In our daily interactions, people often ask questions about coughing, and sometimes it is difficult to say a word or two to people who are not medical professionals.
What is a cough?
Coughing is a protective respiratory reflex of the body. Coughing occurs when foreign bodies, irritating gases, respiratory secretions, etc. stimulate receptors in the respiratory mucosa and impulses are transmitted via afferent nerve fibers to the medullary cough center, causing a cough.
The action of coughing is a short, deep inhalation, with the vocal cords tightly closed and the respiratory muscles, intercostal muscles and diaphragm contracting rapidly and violently, causing a high pressure jet of gas to be ejected from the lungs, which becomes a cough. With the rapid rush of air, foreign bodies or secretions are expelled from the respiratory tract.
In addition to the respiratory organs such as the nose, pharynx, larynx, trachea, bronchi, lungs and pleura, cough is also caused by stimulation of the vagus nerve in the ear, meninges, heart, esophagus, stomach and other internal organs, which can also be transmitted to the cough center.
Cough is the main symptom of respiratory diseases. For example, cough without sputum or with little sputum as a dry cough is commonly seen in the early stages of acute pharyngitis and bronchitis; acute and sudden onset of cough is mostly seen in endobronchial foreign bodies; long-term chronic cough is mostly seen in chronic bronchitis and tuberculosis.
The detrimental effect of coughing is that it can spread tracheal lesions to the adjacent small bronchi and aggravate the condition. In addition, persistent and violent coughing can interfere with rest and also consume physical energy, and can cause destruction of the elastic tissue of the alveolar wall and induce emphysema.
What is allergic cough?
It is common for parents to bring a child with a chronic cough as the only complaint. Because the cough only comes on at night or early in the morning, the onset is more regular for the same child. During the day, there are usually no symptoms or very little coughing, so some parents assume that the cough is caused by a cold at night and cover up more warmly, or do not pay attention to it. Doctors often diagnose the cough as an “upper respiratory tract infection” or “bronchitis” and use antibiotics and cough medicines, but they are often ineffective or have little effect. In fact, this is an allergic cough, mostly seen in children with allergic constitution. The bronchial mucosa is highly sensitive and has a low tolerance to any external stimuli. Because of the instability of the child’s vegetative nerves, the cough is particularly prone to attacks at night when the vagus nerve is excited.
This allergic cough can develop into typical bronchial asthma in some children over time. Therefore, timely treatment with a few asthma medications such as wheezing and albuterol, as well as anti-allergy medications such as phentermine and benadryl, is effective.
What is pharyngitis cough? Irritant cough
Pharyngitis cough is an irritating dry cough with no or little sputum. Older children may feel that there is something in their throat, but they cannot spit it out or swallow it, and before coughing, they have an itchy pharynx with an obvious feeling of foreign body irritation, followed by a paroxysmal cough, which is worse in the morning or at night before bedtime. During an acute attack, every violent cough causes nausea and vomiting, which stimulates the pharyngeal nerve and causes reflex vomiting. A sip of water will temporarily relieve it.
For the treatment of chronic pharyngitis there is no special treatment, generally available fat sea, yucca, maitake, sage, green fruit, yu butterfly, appropriate amount of water as tea, with some effect. In the acute stage, the application of antibacterial agents, plus taking Chinese medicine, such as grass coral tablets, watermelon cream tablets, Golden Voice Throat, Six Gods Pill, etc. contain, or use pediatric pharyngeal flat punch, Huang’s sound pill oral, with certain cough Western medicine, can be cured or alleviated. Pay attention to the diet must be light, do not eat spicy, greasy food.
What is chronic cough with phlegm placed for several hours that can be layered and how to treat it?
Chronic cough in children Children with long-term cough and sputum left for several hours can be divided into 3 layers: foam in the upper layer, mucus in the middle layer, and pus and necrotic tissue in the lower layer, which is typical of bronchial dilation. The sputum is mostly thick and purulent, the amount is more or less, and it is related to the change of position, and it is easy to cause cough and cough a lot of pus sputum when rising in the morning or sleeping in bed at night. If the disease is prolonged, there may be intermittent hemoptysis of different degrees. Recurrent infections in the lungs, mostly in the same place, are persistent. About 1/3 of the children may have pestle-shaped fingers and toes.
X-ray chest radiographs show: large and small annular translucent shadows in both middle and lower lungs, in the form of curly shadows or honeycomb, often accompanied by lung segment or lobe atelectasis and inflammatory infiltrative shadows. Bronchial dilatation and deformation can be seen on tomographic X-rays.
The general principles of bronchiectasis medical treatment: sputum removal, unobstructed airway and infection control.
