Why do we cough?

Source:www.webmd.com

I have been suffered for cough for two weeks and I found this article helpful to me.
Coughing is the body's way of removing foreign material or mucus from the lungs and upper airway passages or of reacting to an irritated airway. Coughs have distinctive traits you can learn to recognize. A cough is only a symptom, not a disease, and often the importance of your cough can be determined only when other symptoms are evaluated.


2 Kinds of cough and Cause

A productive cough produces phlegm or mucus (sputum). The mucus may have drained down the back of the throat from the nose or sinuses or may have come up from the lungs. A productive cough generally should not be suppressed-it clears mucus from the lungs and Non-productive coughs


There are many causes of a productive cough, such as:

• Viral illnesses. It is normal to have a productive cough when you have a common cold, a common viral infection in which the mucous membrane of the nose and throat becomes inflamed, typically causing running at the nose, sneezing, a sore throat, and other similar symptoms. 
• Coughing is often triggered by mucus that drains down the back of the throat.
• Nasal discharge (postnasal drip) draining down the back of the throat. This can cause a productive cough or the feeling that you constantly need to clear your throat.

Non-productive coughs

A non-productive cough is dry and does not produce sputum. A dry, hacking cough may develop toward the end of a cold or after exposure to an irritant, such as dust or smoke.


There are many causes of a non-productive cough, such as:

Viral illnesses. After a common cold, a dry cough may last several weeks longer than other symptoms and often gets worse at night. Bronchospasm. Allergies. Frequent sneezing is also a common symptom of allergic rhinitis. Exposure to dust, fumes, and chemicals in the work environment. Asthma.

Many coughs are caused by a viral illness. Like a sore throat. Antibiotics are not used to treat viral illnesses and do not alter the course of viral infections. Unnecessary use of an antibiotic exposes you to the risks of an allergic reaction and antibiotic side effects, such as nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, rashes, and yeast infections. Antibiotics also may kill beneficial bacteria and encourage the development of dangerous antibiotic-resistant bacteria. Be careful to evaluation your health. Remember, a cough is only a symptom, not a disease, and often the importance of your cough can only be determined when other symptoms are evaluated. Coughs occur with bacterial and viral respiratory infections.


What is the difference between flu and cold symptoms?

• Cold symptoms usually begin with a sore throat, which usually goes away after a day or two. Nasal symptoms, runny nose, and congestion follow, along with a cough by the fourth and fifth days. Fever is uncommon in adults, but a slight fever is possible. Children are more likely to have a fever with a cold. With cold symptoms, the nose teems with watery nasal secretions for the first few days. Later, these become thicker and darker. Dark mucus is natural and does not usually mean you have developed a bacterial infection, such as a sinus infection. Several hundred different viruses may cause your cold symptoms.
• Cold symptoms usually last for about a week. During the first three days that you have cold symptoms, you are contagious. This means you can pass the cold to others, so stay home and get some much-needed rest. If cold symptoms do not seem to be improving after a week, you may have a bacterial infection, which means you may need antibiotics. Sometimes you may mistake cold symptoms for allergic rhinitis (hay fever) or a sinus infection. If cold symptoms begin quickly and are improving after a week, then it is usually a cold, not allergy. If you’re cold symptoms do not seem to be getting better after a week.

What are common flu symptoms?

• Flu symptoms are usually more severe than cold symptoms and come on quickly. Symptoms of flu include sore throat, fever, headache, muscle aches and soreness, congestion, and cough. Swine flu in particular is also associated with vomiting and diarrhia, most flu symptoms gradually improve over two to five days, but it's not uncommon to feel run down for a week or more. A common complication of the flu is pneumonia, particularly in the young, elderly, or people with lung or heart problems. If you notice shortness of breath, let your doctor know. Another common sign of pneumonia is fever that comes back after having been gone for a day or two. Just like cold viruses, flu viruses enter your body through the mucous membranes of the nose, eyes, or mouth. Every time you touch your hand to one of these areas, you could be infecting yourself with a virus, which makes it very important to keep hands germ-free with frequent washing to prevent both flu and cold symptoms

How do you know if you have flu or cold symptoms?

Take your temperature; Flu symptoms often mimic cold symptoms with nasal congestion, cough, aches, and malaise. But a common cold rarely has symptoms of fever above 101 degrees. With flu symptoms, you will probably have a fever initially with the flu virus and you will feel miserable. Body and muscle aches are also more common with the flu.


How to treat a cough?

