Watch out for the cough when it is repeated daily, and for a long time. When it lasts more than two months, it is a chronic cough.
Martin Ducret, doctor and journalist at Doctor’s Daily, evokes today a symptom that we know well, the cough. What type of cough is it? When should you consult? Everyone has already suffered from a cough, in case of bronchitis for example. If this unpleasant symptom disappears naturally in a few days, for some people, the cough can settle over time and become very bothersome.
franceinfo: When is a cough considered persistent?
Martin Ducret: In medicine, we speak rather of acute cough and chronic cough. Acute cough usually lasts less than 3 weeks, sometimes a little longer. It is mostly secondary to a classic viral infection, such as nasopharyngitis or bronchitis, it is post-infectious cough. The good news is that it will disappear naturally, in less than a month! Syrups or other treatments are unfortunately not really effective, or even cause side effects. Better to discard them.
When the cough lasts more than 2 months, we speak of chronic cough, and the diseases in question very often require medical treatment.
What are these diseases?
They are many, but three of them stand out. Two diseases where allergies are often involved: chronic rhino-sinusitis, which is an inflammation of the mucous membranes of the nose, responsible for flow in the throat, which promotes coughing; and asthma, which is irritation of the bronchial tubes, manifested by difficulty breathing and coughing.
Finally, there is gastroesophageal reflux, which corresponds to the rise of the acidic contents of the stomach into the esophagus. The patient usually complains of heartburn, and sometimes a chronic cough.
In these three diseases, cough is not the only symptom?
“Generally, no, confirms Pr Laurent Guilleminault, pulmonologist at the Toulouse University Hospital. This is why the doctor will have to question the patient well, in order to be able to orient himself towards one of these three diseases, the treatment of which is different”.
Depending on the suspected disease, the doctor will prescribe what is called a trial treatment. In practice, the patient takes the specific treatment for the suspected disease for several weeks, and if the symptoms disappear, the diagnosis is then confirmed! But it is not always so simple, it is sometimes necessary to test several trial treatments, before finding the right diagnosis and relieving the patient.
And tobacco in all this?
Indeed, smoking tobacco, cannabis, or vaping, can be responsible for a chronic cough or simply promote it. Quitting smoking, with the help of a tobacco specialist, is of course the best solution.
In any case, when faced with a chronic cough, it is better to consult a doctor, at best a pulmonologist. And for patients bothered by their daily cough, wanting to discuss their disease, there is the association of chronic coughers (ATC).