Than to treat a dry cough in an adult at home

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In most cases, cough is a reflex defensive reaction, by which the body gets rid of accumulated sputum and cleanses the airways. However, dry, unproductive cough causes discomfort and does not bring relief during the disease.

Generally speaking, cough is a symptom typical of most inflammatory diseases of the respiratory system. It can also be a sign of an allergic reaction of the body.

There are two types of coughing :

• wet cough with escaping phlegm;
• is a dry cough or unproductive.

Wet cough, accompanied by phlegm. Its useful function is that the microbes contained in the secretions are removed from the respiratory tract, thereby accelerating the process of recovery and eliminating the development of complications.

Dry non-productive cough usually does not bring relief, it can be very debilitating in the form of seizures. Such a cough promotes a significant irritation of the respiratory tract, causes vomiting and damage to mucosal tissues. Another classification is based on the length of the time interval during which the patient coughs.

Depending on this cough can be:

• acute - duration of up to 2 weeks;
• protracted - up to 4 weeks;
• subacute - lasts no more than 2 months;
• chronic - the patient coughs more than 2 months in a row.

There are many ways to eliminate this unpleasant symptom, so what to treat dry cough in adults we will consider in this article.

Causes of dry cough

Dry cough is a manifestation of a reflex-protective mechanism aimed at removing an irritating factor from the respiratory tract( inflammatory, atrophic, mechanical, chemical or temperature).According to some classifications, there are more than 53 reasons for this condition.

Dry cough in adults most often develops on the background of an acute respiratory disease such as bronchitis, tracheitis, pharyngitis, laryngitis, etc. In this case, the patient first has a slight cough, which in a few hours or two to three days passes into an intense drycough.

Along with this, the patient complains about other symptoms of acute respiratory infections: fever, runny nose, worsening of general condition. Gradually, the nature of the cough changes from dry to wet, that is, the patient begins separation of sputum.

There are also a number of other factors that can trigger the emergence of dry cough:

• smoking;
• tuberculosis;
• heart failure;
• bronchial asthma;
• viral infections, in particular - bronchitis, pneumonia, whooping cough;
• ingestion of a foreign body in the respiratory tract;
• dust and allergens.

Also provoking factors may be:

• dry air in the room where the patient is;
• lack of sufficient amount of fluid entering the body.

All causes of dry cough in adults are reduced to the fact that bronchial tubes and lung tissue can not independently get rid of the pathogenic agent.

Prolonged dry cough in an adult

Often a dry cough occurs during a cold if the weakened immunity does not cope with its protective functions and the disease passes into the bronchi. As a result, acute bronchitis appears, which, in the absence of proper treatment, goes into a chronic stage. With prolonged coughing in an adult, deformation of the bronchial walls can occur, which leads to asthma, lung abscess and pneumonia.

Long dry throat cough and severe swallowing in the pharynx occurs with chronic pharyngitis. A very long spasmodic cough accompanied by pain in the side, shortness of breath and fever can be observed with pleurisy.

Symptoms of

Symptoms that most often accompany a severe cough in an adult:

1. Runny nose or, conversely, stuffy nose and paranasal sinuses. Difficulty breathing and shortness of breath at the slightest physical exertion and even without it.
2. A hoarse voice.
3. Nausea, the urge to vomit the flesh until vomiting.
4. Increased local lymph nodes.
5. Symptoms of general malaise - body aches, fever, fever, sweating and drowsiness.

How to treat dry cough in adults

Successful treatment of this condition is based on the accurate diagnosis and elimination of the causes of each of them. All therapeutic measures are carried out under the close supervision of a physician.

In the treatment of painful barking dry cough in adults, unlike wet, drugs that suppress cough due to influence on the cough reflex are used.

As a matter of fact, this is not a treatment as such, but symptomatic therapy aimed at cough reduction,in this situation, the cough reflex is not beneficial to the body, and even on the contrary, it can give a complication in the form of pneumothorax and pneumomediastinum.

General methods of treatment of dry cough in adults at home:

• regular wet cleaning indoors.
• control of the air temperature in the house( not above 22C).
• a compress on a thorax.
• the regime of heavy drinking( teas, milk and Borjomi,
• not to apply near the patient detergent aggressive agents,
• inhalation steam. They are very useful for dry cough. In the water add baking soda, broths of herbs, etc.
• diet with sufficientnumber of calories

Drugs for the treatment of dry cough are divided into 2 types: central and peripheral action

Cough medications

For the treatment of dry cough in an adult, prescribe medications that have antitussive effects in combination with soothing, analgesic, and mild antispasmodic effect.

1. Usually, so-called mucolytics are used, the most common among them is ambroxol, which increases the secretion of mucus than the basic principle of treating dry coughs - translating it into moist
2. Sometimes to suppress the cough centeruse drugs with a narcotic effect, for example, codeine, ethylmorphine, glaicin, prenoxadiazine, oxeladin. This is a type of medication that suppresses the cough reflex in the cerebral cortex.

It should be noted that we do not allow the simultaneous use of antitussive and expectorant drugs because of the risk of blockage of bronchial sputum.

Treatment of dry cough with folk remedies

There are a lot of recipes to help people cure cough with folk remedies, and protect the body from the effects of the diseases that accompanied this symptom.

1. If there is a dry cough, then the following folk remedy will cure it: take cotton cloth moistened with sunflower oil. Cover the whole breast with this cloth, top with polyethylene film, cotton or linen cloth on top, warm shawl. Sleeping all night. In the morning, the cough is already becoming weaker and softer.
2. The easiest way to cure a cough - to warm the breast internal organs - at night draw an iodine mesh on the chest;
3. Drink milk in hot form, be sure to add alkaline water, honey, so a lot of mucus will form and dry cough will quickly pass.
4. Compress from a cough should consist of vegetable fat, a small amount of mustard, alcohol. You can also use potatoes boiled in "uniform" and natural honey. All the ingredients should be thoroughly mixed and smeared on your back, and do not rinse until the mixture is completely dry
5. In a saucepan, boil 2 cups of water, throw the chopped garlic, remove from heat and put on a table. Add 1 tsp.soda, and immediately cover the sheet and breathe over the saucepan.
6. Eucalyptus leaves pour boiled water. Then construct the funnel, breathe in steam for up to 20 minutes. Also good is inhalation with thyme, mother-and-stepmother, you can put soda and drip eucalyptus oil.
7. The best remedy for dry cough is the mother-and-stepmother. To prepare the broth, you need to fill the leaves with a glass of water. Insist an hour, eat up to three times a day.
8. Inhalations with oils of lavender, mint, eucalyptus, cedar. It should be added to 500 g of boiling water 2-3 drops of any oil and breathe over the steam. Expectoration will begin immediately.

Dry cough in adults always has a certain cause. Therefore, it is very important to conduct a thorough preliminary examination, which will result in adequate treatment.