A cough is a sudden burst of air from the lungs. It can help to clear mucus or foreign items from the airways. Chronic coughs are those that last longer than 8 weeks.
Most coughs are treated with self care.
Use a steam vaporizer or cool-mist humidifier. It may ease your coughing.
Medicine is not always needed for a cough. If coughing is severe and making you lose sleep, the doctor may advise:
Take all the antibiotics you are given. Do this even when you are feeling well.
When taking medicines:
Talk to your doctor about what may be causing your cough or making it worse, such as:
Call your doctor if you are not getting better or you have:
Call for emergency medical help or go to the emergency room right away if you have a cough with:
If you think you have an emergency, call for medical help right away.
American Lung Association
https://www.lung.org
Family Doctor—American Academy of Family Physicians
https://www.familydoctor.org
The Lung Association
https://www.lung.ca
Public Health Agency of Canada
https://www.canada.ca
Chronic cough. Family Doctor—American Academy of Family Physicians website. Available at: https://familydoctor.org/condition/chronic-cough. Accessed April 9, 2021.
Chronic cough in adults—approach to the patient. EBSCO DynaMed website. Available at: https://www.dynamed.com/approach-to/chronic-cough-in-adults-approach-to-the-patient. Accessed April 9, 2021.
Smoking cessation: nursing interventions in hospitalized patients. EBSCO Nursing Reference Center website. Available at: https://www.ebscohost.com/nursing/products/nursing-reference-center. Accessed April 9, 2021.
Last reviewed March 2021 by EBSCO Medical Review Board David L. Horn, MD, FACP Last Updated: 7/23/2021