Persistent Coughs: Here Are 5 Causes of Your Chronic Symptom

A regular and chronic cough are symptoms that you should never interchange. While a regular cough should already alert a person, it’s not as serious as a persistent cough.

This type of cough is called a chronic cough, which lasts more than eight weeks, unlike a regular cough that lasts only two weeks.

Although the cough may appear harmless, you should be aware about what’s causing it. Here are a few diseases you should keep in mind to give you an idea.

Asthma

Asthma is a chronic and long-term disease that also affects children. This condition affects the airways in the lungs, where it’s inflamed and narrowed sometimes.

So, it becomes harder for the person to breathe, which causes breathlessness, wheezing, tightness in the chest, and coughing.

Asthma attacks are caused by various triggers, which include allergies, airborne irritants, physical activity, weather temperature, and air pollution.

Unlike a chronic cough, a cough variant asthma only lasts for a week or two, but it can still significantly affect a person’s life.

The symptom is manageable if you’re undergoing treatment or being prescribed medications. However, without this, you might visit the emergency room as frequently as you imagined.

Also, patients can quickly go through their asthma medications when they’re frequently triggered, so it’s best to be stacked with medications, which you can purchase with discount coupons like BuzzRx to help you manage your expenses.

Gastroesophageal Reflux Disease (GERD)

Gastroesophageal Reflux Disease is chronic, and the symptoms can be painful, which include chronic cough and burning sensation in the chest.

Others refer to it as a more severe form of acid reflux. Moreover, the burning sensation is classified as heartburn patients experience during nighttime and only feels worse while lying down.

Acid reflux is caused by various reasons, including eating large meals late at night, consuming certain foods (like fried or fatty foods), and drinking beverages like alcohol or coffee. In essence, GERD results from a malfunctioning mechanism in your body.

For instance, the lower esophageal sphincter, a part of your esophagus, tightens and relaxes when you swallow, but this part doesn’t close properly when you have acid reflux. As a result, digestive juices or other contents from your stomach rise to your esophagus.

Moreover, it’s important to note that this symptom is closely similar to regular heartburn, but you must be aware of their distinction.

Occasional heartburn occurs once a week or less, but if your heartburn occurs more than twice a week with chronic cough and chest pain, it’s best to visit a doctor immediately.

Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD)

Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) is a group of diseases that affects the lungs and causes breathing issues. Common causes include long-term exposure to harmful gasses and particles; the most common example is cigarette smoke.

A lot of people are experiencing COPD but aren’t diagnosed yet, which can be highly harmful to their health. It’s because people with COPD become at risk of developing lung cancer and heart diseases. It’s often treated with prescriptions like Symbicort.

The most common conditions of COPD are emphysema and chronic bronchitis. They usually occur concurrently, and the severity varies among patients.

• Emphysema. In simple words, when a person is diagnosed with an emphysema component of COPD, the lungs are now damaged beyond repair. The common symptoms of emphysema are frequent coughing, shortness of breath, excess sputum, and trouble taking a deep breath.
• Chronic Bronchitis. This is the inflammation of the lining of the bronchial tubes. Thus, patients will experience chronic cough with the production of phlegm. Regular bronchitis infection usually lasts not more than ten days, but if your bronchitis lasts more than ten days and recurs, it’s a chronic bronchitis component of COPD. It’s best to visit your doctor once your symptoms persist for more than a week.

Pneumonia

Various infections cause pneumonia, and if you have COPD, you’re also at risk of developing this illness.

It’s an infection that affects your lungs and airways and inflames air sacs. The infection can be caused by viruses, bacteria, or fungi that make their way into your lungs.

If you have pneumonia, your air sacs may have been filled with pus or fluid, resulting in coughing with phlegm, chills, fever, and difficulty breathing.

This illness is a serious disease that can become life-threatening to patients. It’s even more serious for infants, young children, and older people, especially patients with health problems.

Keep in mind that pneumonia can be contagious and spread through sneezing, coughing, talking, or even sending respiratory droplets into the air, making it even more dangerous. Fortunately, this disease can be cured with proper recognition and treatment.

Final Thoughts

Health is wealth, and it’s something that everyone should never take for granted. A simple cough may lead to severe problems, and you only have one body, and you should care for it with the utmost attention.

You can read the diseases listed above, but never diagnose yourself with such and talk with your doctor. So, it’s best to visit your healthcare practitioner once the symptom persists.

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