A
cough, also known as tussis is a sudden, often repetitive, spasmodic
contraction of the thoracic cavity, resulting in violent release
of air from the lungs, and usually accompanied by a distinctive
sound.
Coughing
is an action the body takes to get rid of substances that are
irritating the air passages. Frequent or chronic coughing usually
indicates the presence of a disease. Provided the patient is
a non-smoker and has a normal chest X-ray, the cause of chronic
cough in ninety-three percent of all patients is due to asthma,
heartburn or post-nasal drip. Other causes of chronic cough
include chronic bronchitis and medications such as ACE inhibitors.
Coughing can happen voluntarily as well as involuntarily.
Cause
One of the more common presentations to a medical practitioner
is a dry cough. The common causes of chronic dry coughing include
post-nasal drip, gastroesophageal reflux disease, asthma, post
viral cough and certain drugs such as beta blockers, ACE inhibitors
and aspirin.
One of the causes of chronic coughing might even be mouth breathing
induced dryness in the throat. Individuals who smoke often have
a smoker's cough, a loud, hacking cough which often results
in the expiration of phlegm.
Complications
The
complications of coughing can be classified as either acute
or chronic.
-
Acute
complications include cough syncope, fainting
spells due to decreased blood flow to the brain when coughs
are prolonged and forceful, insomnia, cough-induced vomiting,
rupture of blebs causing spontaneous pneumothorax, subconjunctival
hemorrhage or "red eye", coughing defecation and
in women with a prolapsed uterus, cough urination.
-
Chronic
complications are common and include abdominal
or pelvic hernias, fatigue fractures of lower ribs and costochondritis.
Treatment
Coughs
can be treated with cough medicines. Dry coughs are treated
with cough suppressants that suppress the body's urge to cough,
while productive coughs, that is a coughs that produce phlegm,
are treated with expectorants that loosen mucus from the respiratory
tract.
Research
has demonstrated that gargling with a mixture of warm water
and salt washes away the layer of mucus on the throat containing
bacteria and proteins that cause inflammation.
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