Find out what makes you cough and how to treat it.

A cough is a reaction by your body and its purpose is to keep your throat and upper tract clear. Normally, the cough is caused by mucous or some foreign body in this area.

What’s more, a cough is a symptom shared by many diseases such as: colds, allergies, asthma, bronchitis, laryngitis, whooping cough, diphtheria, pneumonia, the flu or more serious illnesses like pulmonary oedemas, COPD, heart failure or tumours in the trachea or lungs.

It can be voluntary or reflex and can be classified as follows:

• Acute cough.  It starts suddenly, is normally associated with an infectious process and disappears in about three weeks.
• Chronic cough. It lasts longer than three weeks and is accompanied by a common cold or some illness or other. It is more frequent in smokers or people suffering from chronic respiratory diseases and is an irritating and annoying cough.

Irrespective of whether the cough is acute or becomes chronic, it can be:

• Non-productive. When it is not accompanied by sputum or mucous.
• Productive. When it is caused by an accumulation of mucous in the upper airways. This is most frequent in children and adults when they are suffering from a cold.

And what can you do to treat this bothersome cough?

A repetitive cough is very annoying and can prevent you from sleeping. If the cause is an underlying illness, you will obviously have to treat that illness in order for the cough to disappear.

• Ask your doctor if a cough medicine is required.
• You may also need to take an expectorant to help remove the mucous irritating the tract.
• Drink a lot of fluid because a dry throat can raise your need to cough. You can take water, warm fennel, anise or camomile infusions.
• Make herbal steam with mint or eucalyptus to keep the tract open and help expel the mucous.
• Raise the head of your bed to breathe more easily.
• Increase air humidity.
• Clear your nose with a saline
• Place a piece of onion on a plate, near the head of your bed. It will help relieve the irritating cough.
• Forget about smoking, and avoid places with smoke as it will only make matters worse.

 Consult your doctor when in doubt and if your cough worsens or becomes chronic.

This post is also available in: Spanish