What to do with a strong cough? This is the most common sign of a respiratory illness. If we consider a cough as a physiological phenomenon, then it is a forced exhalation of air, which begins suddenly and is repeated many times. No matter how strange it may sound, but this symptom is useful in diseases of the upper respiratory tract. Thanks to a cough, the bronchi, lungs and trachea are freed from mucus, sputum, and with them from pathogens, foreign bodies.
At the same time, the prolonged presence of such a symptom cannot be ignored. Every doctor knows what to do with a strong cough. Pershin throat? It is necessary to consult a therapist and undergo the prescribed treatment.
Appearance mechanism
A person begins to cough immediately after a deep breath. As soon as the glottis closes, the respiratory muscles contract. They create pressure inside the respiratory tract due to the resulting tension, therefore, at the time of opening of the glottis in the narrowed bronchi and trachea, a sharp drop in pressure occurs. This provokes forcing on the exhale, having a jerky nature.
Each of us can cause a cough arbitrarily. The immediate cause of this symptom is irritation and swelling of the mucous membrane of the upper respiratory tract, bronchi and trachea. At the same time, a person may feel a slight tickle in the throat, to which a cough becomes a response reflex reaction.
Coughing Factors
In most cases, this symptom indicates the development of an inflammatory and infectious process of the respiratory system. By coughing up mucus and phlegm from the bronchi, the patient can infect people in his environment. By coughing through an airborne droplet, microbes can travel up to nine meters. Therefore, it is desirable to temporarily isolate the patient from healthy people in order to prevent the spread of an infectious disease.
The cough reflex occurs in the presence of pulmonary, bronchial and tracheal lesions. Often a symptom becomes a sign of whooping cough, pharyngitis or tonsillitis. However, far from always the underlying disease, accompanied by a cough, implies a pathology of the respiratory system. In addition to acute respiratory viral infections, influenza and respiratory diseases, an allergic reaction can cause this symptom.
In addition, mucosal irritation can occur in people employed in chemical industries. If a person constantly works with toxic volatile substances, there is nothing surprising in his strong dry cough. What to do in this case? This symptom is a completely normal reaction of the body to the penetration of chemical particles of irritants into the respiratory tract. That is why in industrial production workers are given respirators, masks, gas masks and other means that protect against the ingress of foreign particles into the nasopharynx.
Diagnosis by the nature of the symptom
Before you think about what to do with a strong cough, you need to determine the nature of its origin. Independently, without a specialized education, it is rather difficult to understand, and using drugs at random, you can seriously harm yourself. Therefore, with a deterioration in well-being, it is better to immediately contact a specialist. In addition, any doctor knows what to do with a strong cough.
First, the doctor must understand what kind of cough bothers the patient. The diagnosis depends on the type of symptom. First of all, the doctor is interested in whether he is expectorant during a cough reflex. So experts determine a wet cough, that is, with the release of sputum, or dry, that is, without it. This is the first criterion on which the choice of a drug will depend.
In addition to humidity, there are other differential characteristics. Coughing happens:
- periodic (appears with bronchitis);
- short continuous (most often with pleurisy);
- hoarse (indicates inflammation of the vocal cords);
- barking or hysterical (occurs when the larynx is affected);
- paroxysmal (a clear symptom of whooping cough).
How to deal with cough without medication
What to do if at night a strong cough makes it impossible to fall asleep, while at the same time it almost never happens during the day? It is possible that this symptom is in no way associated with infectious and inflammatory diseases of the throat. Nocturnal cough often haunts smokers with experience, people involved in hazardous work, in the chemical industry. In this case, eliminating the stimulus will help solve the problem.
Is it possible to stop an attack of severe coughing without drugs and what should I do? One of the easiest ways is to drink a glass of warm water. Moisturizing the tissues of the mucosa helps relieve their irritation, and if you drink water heated to 40 ° C, this will slightly relax the smooth muscles of the respiratory tract. In addition, heavy drinking is a prerequisite for combating colds. Along with the liquid, harmful toxic substances resulting from the vital activity of pathogenic bacteria, viruses, and protozoa will leave the body.
