By: Laurie Edwards for Reflux1It’s that time of year when post-winter colds and spring allergies mean a lot of people are coughing. Coughing isn’t always a bad thing; after all, it’s the body’s way of helping to clear the respiratory tract of infections and irritants. But for those of you who have had a chronic cough, you know what a nuisance it can be.
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Helpful Facts About Chronic Cough
Chronic cough is typically a cough that persists for seven to eight weeks, despite the abatement of most other symptoms of infections.
Remember that people with underlying conditions like asthma are more prone to respiratory infections, so isolating the origin of chronic cough can be especially difficult. Make sure you discuss any recent infections or change in symptoms with your physician.
While it may harmless, chronic cough can signal the presence of underlying conditions like asthma or GERD. These conditions are usually easily treated, so the sooner you identify the cause, the sooner you’ll feel better.
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No matter what you try or how much you ignore it, weeks pass and it still won’t go away. When a cough lasts this long, it could be a sign of an underlying medical condition and shouldn’t be ignored.Luckily, as the March issue of the Mayo Clinic Health Letter details, most underlying conditions that cause chronic cough are common and include postnasal drip, asthma and gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD). The quicker they are diagnosed, the sooner your symptoms will begin to improve.
Chronic cough makes up one of the single largest complaints that patients bring to primary physicians across the country. It is typically defined as a cough that lasts longer than three weeks, however some viral infections may linger in the respiratory tract for several weeks, so some experts prefer to classify a cough as chronic if it lasts longer than seven to eight weeks.
The key to stopping a persistent cough is being a persistent patient. Pinpointing the cause of chronic cough might involve several trips to the doctor and could take a few months, but systematically eliminating these major causes is the most efficient way of identifying and treating chronic cough.
While most often patients who suffer from GERD list heartburn and sour stomach as their major symptoms, sometimes chronic cough can be symptomatic of the disease. In GERD, stomach acid washes back up the esophagus and in certain cases, the acid can irritate the respiratory tract. When this happens, working with your physician to isolate which of the acid-controlling or reducing medications used to treat GERD is the best way to alleviate the cough.
One of the biggest causes of chronic cough is postnasal drip, a relatively benign condition caused by the overproduction of mucus. When nasal mucus slowly drips down the back of your throat, it can irritate the respiratory tract and produce a cough. Sometimes postnasal drip is the result of a sinus infection, allergies or the flu, but other times you may not experience any other symptoms beyond the cough. Though sinus infections and allergies can cause postnasal drip for several months, the cough usually dissipates when the infection or allergic inflammation does.
Often, chronic cough is the major, if not sole, symptom of asthma in a patient. Asthma can constrict and inflame airways, triggering a cough. This is especially likely after exercise or exposure to irritating chemicals or at night. For asthmatics with chronic cough – as opposed to wheezing or shortness of breath – as their main complaint, the medications prescribed are usually the same ones all asthmatics use: inhalers and oral medications. When the cough doesn’t abate despite these medications, patients should consider consulting a pulmonary specialist.
Sometimes, the cause of chronic cough is even simpler than having allergies, asthma or GERD. When people without other complicating conditions catch a virus, it can simply take several weeks for the inflammation and irritation to run its course.
