Dry Cough: Causes, Symptoms & Treatments
A cough is the body’s natural way of responding to irritation in your respiratory tract. When specialised sensors in your airways detect an irritant such as smoke, dust or pollution, it triggers a cough reflex that causes the muscles in your airways to contract and pushes a burst of air out through your airways in an attempt to remove the cause of the irritation.
A dry cough is when you cough without bringing up any mucous or phlegm and can be very irritating for your throat. It is a common type of cough that can be caused by an infection, asthma, environmental irritant or irritation caused by acid reflux. It may be a side effect of certain medications such as ACE inhibitors for high blood pressure. A constant dry cough is the result of your cough reflex becoming more sensitive than usual.
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Next steps
Starting small by taking it easy, getting good amounts of sleep, and ensuring that you are eating and drinking well – this will all help. Going out in cold weather can cause you to cough more, so wrap up warm. You can try some simple over-the-counter treatments to help with your symptoms.
Healthwords pharmacists have put together some of our favourite medications that can be purchased to help with a dry cough.
Healthwords pharmacists' top tips
These treatments will not stop your cough but may help to relieve your symptoms. Paracetamol or ibuprofen can be used to relieve pain in your throat or respiratory muscles from coughing. Simple Linctus or a hot honey and lemon drink can soothe your throat, and Bronchostop, cough sweets or lozenges work in the same way, if you're out and about.
Dextromethorphan can help suppress the urge to cough, which might help if you’ve got a phone call to make or a meeting to attend.
Pharmacy Treatments
How can I stop my cough interrupting sleep?
It is relatively common to find that your dry cough is worse at night and is affecting your sleep. This is likely due to the reduction in saliva you produce which leads to your throat becoming drier and more sensitive to triggering your cough reflex.
If this is the case, you can try the previous simple remedies, and add a sleep aid such as the antihistamine diphenhydramine. The cough suppressant dextromethorphan can often be found in combination with diphenhydramine to aid with relieving nighttime coughing.
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