• Try Lozenges or menthol cough drops can be easily purchased over the counter at your local drug store or grocery store. Lozenges work by numbing the back of the throat to diminish the cough reflex and urge to cough.
• Did you know that honey has anti-bacterial and anti-inflammatory properties? Drink warm tea with a teaspoon of honey may help soothe coughs,
• Do the Steam will do the trick to loosen up the sinus airways and help eliminate mucus congestion that tends to stuff us up and cause post-nasal drip down the back of the throat due to asthma, colds, and allergies. The best way to employ steam is by having a hot shower. You can also pour boiled water into a big bowl, bring your sinuses close (but don’t make contact with the water), cover your head with a towel, and breathe deep.
• A humidifier works similarly to a hot shower by employing wet steam to encourage moist nasal passages that can dry up and become cracked and painful due to dry throats and sinuses. Replenishing the moisture in your home can help relieve a nasty cough if that cough is caused by a dry environment.
• Sip some warm tea or chicken soup to heat up your airways. Not only will it hydrate you, but the warmth helps break up mucus and makes it easier to cough up.
• Avoid scented cleaning products, perfumes, scented sprays, incense, or cigarette smoke can result in a chronic sinus irritation and cough in those that are sensitive to chemicals. It can cause a smoker-like, chronic cough. Purify the air your air.
• Also avoid orange juice and other acidic citrus drinks if they bother your throat. Heat up that drink.
• Take Nasal decongestants to relieve coughs due to nasal congestion. You can purchase them at your local drug store. Nasal decongestants work to reduce cough by shrinking swollen nasal tissue and lessening mucus so the sinus passages open up. When shopping for a suitable decongestant tablet, cough syrup, or nasal spray, look for the ingredients phenylephrine or pseudoephedrine. Just don’t use them before bedtimes as they raise the heart rate and blood pressure, making it difficult to sleep.
• Use an over-the-counter painkiller. Acetaminophen, ibuprofen, and naproxen can all help with sore throat pain. Aspirin is fine for adults, but remember that it could be dangerous to children under age 18.
• Use cough suppressant (only for those over 4-years of age) to help you get a good night sleep. Cough suppressants numb the tissues at the back of the throat, like lozenges, but they also dilute mucus so you can cough it up and eliminate it faster.
• Mix a teaspoon of salt in 8 ounces of warm water and gargle. Do it several times a day.
• If you suffer from a chronic cough (along with a fever) that lasts longer than 2 weeks; make an appointment with your doctor.

Prevention

• There are no known cures for colds and flu, so cold and flu prevention should be your goal. The most effective way for preventing the flu is to get the flu shot. It works better than anything else. But there are other strategies you can employ as well.
• Wash Your Hands Most cold and flu viruses are spread by direct contact. Someone who has the flu sneezes onto his or her hand and then touches the telephone, the keyboard, a kitchen glass. The germs can live for hours only to be picked up by the next person who touches the same object. So wash your hands often. If you can't get to a sink, rub an alcohol-based hand sanitizer onto your hands.
• Don't Cover Your Sneezes and Coughs with Your Hands
• Because germs and viruses cling to your bare hands, muffling coughs and sneezes with your hands often results in passing along your germs to others. When you feel a sneeze or cough coming, use a tissue, and then throw it away immediately. If you don't have a tissue, cough or sneeze into the inside of your elbow.
• Don't Touch Your Face Cold and flu viruses enter your body through the eyes, nose, or mouth? Touching their faces is the major way children catch colds and a key way they pass colds on to their parents.
• Does Aerobic Exercise Regularly Aerobic exercise speeds up the heart to pump larger quantities of blood; makes you breathe faster to help transfer oxygen from your lungs to your blood; and makes you sweat once your body heats up? These exercises help increase the body's natural virus-killing cells.
• Eat Foods Containing Phytochemicals "Phyto" means plants, and the natural chemicals in plants give the vitamins in food a supercharged boost. So put away the vitamin pill, and eat dark green, red, and yellow vegetables and fruits.
• Don't Smoke Statistics show that heavy smokers get more severe colds and more frequent ones. Even being around smoke profoundly zaps the immune system. Smoke dries out your nasal passages and paralyzes cilia. These are the delicate hairs that line the mucous membranes in your nose and lungs, and with their wavy movements, sweep cold and flu viruses out of the nasal passages. Experts contend that one cigarette can paralyze cilia for as long as 30 to 40 minutes.
• Cut Alcohol Consumption Heavy alcohol use suppresses the immune system in a variety of ways. Heavier drinkers are more prone to initial infections as well as secondary complications. Alcohol also dehydrates the body -- it actually causes more fluid loss from your system than it puts in.
• Relax; you may be able to revive up your immune system. There's evidence that when you put your relaxation skills into action, your interleukins leaders in the immune system response against cold and flu viruses increase in the bloodstream. Train yourself to picture an image you find pleasant or calming. Do these 30 minutes a day for several months. Keep in mind, relaxation is a learnable skill, but it is not doing anything. People who try to relax, but are in fact bored, show no changes in blood chemicals.

Source: WebMD. Activebeat.