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With various lesions of the respiratory tract, from the nasopharynx to the bronchi and lungs, one of the most noticeable and frequent symptoms is cough.
– Cough is a reflex process, which is the body’s response to irritation of the respiratory tract. With the help of coughing, the body tries to remove a foreign body or mucus from the airways and restore their patency. Cough itself is not a disease, but only a symptom that indicates the presence of various diseases, notes and about. head of the therapeutic department of the Vinogradov City Clinical Hospital, therapist Yulia Dyadina.
In addition to infectious diseases, coughing can be a sign of allergies, a reaction to environmental irritants.
– This may be taking new drugs that are prescribed, for example, by a cardiologist. It is very important to analyze the situation here. You can often get rid of a cough simply by moistening the room you sleep in or by eliminating highly acidic or salty foods from your diet, adds phoniatrist, otorhinolaryngologist-surgeon, otorhinolaryngologist of the European Medical Center Zinaida Bogolepova.
With the development of a cough, its characteristics are important – it is dry or wet. With a dry cough, discomfort occurs due to the fact that the airways are irritated, sputum does not come out well. With a wet cough, the condition is relieved. Therefore, it is with a dry, irritating and hoarse cough that people try to use medicines to alleviate the condition.
The main thing that is required for a dry cough is to translate it into a wet, productive one, so that sputum is separated, and along with it pathogens. In some cases, when the cough is almost continuous and painful, drugs are used that suppress the cough reflex.
It is important to select and use dry cough tablets for adults in a balanced and rational way so as not to harm the body and not provoke complications, the spread of infection. Any cough remedy should be recommended by a doctor, taking into account age, cause of cough and comorbidities.
Rating of the top 10 inexpensive and effective tablets for dry cough according to KP
Together with experts, we discussed the best dry cough pills for adults, which are considered effective and inexpensive among patients and popular with doctors, learned how they differ from other drugs and how to take them correctly.
1. Omnitus
The drug is available in two dosage forms – tablets and syrup for oral administration. The main active ingredient is butamirate. The medicine belongs to the group of antitussive drugs, suppresses the cough reflex, helps to facilitate breathing and improve blood oxygen saturation. Moderately dilates the bronchi, has an anti-inflammatory effect1.
Indications for admission:
- dry cough with any acute respiratory diseases;
- suppression of the cough reflex before surgery, bronchoscopy and other diagnostic procedures.
Contraindications to taking the medicine – age up to 3 years (for tablets – up to 6 or 18 years, depending on the dosage), pregnancy and lactation, allergy to the components of the drug.
The drug is incompatible with alcohol and some drugs – sedatives, hypnotics, tranquilizers. Care should be taken when prescribing the drug to patients with kidney and liver diseases.2.
2. Stopussin
The drug is available in the form of tablets and drops for oral administration. The active ingredients – guaifenesin and butamirate – suppress the cough reflex and have an expectorant effect.
The main indication for admission:
- dry cough with ARVI, influenza, diseases of the respiratory organs.
Contraindicated in the first trimester of pregnancy and lactation, with allergies to components, with myasthenia gravis. It is forbidden to use the drug for wet cough, patients with chronic cough with bronchitis, emphysema. The drug is incompatible with alcohol3.
3. Libexin
The drug is available in the form of tablets. The main active ingredient is prenoxdiazine. Libexin suppresses the cough reflex due to its complex action: it reduces the sensitivity of cough receptors, dilates the bronchi and reduces the activity of the respiratory center. In terms of effectiveness, it is comparable to codeine, but does not cause dependence and addiction.
Shown:
- with a dry cough of any origin – whooping cough, SARS, influenza, respiratory infections;
- to suppress cough before operations and diagnostic procedures in the respiratory system;
- with nocturnal cough in patients with heart failure4.
Contraindications: allergy to the components, after inhalation anesthesia, with a wet cough with sputum, lactose intolerance. Carefully appoint children and pregnant women. Incompatible with alcohol.
