What causes a dry cough in an adult. What helps cough at home

Such an unpleasant condition significantly reduces the overall quality of life of any person. Most often, it develops as a direct consequence of a severe disease of the upper or lower respiratory tract. Most often, the cause is allergic, inflammatory or infectious.

Usually, with appropriate treatment, the cough passes quickly enough, but sometimes it can take on a character. In these cases, it is necessary to consult a doctor, as it can be a symptom of very dangerous pathologies.

A strong dry cough can develop due to a variety of adverse circumstances. These most often include:

• chronic smoking;
• strong dustiness of the room;
• allergy;
• bronchial asthma;
• respiratory diseases;
• pleurisy;
• severe nervous strain;
• whooping cough;
• flu;
• SARS;
• malignant neoplasms;FGd
• thyroid disease;
• severe cardiopathology;
• helminthiasis;
• disorders of the digestive system;
• tuberculosis;
• laryngitis;
• cardiovascular insufficiency;
• pharyngitis;
• side effects of pharmacological agents;
• pneumonia, etc.

Dry cough classification

Such diverse causes can cause chronic inflammation of the airways, severe irritation of their receptors and a pronounced infectious process. In principle, if such a condition lasts more than a week, this is already a rather serious reason for a visit to a specialist. It requires a long and thorough examination of the body as a whole. After the cause is found, the fight against the underlying disease should begin.

Cough is primarily divided into:

1. Dry (no sputum production). No matter how hard a person coughs, such attacks do not bring relief. Therefore, experts call it unproductive;
2. Wet (with copious discharge of bronchial secretions).

Dry cough is also classified according to the duration of the course. He can be:

• acute (lasting no longer than two weeks), protracted (up to a month)
• subacute (up to sixty days)
• chronic (over two months, usually occurring with alternating periods of remission and exacerbation).

There is also a strong dry cough caused by

• Viruses
• bacteria
• Allergy.

For a doctor, his characteristic is also very important. In this case, we can talk about such types of it as

1. barking (usually accompanied by laryngitis or foreign objects in the throat)
2. paroxysmal (occurs with tracheitis or whooping cough)
3. morning (observed with pharyngitis).

A dry, strong cough rarely goes away on its own. More often it becomes more and more difficult, and the patient's health gradually worsens. This condition tends to become chronic.

Examples can be its types in various diseases. It is also very important to take into account the accompanying symptoms, manifested as a rise in temperature, headache, shortness of breath, etc.

Dry cough as a symptom of diseases:

The patient tries with all his might to ease his breathing, while his chest whistles and wheezes. The attack usually develops suddenly and lasts long enough, sometimes completely exhausting him.

• Diseases of the digestive system

They can provoke a strong cough that occurs shortly after a heavy meal. This happens in the presence of reflux-esophagitis, tracheoesophageal fistula, malignant neoplasms, esophageal hernia.

• Cancer of the larynx, throat, lungs, or bronchi

Always manifested by bouts of barking dry cough. The body temperature usually remains normal or subfebrile. The cause of severe attacks is the mechanical irritation of the receptors of the inner surface of the respiratory tract by the tumor tissue.

With thyroid disease with the formation of nodules in it and an increase in the organ, a strong painful cough often develops. The disease is accompanied by a number of other characteristic symptoms.

• Heart diseases

They are also able to provoke it, because it is associated with congestion. Usually the attack does not last long and manifests itself simultaneously with shortness of breath, tachycardia or pain behind the sternum.

• Much more dangerous cough in the presence of tuberculosis.

It is dry and strong at the beginning of the disease. At first the patient just coughs, then the intensity becomes stronger. As the infection progresses, a secret begins to be released from the respiratory tract, sometimes with an admixture of blood.

• Such conditions are also typical for those who have been fond of smoking for many years..

In the mornings, these people cannot cough for a long time. Sometimes the attacks are very severe, painful and are not always accompanied by sputum discharge. They are associated with the development of chronic inflammation of the bronchi and lungs. There are also congestion in their respiratory tract and chronic poisoning of the body by the decay products of nicotine.

Diagnosis and Treatment

With a strong dry cough, treatment should be carried out taking into account the main factors of its occurrence. Therefore, drugs are prescribed in accordance with the causes, symptoms, features of the course of the disease and the degree of its neglect.

To establish the exact cause of a severe cough, the patient must undergo a mandatory comprehensive diagnosis. The specialist will conduct an examination, listen to his complaints, clarify the anamnesis, make auscultation and percussion of the lungs.

The doctor will also analyze the accompanying symptoms. Among them may be:

• Runny nose;
• enlarged lymph nodes;
• severe weakness;
• general malaise;
• headache;
• difficulty in swallowing;
• aches in the joints;
• hoarseness of voice;
• dyspnea;
• lack of appetite;
• emaciation;
• puffiness;
• chest pain, etc.

