A cough is a reflex reaction of the body to an irritant. Its appearance is an alarming symptom, because in addition to a mild cold or allergy, it can signal serious disorders in the body.
Cough is actually your helper in the fight against the disease. Due to the strong flow of air generated during coughing, mucus with pathogenic bacteria is released from the respiratory tract. However, if the cough is dry and “tearing” the throat, it may be a sign of a chronic illness, gastroesophageal reflux and even cancer.
If a cough hurts a child, take a closer look at exactly how the child is coughing. If the child is able to feel the onset of an attack, as if to prepare for a cough, he begins to cough quietly, and then stronger and stronger, with visible relief at the end of the attack, most likely the baby has laryngotracheitis. This disease is accompanied by such a characteristic cough, weakness and fever. The doctor will most likely prescribe syrups that stimulate the production of phlegm. After the first two days, there should be visible relief from coughing, expectoration.
In the absence of positive dynamics and the persistence of a dry cough, the question of diagnosing whooping cough is raised. Pertussis is considered a childhood disease, but this is a misconception, adults also get sick. Whooping cough dry and spasmodic. The diaphragm, as a rule, tenses sharply, pain appears in the chest. It is difficult to relieve a cough. Whooping cough must be treated under the close supervision of a physician, often the patient is placed in a day hospital.
Legionnaires’ disease – bacterial pneumonia, caused by bacteria actively multiplying in office and car air conditioners, is no less difficult to tolerate. With this type of pneumonia, the cough is paroxysmal, i.e. one in which the patient cannot stop the attack in any way. The coughing person begins to gasp for air, the face becomes crimson, it seems to others that the patient is suffocating.
A dry cough can be a sign of asthma. It is also paroxysmal in type, but with asthma whistling sounds, wheezing of the lungs are often heard, a person cannot calmly catch his breath, complains of tightness in the chest area.
Oddly enough, it is a dry cough that often helps diagnose a disease such as inflammation of the esophageal mucosa – gastroesophageal reflux. The patient coughs often, but not for long, while almost always notes that after coughing, an acidic taste remains in the mouth, as if something eats away at the throat. In children, from such a cough, their voice sits down, they begin to bass.
The cause of a severe dry cough can be commonplace smoking. Give up the habit – and you will feel relief!
Aortic aneurysm is also accompanied by a dry cough. This is a serious and dangerous heart disease in which the aorta swells up, threatening to burst. A cough with this disease appears and disappears, patients often do not pay attention to it, because an attack and irritating sensations in the throat after it are easily removed by a glass of warm milk. However, such a symptom cannot be written off. If your loved one periodically coughs, persuade him to get tested.
It is pointless to treat a cough without establishing its cause. This is only a symptom. You can ease its course with a decoction of chamomile or licorice root, but you need to treat the cause – the disease that caused the dry cough. Do not neglect dispensary examinations, do fluorography and, if the doctor insists, take tests for tumor markers. Due to the appearance of a dry cough, the doctor can diagnose the disease at an early stage.
It is also interesting to read: how to cure a throat in a nursing baby?