Find Relief For Your Cough

Nearly everyone has had the experience of a cough that just won't go away. Days, weeks, and even months after getting over colds or flu, nagging coughing spells may still keep you up at night or make it hard to talk or eat. 

A cough is nothing more than the body's way of getting rid of mucus or foreign objects from the lungs or throat. At first a cough is only a symptom, not a disease, but if the condition that causes a cough lasts long enough the cough itself becomes a disease as the central nervous system "rewires" itself to make the lungs more and more sensitive to cough triggers.

That is why it is always better to start with a dry cough treatment sooner rather than later. It is also why the most obvious ways of treating coughs such as taking cough syrup, usually don't work if a cough has become chronic. It is a symptom that persists even when other symptoms go away. And even treating cough makes you feel better, and may help you get the rest you need to avoid new health problems, but controlling cough by itself will not cure you of any disease condition.

Coughs are typically categorized as productive or non-productive. Productive coughs result in phlegm coming up. Non-productive coughs do not. Let's start with ways to relieve productive coughs, and then turn to five more ways to treat non-productive, chronic coughs.

1. Make coughs more productive by loosening up phlegm.

Sometimes a cough just won't go away because the phlegm is too sticky. The solution to this problem is to make the cough more "productive" by loosening up phlegm with an expectorant. The solution to non-productive cough is not taking a cough suppressant to keep you from coughing. Sometimes you want to loosen up hardened mucus and get your coughing over with.

This means that when you have hard, sticky mucus clogging your lungs, you do not take over the counter medications that contain the ingredient dextromethorphan, which is also sometimes identified on the label as DM or DXM. Do not use Coricidin, Delsym, Dimetapp, NyQuil, Robitussin, TheraFlu, Vicks, or generic dextromethorphan.

Instead, take a an over the counter remedy that contains the ingredient guaifenesin. In Canada, Australia, New Zealand, the UK, and the EU, this ingredient may be labeled as guaiphenesin or glyceryl guaiacolate. Guaifenesin is mucolytic, gently breaking up mucus so it is more easily coughed up.

While it's possible to loosen up a cough by taking a shot of the anise-flavored liqueur ouzo, you can get more reliable relief by doing aromatherapy with the essential oil of anise (always added to steaming water to be inhaled, never taken by mouth). Horehound, which is known in the southwestern USA and the Spanish-speaking world as marrubio, is available in drops, lozenges, and candies. 

2. Stop the production of mucus at its source.

Sometimes a persistent, productive cough is caused by the accumulation of mucus generated in the nose, not the in the lungs. The watery mucus generated by post-nasal drip can clog up the bronchial passageways and cause cough, as can the darker, thicker mucus associated with sinusitis. These two conditions contribute to upper-airway cough syndrome (UACS); which is the most commonly diagnosed cause of cough.

How do you get rid of post-nasal drip? Post-nasal drip is most often caused by allergies. You could take antihistamines, of course, or you could get rid of allergens. This means paying careful attention to dusting, vacuuming, and elimination of mold. If there is a food you eat at absolutely every meal, it is a prime candidate for causing post-nasal drip. Try changes in diet, not repeating any single food for 3 to 4 days, and see if your cough clears up.

Sinusitis is more likely to be due to infection. Cleansing the nostrils with a neti pot may help remove the mucus that keeps reinfecting your sinuses, and your immune system may be able to do the job from there. Persistent sinusitis, however, usually requires a doctor's intervention.

Dealing With Dry Cough

The most difficult coughs to treat are not the productive coughs that result in the expulsion of phlegm. The most persistent coughs, the coughs that cause remodeling of the central nervous system that makes cough chronic, or dry coughs. Even dry cough, however, can be relieved with simple home remedies.

3. Remove triggers for coughing spells.

The same dust, drafts, mold, and chemical fumes that trigger asthma attacks can also trigger coughing fits. If coughing fits are merely an annoyance, and you are able to breathe, then try removing coughing triggers before you go on a long course of pharmaceutical treatment with leukotriene inhibitors, beta-agonists, or steroid drugs.

What are the most common triggers for coughing spells? Many people react badly to cigarette smoke. Even if you don't want read it, the best advice for smokers is to quit. If your problem is second-hand smoke, then at least try an air filtration system. Otherwise, the same advice for reducing problems with post-nasal drip also applies to reducing problems with coughing spells related to asthma.

It may also help, however, to get aerobic exercise as often as you can. Working out increases lung capacity, and increased lung capacity does as much as eliminating tobacco smoke and allergens for avoiding coughing spells. Exercise does not eliminate triggers for coughing spells, but it makes the lungs less susceptible to them.

4. Treat acid reflux.

Another common cause of chronic cough is gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD). Even when GERD does not cause obvious problems with heartburn, tiny amounts of acid released by the stomach into the throat can cause chronic irritation and inflammation that triggers a cough reflex. If the condition goes untreated long enough, the central nervous system sends out cough signals whether the throat is irritated or not.

Acid reflux and GERD can be treated with medications or antacids, but the simplest intervention is to eat less. When the stomach is not as full, the flap protecting the esophagus is less likely to come open, and less stomach acid escapes to irritate the throat.

5. Make sure you are not taking a medication that causes dry cough.

Tens of millions of people who have high blood pressure are treated with a class of medications known as ACE-inhibitors. These medications usually have generic names that end in -il, such as lisinopril and ramipril. ACE inhibitors commonly cause dry cough. When ACE inhibitors are discontinued, dry cough usually goes away in 2 to 4 weeks.

Discontinuing an ACE inhibitor does not mean you do not need to take any kind of medication at all. Instead, ask your doctor if you can take a medication from a related class of drugs known as ACE-receptor blockers, including the generic drug losartan. Never stop medication for hypertension without your doctor's approval, and make sure that your cough relief does not come at the expense of worsened high blood pressure.

These five remedies often produce results faster and far less expensively than the treatments available with a prescription. Just be sure that any underlying disease causing your cough has been diagnosed and treated by a physician. Remember that treating the cough is usually not the same as treating the underlying disease.