These symptoms can indicate a variety of diseases, the most common of which are bronchitis, influenza, acute respiratory infections, emphysema, and tuberculosis.

Therefore, a biochemical and clinical blood test, an allergen panel, a study for tumor markers, PCR diagnostics for various types of infections, a throat swab with sensitivity to antibiotics, a stool test for helminth eggs, a Mantoux reaction, etc. will be prescribed.

In addition, it will be necessary to carry out fluorography, ultrasound scanning, bronchoscopy, radiography, spirography, electroencephalogram, ECHO-Kg, endoscopy, biopsy.

These methods will make it possible to identify why a strong dry cough has arisen in an adult. They will allow you to choose a treatment to permanently save the patient from this unpleasant condition. Moreover, there is practically no point in trying to act on it symptomatically until the underlying disease is cured.

Medicines are usually prescribed:

• antibiotics;
• antiviral substances;
• antihistamines;
• antitussive drugs;
• antispasmodics;
• mucolytics;
• expectorant medicines;
• anti-inflammatory drugs;
• immunostimulants, etc.

Antibiotics

The most commonly used antibiotics. To combat dry cough, the doctor prescribes drugs with the widest range of effects on pathogenic microflora.

Most often these are

• Amoxiclav
• Doxycycline
• Summed
• Ampiox
• Cefotaxime
• Ampicillin
• Flemoklav
• Suprax

These drugs actively fight infection, allow you to transfer the cough to a productive state, and eliminate inflammation. They make it possible to soften the throat, relieve swelling of the inner surface of the respiratory tract, and destroy the infection.

Be sure to apply, sprays, cough drops, etc. The use of external and internal means makes it possible to alleviate the patient's condition, if available, to normalize general well-being, to facilitate the removal of bronchial secretions.

Physiotherapy

When there is a strong dry cough in an adult, only a specialist can decide how to treat it.

In our time, physiotherapeutic methods of dealing with respiratory diseases have become very popular. They are a set of measures with which you can remove the inflammatory process, activate blood circulation, increase the body's resistance, and relieve the patient of coughing.

The best means of influencing a strong dry cough are inhalations with various substances, chest massage, UHF, UVI, exposure to magnetic fields, electrophoresis and other methods.

A very effective way is UHF. This method strengthens the immune system, eliminates inflammation, and alleviates the patient's condition. The session, as a rule, lasts about twenty minutes, and the course of treatment is designed for ten procedures.

Exposure to magnetic fields activates blood circulation in the tissues and relieves pain.
Electrophoresis involves the introduction of certain medicinal substances to the patient, accompanied by the simultaneous influence of an electric current. This procedure stimulates sputum discharge, improves metabolic processes in tissues, and stabilizes the general condition.

Treatment with folk remedies

No less successful are the old home methods. When there is a very strong dry cough, various decoctions, infusions, tinctures, mustard plasters, compresses are most often used.

Often, if folk remedies are used in combination with the methods of traditional medicine, they make it possible to eliminate signs of intoxication of the body, get rid of puffiness. They are able to significantly alleviate a dry cough, turn it into a wet one, stabilize breathing, and eliminate congestion.

Physiotherapy normalizes blood circulation in the lungs, eliminates respiratory symptoms and relieves pain.

Herbal preparations

Effective is an infusion consisting of marshmallow, licorice root, coltsfoot, chamomile, marsh cudweed, St. John's wort and Ivan tea. One tablespoon of raw materials is poured into a glass of boiling water. Then insist for six hours in a thermos. Take two tablespoons three times a day before meals. This remedy has antispasmodic, anti-inflammatory and antitussive properties.

Very often used infusion of linden flowers, mint and calendula. One tablespoon of the collection is poured with a glass of boiling water. Set aside in a cool dry place for sixty minutes. Take three tablespoons three times a day. This remedy has a diaphoretic, anti-inflammatory and antispasmodic effect.

An infusion made from oregano, lilac leaves, rowan fruits, viburnum and meadowsweet flowers, valerian, St. John's wort is no less successful. One tablespoon of raw materials is poured with two glasses of boiling water. The solution is left for three quarters of an hour, then filtered. Take four times a day for half a glass after meals. This tool promotes sputum discharge, has an antitussive effect, improves the general condition of the patient.

Sage

Sage is often used in the treatment of severe dry cough. Take two tablespoons of raw materials and pour two glasses of milk, then boil for ten minutes. The resulting solution is filtered and again put on fire. Before going to bed, drink a glass of the resulting remedy. It has an antibacterial, anti-inflammatory and immunostimulating effect.