If this method does not help stop coughing attacks, you need to resort to the help of special medicines. Most of them are dispensed without a prescription in any pharmacy, but it is advisable to visit a doctor before buying and using drugs. Self-medication does not always lead to recovery, but more often, on the contrary, exacerbates the patient's condition.
General principles of treatment
Close coughing and a strong wet cough deserve close attention. What if this symptom intensifies? Most likely, we are talking about the inflammatory process caused by an infectious disease.
On the one hand, you need to understand that cough treatment itself is useless. It is wrong to deal with a symptom, an external manifestation of the disease. It is necessary to treat the disease itself, that is, bronchitis, flu, pleurisy, etc. On the other hand, symptomatic therapy will improve the patient's well-being, relieving him of a painful, sometimes tearing, cough. Thus, if you notice a worsening of your condition, you need to determine exactly which disease causes such a clinical picture, and proceed to treatment, while taking medications to relieve concomitant symptoms, including cough, runny nose, fever, etc.
Respiratory and colds are manifested not only by coughing. The symptom complex of these diseases includes fever, chills, runny nose, nasal congestion, loss of strength and other signs, therefore, for the treatment of such diseases, combined preparations are used that include several active components at once. Moreover, each of them has a focus on combating a specific clinical manifestation.
Symptomatic treatment for cough involves the use of antipyretic, antitussive, antiallergic and other substances. In addition, it is important to remember that fighting symptoms is not always advisable. What to do with a strong cough? In some cases, nothing. For example, with a wet, well-expectorant cough, in no case should you suppress the cough reflex. Otherwise, sputum will be retained in the body, which can provoke a stagnant process. A similar example can be given in the case of body temperature: its increase in illness is a normal protective reaction of the body. During the fever, the activity of microbes is suppressed, the immune system fights the infection, and therefore doctors do not recommend lowering the low-grade fever with antipyretic drugs.
But what to do with a strong cough without fever? Such a course of the disease can also occur. The general treatment regimen will not have fundamental differences, with the exception of the need for the use of antipyretic drugs.
Pharmacy pills, candies and syrups
You do not need to endure if you suffer from a strong cough. What if the throat and chest seem to scratch with every coughing fit? Medicines to get rid of this symptom are prescribed by the doctor, but if you do not have the opportunity to get an appointment with a specialist, it is advisable to start taking medications that help suppress the reflex and stabilize sputum production.
One of the options for what to do with a strong dry cough is to take candies and lozenges, which include sage, mint, honey, lemon. Some cough lozenges contain an anesthetic that anesthetizes the throat and alleviates the patient’s condition. Such drugs include Libexin, Doctor Mom, Broncholitin, and Grammidin.
If sputum appears during expectoration, you need to take medications that can make it less viscous. To liquefy thick pulmonary mucus, which is difficult to separate, use the mucolytic antitussive syrups "Lazolvan", "Ambrobene", "Acetylcysteine". In addition to expectorant and thinning properties, they have a protective and anti-inflammatory property, enveloping the larynx mucosa, relieving bronchospasm.
A similar principle of action is also for tablet mucolytics. They no less effectively enhance expectoration and dilute sputum, helping the lungs clear mucus and remove it from the respiratory tract. In therapeutic practice, drugs such as Mukaltin, Bromhexine, Mukodin, Halixol, Fluimucil are widely used.
If the cause of the cough is an acute respiratory illness, the doctor prescribes an antitussive without antibiotics. Recent drugs are indispensable in the treatment of pneumonia, bronchitis. One antitussive drugs for such a diagnosis can not do. Thanks to antibacterial therapy, the activity of the pathogenic flora is suppressed, and this, in turn, is a paramount task.
Medicines that inhibit the cough center are used mainly with a very strong dry cough. What to do if candies do not save from irritation in the throat? Such drugs as Stoptussin, Sinekod, Libeksin, Tusupreks can help.
