What is Cough?

Worried about the nagging cough?

spending sleepless nights?

Troubled with recurrent cold and cough?

This article will explain what is Cough?

Causes of Cough? and what is best homeopathic treatment for Cough.

A sudden, forceful hacking sound to release air and clear irritation in the throat or airway. That is to say, It is a rapid expulsion of air from the lungs. A cough is typically supposed to protect you. It is a voluntary (done deliberately) or involuntary (as a part of a reflex) act that clears the throat and breathing passage of foreign particles, microbes, irritants, fluids, and mucus and gets out contents that don’t belong to your lungs and windpipe.

Causes for Cough

• Viruses - Colds and Flus are the most common causes
• Allergies, Asthma - triggers causes the lungs to over react, and hence the airway tries to cough out what’s bothering them
• Inhalation of foriegn bodies - like dust, irritant gases or chemical fumes and tobacco smoking, all of which causes mechanical irritation in the respiratory tract
• Compression of air passages - by aortic aneurysm, neoplasms or adenomas
• Pressure or tension on air passages - due to pulmonary oedema, interstitial fibrosis, or pericardial effusion
• Reflex irritation of vagus - usually caused by wax in the ears or distention of stomach
• Thermal stimulus – Inhalation of cold air especially in asthmatics
• Infections - like pneumonia, pulmonary tuberculosis or bronchiectasis
• Post-nasal drip (PND) - here, the mucus drips down from the nose into the throat, driving you to cough.
• Gastro-oesophageal reflux (GERD) - here, the stomach acids back up into the throat causing an irritation of the windpipe, vocal cords, and throat resulting in a cough.
• Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) - it is a chronic inflammatory lung disease that weakens the airway tubes and causes cough as one of its symptoms 
• Iatrogenic - caused by medications like ACE inhibitors or steroid aerosols
• Habit cough – when a patient has suffered from some prolonged illness in which cough has been a prominent feature, the cough may at times persist as a habit long after the cause has ceased to operate
• Psychogenic cough – cough without any obvious medical etiology

Basic Types of Cough

• Dry or Unproductive
  Produced usually by URTI, initial stage of pulmonary tuberculosis, smoker’s cough, interstitial fibrosis, bronchial asthma, psychogenic or habitual cough

• Wet or Productive
  Sometimes cough brings up mucus along with it, also called phlegm or sputum, that’s what we call a ‘wet’ or a ‘productive’ cough. When one experiences this, it might sound and feel to them like something is rattling around in their lungs. This kind of cough is found to be commonly seen in conditions like bronchiectasis, lung abscess and fungal infections

• Paroxysmal
  This type involves frequent and violent coughing that can make it hard for a person to breathe, as seen typically in patients with bronchial asthma

Signs and Symptoms of Cough

WHEN is it worrisome and WHEN to consult the Doctor?

Most lingering coughs are harmless. But if your cough isn't getting better after a week’s time, it's time for you to see a doctor.

Consult them if your cough interferes with your daily life and your ability to work, or if it comes with breathing difficulty, chest pain, blood in your cough, fever or night sweats.

HomoeoCARE's Approach

While all the other doctors would recommend avoiding the triggers that cause you cough, we do not suggest that. Instead, we help the body heal from all the problems by enhancing and improving one’s immunity and helping the patient to overcome those triggers. Along with the home remedies like warm fluids and steam inhalation, we would like to suggest patients to take proper homeopathic medications for their cough. Taking herbal remedies and changing your diet can help initially, but in a lot of cases they won't address the underlying cause.  Homeopathy works beautifully in these conditions and has some of the most magically acting remedies for cough in store for all the homeopathic doctors. Similarly, HomoeoCare is known for its results in providing relief to patients having troublesome complaints due to cough and respiratory infections, and we will continue to do so by reaching out to the deep-seated cause of the disease and treating that, rather than treating just the superficial presentation of the disease picture.