A cough is the most common complaint behind patients’ visits to their primary care physician, being present in about 8% of consultations.
Are you coughing up fluids? Do you feel a tickle in your throat before you cough? These are some questions your doctor might ask you during your appointment in order for him/her to identify whether your cough is a productive cough or a dry cough. It is important for your doctor to know what kind of a cough you have as it is a symptom of different illnesses and requires different treatments depending on the illness causing it.
Refer to the below to learn more about the illnesses that could lead to cough as a symptom, whether it is productive or dry.
Causes of Productive/ Wet Cough:
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Causes of Dry Cough:
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Regardless of what is causing the cough, it can be extremely inconvenient and discomforting.
Take a look at the below for some remedies you may try at home for both types of cough:
- Use a humidifier. Dry air can irritate cough, namely dry cough, more than necessary and make it more difficult to breathe. Similarly, standing in a steamy shower allows the humid air to clear out your sinuses, help you cough up some mucus, and soothe dryness in the throat.
- Gargle with salt water. This can really help your kids get rid of a dry cough from a sore throat.
- Drink plenty of liquids! It is extremely important that you rehydrate your body, whether you have a dry cough or a productive cough. Fluids help with soothing your throat from the “tickle” of dry coughs, and rehydrating your body allows it to replace lost fluids from a productive cough.
- Use Prospan®. Prospan® is a natural herbal extract that will greatly relieve you from the discomfort of a productive cough. It functions as an expectorant that will allow you to breathe more freely by clearing your airways. Prospan® offers cough relief through dilating your bronchi, liquefying the mucus in your airways, and alleviating inflammation.