4. Ambroxol
The drug is available in tablets, syrups and solutions for inhalation. The main active ingredient is ambroxol, a drug with mucolytic activity, which enhances the secretion of thinner mucus, which is easier to cough up. Thus, the drug helps to convert a dry non-productive cough into a wet one, with sputum discharge. Works well with antibiotics for microbial infections.
Shown at:
- ARVI, influenza, childhood infections with dry cough;
- chronic diseases of the bronchopulmonary system, accompanied by cough with sputum difficult to remove;
- bronchial asthma5.
Contraindicated in wet cough, with copious sputum, in the first trimester of pregnancy, lactation, kidney and liver problems. It is forbidden to take the drug in conjunction with drugs that suppress the cough reflex. Incompatible with alcohol intake.
5. Rengalin
The drug is available in tablets and in the form of a solution for oral administration. Suppresses the cough reflex, eliminates inflammation, has an anti-allergic effect, relieves bronchospasm.
Indications:
- dry cough with ARVI, influenza, respiratory infections;
- cough with laryngitis, pharyngitis, bronchitis;
- cough in allergic pathologies.
Contraindicated in children under 3 years of age, with hereditary fructose intolerance, with allergies to the components of the drug. The safety of the drug in pregnant women and during breastfeeding has not been studied.6.
6. Synecod
The drug is available in the form of drops for oral administration and syrup. The active substance is butamirate – a substance that suppresses the cough reflex, helps to facilitate breathing and oxygenate the blood7.
Indications:
- symptomatic treatment of dry cough;
- cough suppression in the pre- and postoperative period, during surgical interventions.
Contraindicated in the first trimester of pregnancy, during lactation, with fructose intolerance and allergies to the components of the drug. The instructions note that the drug contains ethyl alcohol, so patients with a tendency to develop drug dependence, with liver diseases, alcoholism, epilepsy, and brain diseases should be taken with caution.
7. Broncholitin
The combined drug with antitussive and bronchodilator action is available in the form of a syrup. The active substances of the drug are glaucine and ephedrine – the first suppresses the cough center, the second expands the bronchi, stimulates breathing and eliminates swelling of the bronchial mucosa. Also contains basil oil, which has a slight soothing, antimicrobial and analgesic effect.
Indications:
- various diseases of the respiratory tract, accompanied by a dry cough.
Contraindicated in arterial hypertension, heart failure, severe organic heart disease, coronary heart disease, insomnia. Also, you can not use women in the first trimester of pregnancy, children under 3 years of age and patients with allergies to the components of the drug. Due to the content of ethanol, care should be taken when prescribing the drug to patients with liver diseases, chronic alcoholism, epilepsy, brain diseases8.
8. Levopront
The antitussive drug is produced in the form of a syrup. The active substance – levodropropizine – helps to reduce the intensity and frequency of coughing, has a bronchodilator effect.
Indications:
- symptomatic treatment of dry cough with pharyngitis, laryngitis, acute tracheitis, influenza and other diseases of the bronchopulmonary system.
Contraindicated in children under 2 years of age, pregnant women, lactating women, with allergies to components, diseases associated with bronchial hypersecretion. Also, caution should be used in patients with impaired renal function, liver function, the elderly and patients with diabetes mellitus.9.
9. Gerbion
Natural syrup based on the extract of plantain leaves, mallow flowers and ascorbic acid has an expectorant, anti-inflammatory, antimicrobial effect. Promotes the discharge of mucus from the bronchi.
Indications:
- diseases of the upper respiratory tract, accompanied by a dry cough;
- with a dry cough of a smoker.
Contraindicated in children under 2 years of age, as well as people with hypersensitivity to the components of the drug. Not recommended for pregnant women and during lactation10.
10. Codelac Neo
Available in the form of tablets and syrup. The active substance is butamirate, which suppresses coughing, facilitates breathing and improves oxygen saturation of the body.
Indications:
- treatment of dry cough of various etiologies, including whooping cough;
- to suppress cough in the preoperative and postoperative period;
- during surgery and bronchoscopy.
Contraindicated in the first trimester of pregnancy, during breastfeeding, children from 3-6 years old, depending on the form of release of the drug. Due to the presence of ethyl alcohol in the composition of the syrup, use with caution in patients with a tendency to develop drug dependence, with alcoholism, epilepsy, diseases of the brain and liver.