Rose hip

The usual dog rose proved to be very favorable. It is mixed with chamomile, mint, calendula, St. John's wort and plantain leaves. Two teaspoons of the obtained raw materials are poured into two glasses of water. Boil for a quarter of an hour, and then leave to cool. Drink half a glass of this decoction twice a day. It has a significant restorative, anti-inflammatory and antispasmodic effect.

The use of home treatments makes it possible to:

• completely eliminate cough;
• relieve inflammation;
• facilitate breathing processes;
• stimulate complete cleansing of the bronchi;
• eliminate venous congestion;
• increase immunity;
• have an adaptogenic effect;
• promote tissue regeneration processes;
• improve the flow of metabolism in the body.

Thus, a strong dry cough is a very unpleasant condition, often completely depriving the patient of his ability to work. Therefore, the sooner treatment is started, the better the results will be. Therapy should be comprehensive and aimed at transferring it into a wet one, then letting the sputum go away and clearing the airways.

Seeing a doctor in this case becomes an urgent need. It is better not to self-medicate, just as you should not try to self-diagnose yourself. It is necessary to use external and internal pharmacological preparations, act on the underlying disease that caused the cough, apply physiotherapy and home remedies.

What to do when the cough "peels" the throat

In contact with

Occurs against the background of an acutely developing inflammatory process and contributes to the rapid removal of microorganisms from the upper respiratory tract. The protective function of cough in this case is a more productive and faster recovery process.

A dry cough, on the other hand, does not bring relief and does not help speed up the healing process. It only increases the irritation of the upper respiratory tract, gradually turning into debilitating attacks, accompanied by spasms of the larynx and suffocation, and often end in vomiting.

Dry cough classification

• spicy- when the illness lasts no more than 2 weeks;
• lingering course- with a cough duration of more than a month;
• chronic dry cough will become when its duration passes the 2-month milestone.

Causes of dry cough

The appearance of a dry cough is usually associated with the fact of an acute respiratory illness suffered the day before. It can be a banal acute respiratory disease, as well as tracheitis, or influenza. The mechanism of occurrence of dry cough is associated with a reflex-protective mechanism aimed at eliminating any factors that irritate the respiratory tract. Scientists have reliably established more than 50 such causes.

There are also reasons that provoke a dry cough, namely, the disease can be a consequence of the presence of pleurisy, bronchial asthma, the presence of foreign bodies in the airways, the presence of bad habits, as well as excessive dryness of the air in the room.

The main symptoms of dry cough

• spasmodic cough accompanied by periodic urge to vomit, and with a prolonged and unproductive cough, vomiting is possible in the outcome;
• the disease is accompanied nasal congestion, nasality and hoarse voice;
• if the disease is a complication of an acute inflammatory process, then local enlargement and soreness of the lymph nodes;
• with acute development of the disease can be subfebrile temperature, sweating, fatigue and lethargy.

Dry cough treatment options

There are traditional medicinal methods for the treatment of dry cough and traditional medicine. All of them are aimed at reducing the intensity of coughing attacks, and if the cough accompanies an acute inflammatory disease, then the treatment is aimed at the appearance of sputum, i.e. dry cough is converted into productive wet.

The success of treatment is 100% in the accurate diagnosis, this allows you to eliminate the cause of the disease. The doctor selects medications for symptomatic treatment, this is necessary to suppress the cough reflex. Such drugs are not curative, but help to avoid pneumothorax and other unpleasant complications.

In order to alleviate the patient's condition as much as possible at home, it is necessary:

• hold regularly wet cleaning without the use of aggressive detergents;
• make sure that the temperature in the room did not rise above 25C;
• provide for the patient plenty of warm drink;
• hold regularly steam inhalation, ideally buy a nebulizer.

Drug therapy for dry cough

Medicines can be divided into two big groups, the first will include chemicals of central action, and the second - drugs that have an effective effect on the periphery.

For liquefaction and active excretion of sputum mucolytics, the most common are: acetylcysteine, bromhexine, ambroxol, mukaltin, marshmallow syrup.

Effectively suppress the activity of the cough center located in the central nervous system. It will help to use drugs based on drugs. For example, oxeladin, codeine, glycine and others.

Never take cough medicines with expectorants.. They suppress the action of each other, which leads to blockage of the small bronchi with phlegm and can lead to death.