If the treatment does not help ...
What should I do if a strong cough does not go away for several weeks? Here again, you can’t do without the help of a doctor. With a complicated course of diseases of the respiratory system, sharp chest pain and high fever can be added to the symptoms. Also, the appearance of bloody and purulent impurities in sputum should be alerted.
If the symptom continues to torment for a long period, this may indicate a weakened immunity or the presence of a serious disease. What to do with a strong cough at night in an adult? A complicated painful cough may indicate conditions requiring urgent medical attention:
- Inflammation of the lungs and pleura (pneumonia, pleuropneumonia). These diseases are accompanied by asthma attacks, pain in the chest, high body temperature, not amenable to the effects of antipyretic drugs.
- Measles, whooping cough. With such diseases, a prolonged cough is observed, which is reflex in nature. It is impossible to stop a symptom without drugs.
- Pulmonary tuberculosis. A dangerous infectious disease, manifested by a painful cough, sometimes with blood, general weakness and malaise.
- Diseases of the gastrointestinal tract. Most often, the cause of dry irritating cough is gastroesophageal reflux, in which gastric juice is thrown into the esophagus and, as a result, irritation of the laryngeal mucosa.
- Cancer of the throat, bronchi, lungs, heart, aorta may be accompanied by a protracted dry cough. If he bothers day and night, it is advisable not to delay visiting the clinic.
Self-medicating, the patient runs the risk of making a mistake with his own diagnosis. Often, patients take severe pathologies of the bronchi, lungs, which cannot be cured by stopping a cough, for which they only lose time. In diseases of the respiratory organs, complex multicomponent therapy is required.
Herbal Medicines
Along with medicinal preparations for cough, compounds with natural components are used. Such drugs can significantly weaken the cough reflex and have a powerful anti-inflammatory effect. The principle of action of herbal preparations is based on stimulating the formation of sputum and enhancing its expectoration, relieving bronchospasm. Among drugs with a natural composition, syrups based on plantain should be distinguished:
- Gedelix.
- Eucabal.
- "Bronchin."
The pharmacy also sells various herbal mixtures to improve expectoration (“Breast collection No. 2”, Phytotea “Dr. Seleznev No. 25”).
Therapists speak well of combined herbal remedies (Kofrem, Kofol, Pertussin, Suprima-Broncho), which are used to combat cough of any etiology and relieve inflammation in nasopharyngitis, whooping cough, laryngitis. The predominant part of such drugs has no age restrictions due to the minimal likelihood of side effects. The composition of these funds lacks chemical compounds and allergens, so they are used everywhere.
In the group of homeopathic medicines, preparations from the marshmallow are a separate category. The root extract of this plant envelops and softens the mucous membrane of the bronchi, trachea, and larynx, due to which the strongest cough in an adult is stopped. What to do if a child falls ill? Althea-based preparations are undesirable to give at an early age due to the high risk of an allergic reaction. Althea-based medicines that are in demand and popular include Altemix, Mukaltin, Breast collection No. 1.
Licorice, thyme and oregano - a potent plant trio that has a pronounced antimicrobial and expectorant property. Extracts of these plants are part of many domestic and foreign products (for example, Eucabalum, Stoptussin-Fito).
What to do with a strong cough at home
Today, there are many folk recipes that can be used for the symptomatic treatment of cough. Let us cite the most popular of them:
- Wine with pepper. A glass of dry white wine is put on a small fire and heated to a temperature of 40-45 ° C, then a little red pepper is added. The therapeutic drink will be ready to drink as soon as it cools.
- Goose fat. With this ingredient, you can prepare a good compress that will help overcome even a strong cough before vomiting. What to do to cook it? First, heat the goose fat in a water bath, grate one onion on a fine grater and mix everything thoroughly. The product must be rubbed into the chest, neck, then put polyethylene and wrap yourself in a warm terry cloth.
