When to seek treatment for a cough
Occasional coughing is normal. In fact, it’s healthy — when something irritates your throat or your airways, your body reflexively coughs to force out the irritant, thereby protecting your lungs from inflammation and infection. In some cases, however, coughing can signal something more serious. You should seek treatment for a cough if you’re also:
- Producing bloody or discolored mucus
- Wheezing
- Feeling short of breath
- Experiencing a fever
- Feeling pain in your chest
You should also seek treatment for a cough that persists for several weeks, since prolonged coughing could cause headaches, dizziness, fainting, sleeplessness, and urinary incontinence. In some cases, if the coughing is vigorous enough, it could even fracture one of your ribs.
What can cause chronic coughing?
If you’ve been coughing for weeks on end, you’re probably wondering what’s causing it. People often jump to the worst possible conclusion — imagining that they have lung cancer or heart failure — but in many cases, chronic coughing is caused by a much less serious condition. Here are just a few conditions that commonly cause a nagging cough:
- Allergies
- Asthma
- Chronic bronchitis
- Gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD)
- Postnasal drip
ACE inhibitors, which are frequently used to manage high blood pressure, can also lead to chronic coughing. Regardless of what’s causing your cough, it’s important to seek care as soon as possible so that you can achieve relief and get back to your daily routine. If you’ve been coughing for several weeks, contact DispatchHealth today to arrange treatment for non-life-threatening conditions.
Medically reviewed by Dr. Phil Mitchell MD, MS on July 24th, 2019
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