What to do if you have a chronic cough

  It is possible that you are suffering from a chronic cough. You may be visiting the respiratory departments of major hospitals frequently, changing antibiotics several times, spending money and not solving the problem. Here are some suggestions for patients with chronic cough that may solve your coughing pain.  First of all, it is recommended to check the chest X-ray or chest CT to exclude the possibility of pneumonia or bronchopulmonary cancer, etc. If the results are normal and you have allergic rhinitis, it is possible that your cough is “allergic cough” (i.e. cough variant asthma). You can take anti-allergy medications such as ketotifen and, if necessary, inhaled hormones and bronchodilator medications such as sulforaphane aerosol, which can be more supportive of allergic cough if symptoms are relieved.  Secondly, if you also have chronic rhinitis, frequent runny nose and a foreign body sensation in the throat, you may have postnasal drip syndrome, and it is advisable to consult an ENT doctor to treat the rhinitis if necessary to relieve the cough.  Third, if your cough is accompanied by frequent belching, acid reflux, and a burning sensation behind the sternum, we suggest that you have a gastroscopy to rule out “GERD” causing an irritating cough in the pharynx, and after diagnosis, treatment with morpholine and omeprazole may resolve the cough.  Fourth, if you also have hypertension, note whether you are taking ACEI drugs (Enalapril is the representative drug). If so, it is recommended to suspend ACEI drugs and replace them with antihypertensive drugs such as Giga to rule out ACEI irritating cough side effects.  Common causes of prolonged cough are as described above, and the other rare ones will not be discussed here!