(1) Postural sputum removal, sputum clearance and unobstructed respiratory tract: adopt appropriate posture so that the lesion site is on high, which is conducive to sputum discharge, twice a day for 20 minutes each time. If the lesion is above, it is easy to make sputum discharge in sitting position; if the lesion is below, take the oblique downward prone position and let the child breathe deeply and cough up sputum; if the lesion is in front, take the supine position; if the lesion is behind, take the prone position. At the same time, pat the lesioned part of the child with your hand to facilitate the drainage of sputum. If the sputum is too thick, use the expectorant drug potassium iodide 0.1-0.2g, or Tugen syrup 0.5ml, 3 times a day, or use the Chinese traditional medicine orris soup, Qianjin reed stem soup plus orally to dissolve the sputum, or use the nebulized inhalation method to wet the respiratory tract first and then discharge the sputum in the subluxation position then the sputum is easily discharged.
(2) Infection control: Antibiotics should be actively applied during the acute attack. Commonly used drugs are penicillin, the total daily amount of about 1 million μ ~ 3 million μ intramuscular injection or static point, 2 weeks as a course of treatment; also available penicillin spray, with 200,000 μ dissolved in 10 ml of distilled water, sprayed in 10 minutes, 3 to 4 times a day, for 1 to 2 weeks. Later, the corresponding antibiotics can be selected according to the drug sensitivity test of sputum culture.
Cough caused by tonsillitis
Cough caused by tonsillitis is mostly accompanied by pain in the pharynx, which is gradually aggravated and worsens when swallowing or coughing. In severe cases, there is difficulty swallowing, a feeling of blockage and hoarseness. In the case of acute tonsillitis, it is mostly accompanied by fever, headache and thirst. In chronic tonsillitis, the throat is uncomfortable, slightly itchy and painful, with a foreign body sensation, which easily causes coughing, often with a history of recurrent attacks, similar to the symptoms of chronic pharyngitis.
For the prevention and care of this disease, the acute phase should be treated as upper respiratory tract infection or acute tonsillitis by giving some Banlangen Punch, Throat Syndrome Pill, Liushen Pill, Grass Coral Tablet and corresponding antimicrobial treatment. If the condition is more important, go to the hospital for further examination and treatment. For the treatment of chronic tonsillitis, you can refer to the treatment of chronic laryngitis, and topical medication can be used to treat the throat by blowing the throat with double material throat wind san, tin type san. Feed more water, use light salt water to wash the mouth, and also take some cool drinks to clear the heat and fire.
Characteristics of cold and cough
Cold and cough are mostly accompanied by fever and runny nose. Wind-cold coughs are different from wind-heat coughs. Wind-cold coughs are cold coughs, which are heavier, with clearer sputum, fever often accompanied by fear of cold, no sweating, a light tongue with white coating and a non-red throat; wind-heat coughs are often accompanied by fever and sweating, sore throat, spitting yellow thick sputum, yellow runny nose, a red tongue with white coating and a floating pulse; some coughs are accompanied by reluctance to eat, or nausea after meals, and a thick tongue coating. This is caused by the normal function of the spleen, and should be treated with digestive drugs and cough suppressants. For coughs caused by wind-heat, pay attention to a light diet and do not overindulge in meat and spicy stimulating foods, and do not overindulge in cold foods if they are caused by cold, so as not to aggravate the cough. Since wind-heat coughs are common, treatment can be done with Mulberry-Chrysanthemum drink plus or minus, commonly used herbs: Mulberry leaf 8g, Chrysanthemum 10g, Radix Platycodon 10g, Almond 6g, Forsythia 15g, Scutellaria 9g, Roasted loosestrife 10g, Qianhu 6g, decocted in water, 1 dose daily for 3 to 5 days. You can also take oral medicine such as pediatric federal cough syrup, meconium syrup, pediatric cough suppressant and acute syrup, and drink more water, avoid spicy and stimulating food and cold drinks, etc. to prevent cold exposure.
Defining the disease of cough
Cough is not a disease, but a symptom of many diseases. Depending on the nature of the cough, the duration of the cough, and the specific manifestations of the cough, you can generally identify the disease and treat it early.
If a young person has a prolonged cough with a short, weak cough, accompanied by sweating, hot flashes and low fever in the afternoon, red cheeks and fatigue, it is likely to be tuberculosis.
If the cough is caused by a cold, it usually disappears after two or three days as other cold symptoms get better, but the trouble is that this short-lived cough is also common in acute winter infections such as measles, scarlet fever and rib glanditis, so you should be alert.
There is no more common cause of cough than chronic bronchitis. The cold climate of the winter months can aggravate the condition, and it is usually relieved only when the weather turns warm.
If you have a dry cough without sputum, or if you have hemoptysis, you should go to the hospital quickly to be examined by X-ray fluoroscopy, chest X-ray or bronchogram.
Cough medicines are divided into two categories: cough suppressants and expectorants. For a dry cough with no or little sputum, cough suppressants can be taken, while a cough with a lot of sputum can be taken with both cough suppressants and expectorants.