- Mughal mogul. This remedy is prepared as follows: egg yolks are beaten with sugar until a uniform lush foam is obtained. The resulting mixture should be consumed before meals for 2-3 tsp.
- Milk with onions. Boil finely chopped large onions in a glass of milk. After removing the mixture from the fire, it must be insisted for several hours, then strain. You need to take the medicine 4-5 times a day for 1 tbsp. l
- Honey. It is a natural antiseptic, so it helps to relieve sore throat. One spoonful of honey on an empty stomach is enough to stop a cough for a couple of hours.
- Cream, whole milk. These products have an enveloping property: they create an invisible film on the surface of the laryngeal mucosa, as a result of which scratching sensations during coughing are noticeably reduced.
Simple sputum thinners
To improve the discharge of viscous sputum, you can use other recipes:
- Milk with oats. Cereals are poured into a small container, filling in 2/3, the rest of the volume is supplemented with milk. The product does not need to be cooked on the stove, but languished in the oven. During cooking, the milk will boil away, so it will have to be added. Strain until oats are ready. Take medicine for 2-3 tbsp. l before meals several times a day.
- Tincture of wormwood or eucalyptus. Dried plant material is poured with vodka and insisted for at least 24 hours.The finished drug should be taken 20-30 drops three times a day. Due to its alcohol content, the medicine should not be given to a child.
- What to do with a strong dry cough to cause sputum discharge? If you believe the reviews, an effective and simple remedy is a radish with honey. The purified root crop is cut into thin plates and mixed with 2-3 tablespoons of honey. You do not need to use the radish itself, but the juice that stands out from it.
- Tincture of coltsfoot. One tablespoon of plant material is poured with a glass of boiling water. The medicine must be allowed to infuse for a couple of hours. Before use, the product must be filtered through gauze.
How to treat children
What to do with a strong dry cough in a child? Seek medical advice first. He will pick up medicines and prescribe folk remedies to enhance the therapeutic effect. Almost all home medicines are suitable for babies of any age, with the exception of alcohol-containing tinctures. The only thing to consider is the dosage for children should be reduced at least twice. Pediatricians consider the following folk recipes effective in the treatment of colds accompanied by cough:
- Carrot juice with honey. In 100 ml of freshly squeezed carrot fresh, add 1 tsp. honey and mix until the latter is completely dissolved. Drink a drink every hour for 1 tbsp. l
- Lemon with honey. It is advisable to boil the citrus on low heat for 10 minutes. Once the zest has softened, squeeze the juice and add 1 tsp. glycerin and honey. The resulting home suspension should be taken every hour. When coughing attacks become less frequent, the number of daily doses can be reduced to three. In the absence of lemon apple cider vinegar is allowed.
- Milk with honey is the favorite medicine for babies to cough. In a glass of warm (not hot!) Whole cow's milk, add a spoonful of honey and stir until it is completely dissolved.
- Figs boiled in milk. To prepare this product, which is to the taste of both children and adults, you will need several fig fruits. They need to be boiled in a glass of milk and consumed before bedtime. After such treatment, the child will not be bothered by a night cough.
Diet for Cough Patients
A properly composed diet will help reduce the degree of irritation of the throat mucosa, and soften it. To do this, the patient's menu must include milk porridge, mashed potatoes, cooked with milk. Grapes contribute to expectoration and thinning of sputum, and if you add a little honey to the grape juice, you will get an effective remedy for sore throat.
With colds, a huge role is given to measures to increase immunity. The patient needs to eat foods enriched with ascorbic acid (lemon peel, cabbage, bell pepper). At the time of treatment, it is advisable to abandon sweets, spicy foods, seasonings, pickles and smoked products, so as not to provoke more damage to the mucous membrane of the throat.
Not sure what to do with a strong cough at home? There are many treatment options. Prescribing medications without medical advice is not worth it, but if there is no way to get an appointment with a doctor, it is better to use folk remedies. However, remember that their use may not give any result if the cause of the cough is a serious illness of the respiratory system.