Healthy Reads presents: types of cough that may hide something serious!
When you’re sick, you’re more likely to experience some types of cough, depending on how your immune system is coping with germs and bacteria. The quick release of air from the lungs during an inflamed airway is known as a cough.
When debris, mucus, or fluids irritate the cells lining your airways, the cough reflex kicks in, forcing air out of the lungs at high pressure to remove all those annoying irritants and protect your lungs.
While a cough reflex can be both voluntary and involuntary, it can become dangerous if it’s not treated properly. We’ve talked to different doctors about several types of coughs, their typical causes, and the symptoms you should never ignore.
Speaking of that, doctors say that a cough is considered acute if it takes no longer than three weeks for your body to get rid of it, and chronic if it lasts longer than four weeks in children and more than eight weeks in adults. There are many things you need to know about these types of coughs and the things they hide, so keep reading!
1. Tickly cough
Tickly cough is one of the most popular types of cough and is caused by inflammation in the throat. Since there’s minimal to no phlegm production from this cough, it is considered non-productive.
If you experience a post-nasal drip, it means that your nasal tissue is irritated, and it creates an excessive amount of mucus that runs down into your throat. Moreover, this post-nasal drip triggers your cough reflex.
You probably noticed that when you cough, you get rid of that tickling sensation for a few seconds or minutes, and it tricks your body into thinking that you should cough harder, so you feel good.
The most common causes of this issue include hay fever, allergic rhinitis, colds, and the flu. Don’t worry, because there’s nothing dangerous here. If the reason you have a tickly cough is a post-nasal drip, the symptoms can be relieved by over-the-counter decongestants and antihistamines.
2. Nervous cough
We’re not done with these non-productive types of coughs, so let’s discover more about them. A nervous cough isn’t brought on by any bodily irritations or the urge to throw up, but dealing with it isn’t pleasant.
Anxiety and worry can aggravate a nervous cough, which usually goes away when you go to sleep. A doctor must rule out other possible causes of coughing before diagnosing you with an anxious cough. Experts say that if you want to get to the root cause of this problem, you need to check in with yourself and see if you’re stressed or anxious.
While some people think that these two aren’t important when it comes to physical signs of poor health, they can be major triggers, so don’t forget to take care of your mental health as well.
3. Chesty cough
Often referred to as a wet cough or phlegmy cough, this problem makes you feel chesty, heavy, and uncomfortable since the cough brings up mucus or phlegm.
These types of coughs are known as “productive coughs” because they have the potential to create clumps of mucus with each cough. If you’re diagnosed with a health issue like this, you might notice that your throat is sore and you feel tired. The main reason you might experience this is because you caught a cold, the flu, or a virus.
During the night, the mucus generated by the cells in your air passages builds up, causing excessive coughing and mucus expulsion when you wake up. This means that your chesty cough is more severe in the morning when you wake up. As we’ve previously said, don’t forget to take care of your health, because asthma, heart failure, or chronic bronchitis are among the more serious causes of chesty coughs.
4. Dry cough
We go back to the non-productive types of cough, and this time we’ll talk about the dry one. This is caused by irritants in the air passages and is triggered by bronchitis, colds, hay fever, acid reflux, flu, asthma, and particular medications used for treating high blood pressure.
If you take any medications to treat certain health issues, don’t forget to talk to your doctor about the possibility of getting infected with these types of coughs. They will tell you what you need to do and how to protect yourself from additional problems.
Have you ever suffered from any of these types of coughs?
5. Night cough
Many types of coughs can be a pain to live with, and night coughs are one of them. If you notice that the symptoms only appear at night or when you try to sleep, don’t waste your time and talk to your doctor ASAP.
Doctors say that one of the main causes of this type of cough is a cold or the flu, which can trigger your mucus to go into the wrong parts of your airways when you lie down. There could be other causes too, such as acid reflux.
Speaking of that, a nocturnal cough can occur when the acidic contents of your stomach flow back up your esophagus, or food pipe, while you are laying flat. Moreover, if you’re diagnosed with asthma, coughing can intensify during the night as well as during exercise, so be careful about that.
6. Croup cough
The same virus that is responsible for the common cold also causes croup cough. Unfortunately, this one primarily affects children under five years old, causing their airways to expand.
Some of the first symptoms adults will notice in their children are fever and a stuffy nose. Since there’s less space in the lungs for air to enter due to swelling and irritation of the voice box (larynx) and windpipe (trachea), the young patient might cough up a rough, “barking” sound that is sometimes compared to the sound a seal makes.
The patient might experience difficulty breathing and develop stridor, a high-pitched squeaking sound made when they breathe, in case their airways continue to expand. Sadly, the symptoms of this cough can worsen at night or when the youngster is unhappy. The good news is that the majority of croup cases resolve in a week with at-home treatment.
If you have children in your household and notice that they suffer from this type of couch, make sure they drink enough water, let them breathe in some moist air from a steamy bathroom, and use over-the-counter medications to treat fever, including acetaminophen.
Take them immediately to the doctor if you notice that they start breathing extremely fast, have a bluish tinge around the mouth, or have an indrawing of breath where the skin pulls in beneath the ribcage during breathing.
7. Persistent cough
Many types of cough are problematic, and persistent cough, also known as chronic, is one of the worst and most durable, as it can last more than eight weeks.
Allergy-induced rhinitis, sinus infections, asthma, gastric reflux, eosinophilic bronchitis, smoking, infections, and adverse drug reactions are the most frequent causes of chronic cough.
Other causes that can trigger this problem are lung cancer, chest lymphomas, emphysema, sarcoidosis, and fungal infections such as histoplasmosis, coccidiomycosis, and tuberculosis, but they’re not that common.
These types of coughs can severely affect your health, so if your cough persists for longer than three weeks or if you experience other symptoms like shortness of breath, chest pain, or blood in your cough, you should consult a doctor ASAP.
Moreover, if your symptoms worsen and you have other long-term diseases like asthma or chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), your healthcare provider should see you and help you with the proper treatment.
Taking care of your immune system is one of the best things you could do to protect yourself from any of these types of coughs. Here are some amazing vitamins that will help your body keep germs and bacteria at bay! Check them out!
Do you know any other types of cough that can be a problem for your health? Leave a comment below and let us know! If you’d like to read something else from Healthy Reads, here’s another amazing article for you to check out next: 24-Hour Flu: What It Is, How You Treat It, and More
