In the article, we will examine why it is painful to cough. People say that this symptom is a watchdog that protects the body from any dangerous invasion. This is a protective mechanism that eliminates irritants from the respiratory system. He actually has a very powerful force of influence, since the created gust of air in the presence of a cough is stronger than any hurricane. The speed of this phenomenon can reach one hundred thirty meters per second. It is very useful because it cleanses the bronchi and lungs of unwanted components, which helps people breathe easier. In some cases, it can hurt a person to cough. What is this talking about?
Causes of Painful Cough
The first step in differentiating cough in patients is to determine its total duration. By this criterion, you can determine the cause of the symptom.
- The acute form of the disease can last up to three weeks. The causes of its occurrence are colds along with sinusitis and pneumonia. Very often it hurts to cough.
- The chronic form lasts more than eight weeks, it usually occurs for three main reasons: bronchial asthma, acid reflux, rhinosinusitis.
Painful sensations occur most often due to the multiplication of pathogenic microflora in the respiratory system. In addition to the above reasons, other diseases can contribute to the appearance of a painful cough.
Next, we consider in detail what diseases it pains to cough in the sternum, and also find out how treatment should be carried out in a particular case.
Bronchitis
A common cold can provoke a dry cough for everyone, in addition to the main symptoms like a runny nose, sore throat and nasal congestion. But if such a symptom dominates, then a person may have acute bronchitis. As a rule, it is accompanied by sputum, but, unfortunately, it is difficult to determine by its color whether it is an infection or a virus, so analysis will be required. In general, acute bronchitis is viral in nature, which means antibiotics will not help the patient. The average cure period with proper therapy is eighteen days.
Pneumonia
It often hurts to cough with pneumonia. In this disease, patients have an acute cough with bloody or colorless sputum. It is necessary to be treated with antibiotics in such a situation. Pathology can additionally be accompanied by high temperature, fatigue, shortness of breath and chills are not ruled out. At the same time, a symptom such as a cough does not appear immediately, since in some cases the infection in the lungs may be so dense that it takes several days for the antibiotics to act to cough up. Pneumonia is easy to pick up as a cold or as a complication of another disease. When the symptoms of a common cold after a few days turn into signs of pneumonia, then it's time to start to sound the alarm and urgently call a doctor. He is likely to prescribe fluorography.
Nasopharyngeal flow
This phenomenon is a common cause of chronic painful cough. Snot from the sinuses enter the throat instead of coming out of the nose. When mucus in a person reaches the vocal cords, they cause irritation with a wet cough. Exacerbations of the disease are mainly felt at night due to the horizontal position of the body. People often wake up while coughing up mucus. In the morning, perhaps, an upset stomach due to the pathogenic secret that has got into it. The diagnosis of sinuses helps to make the correct diagnosis in this situation. For therapy, antihistamines are usually prescribed.
Asthma
It happens to cough painfully with asthma. This is the most common cause of a chronic painful cough that forms along with shortness of breath due to the contraction of the ducts through which air enters the lungs. There is even a separate rather rare type of pathology, in the presence of which a cough is the only symptom. Asthma is usually diagnosed through tests for breathing and lung function, and a study is made of the hyperresponsiveness of the air ducts. With this disease, patients are prescribed medication.
Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease
This is a fairly serious, and at the same time progressive disease that affects the respiratory canals, it usually occurs due to a long period of smoking or frequent inhalation by a person of small particles like dust. There are two types of its course: emphysema and chronic bronchitis.
In the first case, the air channel is constantly inflamed, which causes a chronic form of cough with sputum. Alveoli of the lungs are damaged by emphysema, and oxygen intake into the blood decreases. This can cause a dry, painful cough along with wheezing and shortness of breath. The treatment is similar to asthma therapy. Medicines help cope with the symptoms, but the disease itself is considered incurable. Now find out what factors can affect the onset of a symptom. Why does it hurt to cough in my chest?
Causes of Sternum Pain
The causes of this ailment and pain in the sternum are:
- The presence of pleurisy, which is an inflammation of the double membrane (pleural leaf), which surrounds the lungs and aligns the chest. This pathological condition greatly complicates the work of this body. Pleurisy aggravates the course of many ailments in the field of cardiology, pulmonology, phthisiology, oncology and rheumatology. Inflammation often accompanies pneumonia in patients. Even slight coughing can cause extremely painful tingling in the sternum.
- Getting injured. As a result of the impact, cracks, fractures of ribs, and dislocations of the shoulder joint may occur. The pains are felt not only when coughing, but also against the background of a slight turn of the body, when walking.
- The development of dry pericarditis, which is an inflammation of the outer heart membrane (pericardium, pericardial sac). One of the reasons for its development is the application of a strong blow to the region of the heart along with injuries during injuries and operations. The pain in the sternum is quite noticeable and can become even more intense when people cough. At the same time, a malfunction in the depth of breathing can occur, dyspnea is greatly enhanced.
What to do when a sore throat and painful cough, we describe below.
How to treat a cough in the throat?
The following treatments are available:
- Cough treatment can occur through the use of tablets, lozenges, or medicines.
- When the ailment is provoked by irritation of the throat mucosa, you can rinse it several times a day with a solution of soda, which is done by dissolving two tablespoons of this substance in a glass of warm water.
- It is recommended to use a large amount of warm liquid, it is desirable to combine it with honey, which will help soften the mucous membrane. You can, among other things, chew propolis, which acts in the same way.
- A cough in the throat can be cured by using special medications that affect the sensitivity of the mucous membrane of the respiratory canals.
Why does the child feel cough and how to treat the disease?
The most common cause of coughing in children is acute respiratory tract infection. Catching a virus in a school or kindergarten generally costs nothing, especially when a flu epidemic begins in a city, for example. The rapid development of pathogenic microflora against the background of the disease causes children serious discomfort, and at the same time it becomes painful to cough in the throat or sternum.
What type of symptom the baby will receive in combination with snot and fever is rather difficult to predict: the flu virus mutates every season. In the event that you are lucky, it will be easy for the child to cough up, and the process itself will gradually go to “no” during the development of antibodies in the body, that is, by the third day of the disease.
But, of course, you should not rely on simple luck when it comes to the baby’s health, and you need to start therapy from the first days of the onset of symptoms in order to prevent the development of complications. Most often, doctors prescribe the use of syrups from the first days of the disease, which helps relieve inflammation and provide an easy discharge of sputum.
In addition, as part of the therapy, you need to drink as much fluid as possible, moisturize the air and not overheat it, rinse your nose and throat with saline solutions. By agreement with the doctor (after five years) they make inhalations, and from the age of three they rub the nasal wings with therapeutic ointments with essential oils.
We examined in what cases it hurts to cough. This symptom should not be ignored.