks' duration often follows a viral or bacterial infection. Anything longer than three weeks signals a chronic cough.

A cough can be dry or it can contain sputum — a combination of debris, mucus, and cells from the lungs. The appearance of sputum is useful, because it can help your doctor make a diagnosis.

Conventional Treatment

Treatment Goals

Getting rid of an irritant is most important to reducing a cough. Upper respiratory infections are often treated with antihistamines combined with decongestants, antibiotics, or inhaled bronchodilators, which relax the lungs. Asthma can also be treated in a similar way.

Treatment Options

• Antibiotics for bacterial infections
• Antihistamines or nasal steroids for allergic post-nasal drip
• Bronchodilators for asthma
• Treatment of gastroesophageal reflux

Dilaudid
Hycodan
Hydromet
Lortab

Self care & Prevention

Preventive Measures

Exposure to steam, as in a hot shower or humidifier, or hot liquids will help thin and release the sputum that the body is trying to cough up. Treating the primary cause of the coughing will, of course, be helpful. Seek medical help if you cough for over two to three weeks.

Self-Care Measures

To calm a persistent cough, try some of the following techniques:

• Try drinking hot liquids, which loosen respiratory mucus and make it easier to cough up. (Hot liquids also soothe a sore throat and have decongestant action.) Tea sweetened with honey is effective. One study suggests that chicken soup, a traditional cold remedy, is particularly effective.
• Raise the head of your bed half a foot if a cough disrupts your sleep. This may prevent coughing due to gastroesophageal reflux.
• Pay attention to milk's effects on you. Some people swear it thickens their respiratory mucus, adding to their congestion and coughing. This effect hasn't been proven, but if milk seems to aggravate your cough, avoid dairy items for a few days.
• If you smoke, quit. Cigarette smoke is extremely irritating to the throat and lungs and provokes coughing.
• Avoid respiratory irritants, such as pollen, dust, and chemical fumes.

When to Call the Doctor

• If you have chest pains, swollen neck glands, or an earache
• If the cough lasts longer than three weeks
• If you have a fever above 102�F
• If your cough produces blood or discolored phlegm
• If you are also wheezing or breathless

Also inform your doctor:

• If you smoke.
• If you work in a job that involves contaminated air.