Medically reviewed by Jane Kim, MD
Coughing is a spontaneous reflex that helps clear the throat and airways of mucus, germs, dust, and other irritants. It is also a common symptom of many acute (short-term) and chronic (long-term) conditions, such as the common cold, flu, allergies, asthma, gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD), and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD).
While coughing helps protect your respiratory health, it can sometimes be a nuisance—interrupting sleep, straining muscles, and causing headaches, fatigue, or bladder leaks that disrupt your daily activities. Treatment can help soothe irritated airways, loosen mucus, and suppress a cough to provide much-needed relief. Your exact treatment plan will depend on the underlying cause of your cough, but home remedies and medications can help relieve symptoms.
See a healthcare provider if you have a lingering cough lasting more than three weeks or a cough with additional symptoms, such as a fever or yellowish-green mucus. Your primary care provider (PCP) may prescribe treatments for an acute cough or refer you to a pulmonologist (a doctor specializing in diagnosing and treating respiratory diseases) or an allergist (a doctor specializing in diagnosing and treating asthma and allergic disorders) if they suspect a chronic condition is causing your cough.
In most cases, an acute cough that develops due to a respiratory infection (e.g., common cold) does not require medical treatment. Home remedies and self-care strategies can help ease your cough and reduce discomfort until your cough goes away. These include:
If home remedies aren't effective in treating your cough, several over-the-counter (OTC) and prescription medications can help relieve symptoms.
Cough suppressants (also known as antitussives) treat a cough by suppressing the cough reflex. Some medicines work by inhibiting the cough center in the brain to temporarily suppress a cough. Others numb nerve receptors in the airways to reduce signals sent to the brain’s cough center, blocking the cough reflex.
Dextromethorphan is the most common antitussive drug found in both OTC and prescription cough medications. This medication is available in capsule, liquid, lozenge (cough drop), and chewable tablet forms. Examples of OTC antitussives containing dextromethorphan include:
Healthcare providers may also prescribe antitussive medications containing benzonatate. Benzonatate reduces the sensitivity of nerve receptors in your airways to help suppress a cough. Your healthcare provider may prescribe an antitussive medication containing benzonatate, such as:
If you have a lot of mucus in your airways and are having trouble removing it, your healthcare provider may recommend an expectorant. Expectorants work by loosening and thinning mucus in your airways, making it easier to cough up phlegm and clear your throat.
An expectorant won’t suppress your cough, but it will make it more productive by bringing up phlegm to relieve congestion and make breathing easier. Guaifenesin is the only FDA-approved expectorant available in the United States. OTC products containing guaifenesin include:
Some OTC medications for treating a cough contain antitussive and additional drug ingredients to help relieve other symptoms that can occur with a cough. These are known as combination formulas, which include:
If you have a chronic or persistent cough, your healthcare provider may prescribe a bronchodilator to breathe in with an inhaler, such as Ventolin (albuterol) or Atrovent (ipratropium). Bronchodilators are prescription medications that relax the muscles surrounding your airways, helping open your airways to make breathing easier.
These medications are common treatments for conditions that cause coughing, such as asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), a group of chronic, progressive lung diseases that limit airflow to the lungs and cause difficulty breathing.
Healthcare providers also sometimes prescribe bronchodilators to people with upper respiratory infections to decrease the sensitivity of the cough reflex and reduce the severity and frequency of coughing.
Laparoscopic antireflux surgery (LARS) is a minimally invasive surgical procedure for treating a chronic cough associated with gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD). GERD causes stomach acid to flow into the esophagus (reflux), irritating the airways and throat, which can lead to a cough and other disruptive symptoms.
LARS helps prevent reflux by strengthening the valve between the esophagus and stomach to prevent stomach acid from reaching the esophagus. A research study found that 77% of people with a GERD-related chronic cough reported complete resolution of their cough after the LARS procedure.
If you have a cough lasting eight weeks or longer, your healthcare provider may recommend working with a speech-language pathologist (SLP) to control your cough. Your SLP will teach you strategies to become aware of what triggers your cough and give you tools to help:
A speech therapy program for chronic cough may include:
Some complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) therapies may also help calm a chronic cough, including:
Living with a cough can be frustrating and uncomfortable, especially when it disrupts sleep and daily activities. Along with staying hydrated and following your treatment plan, consider the following management strategies:
If your cough persists for eight weeks or longer and your healthcare provider cannot determine the underlying cause, request a referral to a multi-specialty cough center. Cough specialists at these centers provide access to the most effective cough medications and therapies for relief, offering hope and support to people with chronic coughs.
Several treatments from home remedies to medications can help relieve coughing. Sometimes, simple strategies like staying hydrated, using a humidifier, or adding honey to a cup of herbal tea are enough to soothe a nagging cough.
Over-the-counter (OTC) and prescription medications can help control severe or chronic coughs. Some people with chronic conditions that cause coughs may also benefit from speech-language therapy programs.
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2024-04-24T12:32:30Z dg43tfdfdgfd