How to choose dry cough tablets for adults
It is important to select drugs against dry cough together with the doctor, having previously determined the cause. The most basic thing you need with a dry cough is to turn it into a wet one. For this, mucolytic agents are indicated. But with a painful, hacking cough in the acute period, it is permissible to use drugs to suppress the cough reflex.
Cough suppressants can be of several types:
- central action affecting the cough center in the brain;
- peripheral action, suppressing the flow of impulses from the periphery, from the mucous membrane of the respiratory tract;
- combined action, combining several different effects.
Important! It is forbidden to use drugs that suppress cough in the presence of a wet cough with sputum. This can cause the lungs to fill with phlegm and develop congestive pneumonia.
Popular questions and answers
Questions regarding the methods of treating acute respiratory viral infections and cough, prescribing drugs, are answered by acting. Head of the Therapeutic Department of the City Clinical Hospital named after V.V. Vinogradova, therapist Yulia Dyadina.
Why can there be a dry cough in adults?
Much less often, dry cough appears as a result of side effects of a number of drugs: beta-blockers, ACE inhibitors, some non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs). Cough can also be caused by diseases of the ENT organs, the cardiovascular system and the thyroid gland, pathology of the mediastinal organs, including nerves and lymph nodes, gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD), sarcoidosis and oncological diseases of the respiratory system. In addition, the cause of a dry cough may be psychosomatics or the ingress of a foreign body into the respiratory tract.
A cough of an infectious nature usually does not last long and disappears along with the underlying disease. Allergic and other non-inflammatory coughs are of a protracted nature, most often occur without fever and are the result of chronic irritation of the respiratory mucosa. Unlike an acute cough caused by an infection, such a cough almost never goes away on its own.
What to do if you have a dry cough?
Treatment for dry cough depends on its cause. If we are talking about the most common occurrence – SARS, then this is antiviral treatment, plenty of warm drink, bed rest, air humidification. If the cough is accompanied by rhinitis, vasoconstrictor drugs are prescribed in the nose. With a dry cough, the first step is to translate it into a productive cough, and then get rid of it with the help of mucolytics and expectorants. Dry cough can be helped by various herbal medicines that have a pronounced antitussive effect and bronchodilator effect.
However, there is no universal remedy for dry cough. It is up to the doctor to determine which medicine to take.
When should you call an ambulance?
What is dangerous dry cough?
As a rule, a cough caused by acute infections disappears without a trace within two weeks. If the symptoms last more than 14 days and are accompanied by an increase in intensity, the appearance of shortness of breath, chest pain, you should immediately seek medical help.
What to do with a strong cough at home and what is the risk of self-medication?
Sources of:
- Starostina L.S. Dry cough: diagnosis and treatment. Pediatrics. Consilium Medicum. 2019. S. 82-86. https://omnidoctor.ru/upload/iblock/271/271f050a41504aefca032cb952d6a092.pdf
- Vidal. Reference book of medicines. Omnitus. https://www.vidal.ru/drugs/omnitus__21400
- Vidal. Reference book of medicines. Stoptussin. https://www.vidal.ru/drugs/stoptussin-fito__2014
- Vidal. Reference book of medicines. Libeksin. https://www.vidal.ru/drugs/libexin__1740
- Vidal. Reference book of medicines. Ambroxol https://www.vidal.ru/drugs/ambroxol__22628
- Vidal. Reference book of medicines. Rengalin. https://www.vidal.ru/drugs/rengalin__44069
- Medvestnik. What is dangerous dry cough: pathogenetic aspects of the symptom. https://medvestnik.ru/content/medarticles/Chem-opasen-suhoi-kashel-pathogeneticheskie-aspekty-simptoma.html
- Vidal. Reference book of medicines. Broncholitin. https://www.vidal.ru/drugs/broncholytin__2077
- Vidal. Reference book of medicines. Levopront. https://www.vidal.ru/drugs/levopront
- Vidal. Reference book of medicines. Herbion. https://www.vidal.ru/drugs/herbion_plantain_syrup__1912