Folk remedies to help fight dry cough

• Any will do warming agents if the period is not acute. For example, you can take mustard plasters, put honey. jars or rub the chest with warming ointments.
• An effective way to quickly get rid of dry cough is considered decoction of onion, garlic and milk. To prepare it, you need a medium-sized onion and a small head of garlic. They should be boiled in milk, it is enough to take a quarter liter of milk. Then add a spoonful of honey and a few drops of mint juice to the finished broth. Drink the finished composition in a tablespoon every hour during the day. The next morning, prepare a fresh decoction.
• Simple and highly effective recipes will help to cure a dry cough quickly in an adult at home, the main thing is not to wait for an instant result and not use them as a panacea. Ideally combine methods of traditional medicine with doctor's prescriptions, then the treatment will be as productive as possible.
• The easiest way is as follows. Take a small towel and soak it liberally in warm water. Then cover with polyethylene and a linen cloth from above, you can additionally cover it with a warm scarf. In the morning you will feel relief, the cough will become softer.
• You can draw on the chest at night mesh from This will warm up your airways.
• Recipes that include ethyl alcohol, also have an excellent result in the fight against dry cough. You can make a mixture of vodka or alcohol diluted to 40 degrees and mix them with honey. It is fashionable to add the yolk of one chicken egg to the composition. Ready homogeneous composition to use a teaspoon three to four times a day.
• Warm milk with honey- an old and time-tested way to turn a dry cough into a wet one.
• Suitable for softening mucus application for the night. To do this, take a little fat (ideally use badger) mixed with mustard and alcohol, you can add a little flower honey. The mixture must be evenly distributed over the top. Then wash off as soon as the composition dries.
• Help with dry cough inhalation. The most effective are garlic and eucalyptus. To prepare garlic you need a glass of water, a couple of cloves of garlic and a teaspoon of soda. Grind the garlic, pour a glass of water and boil. After adding soda and you can breathe, covering yourself with a sheet for 15-20 minutes. Instead of garlic, you can take the leaves of eucalyptus, thyme or coltsfoot.
• Inhalations can be done with aromatherapy oils, for this purpose, mint, eucalyptus or cedar oil is ideal. A few drops of oil must be placed in 0.5 liters of hot water and breathe in pairs for 10-15 minutes.

Treatment of dry cough from Elena Malysheva (video)

A dry cough can significantly impair the quality of life, so timely treatment will quickly get you back on track. Strictly following the recommendations of the attending physician, you can fast cure dry cough at home how in an adult as well as the child.

With the help of a cough, the body clears the airways of mucus, viruses, bacteria, and sputum. This reaction causes an inflammatory process in the lungs, mucous membrane of the larynx, throat, bronchi. You have to cough when dust, caustic gases enter the respiratory tract. Reasons -, strong excitement, emotional overstrain. Cough is dry, wet, barking, hoarse, long, short, other varieties.

Causes of cough

With air, dust particles, bacteria and viruses, particles of soot get into the lungs. A healthy body gets rid of them with the help of cilia of the ciliated epithelium of the trachea and bronchi. Mucus due to bactericidal properties destroys the infection. This natural process, which maintains the purity of the trachea and bronchi, is called mucociliary clearance.

If the physical or chemical properties of the mucus change for various reasons - for example, the mucus becomes thicker - mucociliary clearance is disturbed and to maintain proper cleanliness in the trachea and bronchi, you need to cough.

The following irritants become the cause of coughing:

• chemical: polluted air, exhaust gases, tobacco smoke;
• mechanical: dust, soot;
• thermal: dry hot or frosty air.

• Grind 2-3 cloves of garlic, add 1 tbsp. honey, 2 tbsp. vodka, mix well.

Take 1 tsp. morning and evening for two days, on the third day take a break. If recovery does not occur, repeat the treatment. Store in a cool place.

• Moisturize cough, relieve spasms and inflammation helps a mixture of 2s.l. licorice, 2 tbsp vinegar, 2 tbsp. honey.

Take 1 tsp. 5 times a day.

• Add 1/3 tsp to a glass of warm milk. ginger powder, 1/2 tsp honey, on the tip of a turmeric knife.

Drink in small sips.

• Cabbage juice, decoction of berries, flowers or raspberries

- wonderful means for thinning sputum.

How to cure a cough in a child

For better sputum discharge:

• brew 1 tsp. chamomile in a glass of boiling water, let cool.

Give the child a dessert spoon to drink 3 times a day.

• At night, put a plate with chopped onions near the crib.

This remedy also helps with influenza epidemics.

• Cut the onion, pour water, add 3-4 tbsp. honey, cook in a sealed container for half an hour. Strain, let cool.

Give the child 1 tsp. after every bout of coughing. Keep refrigerated. you can lubricate your toes.

• Night honey compress on the neck-collar zone

helps to cure cough.

• Boil potatoes in their skins, get mashed potatoes, add 1 tbsp. vegetable oil, 2-3 drops, mix.

Put the mashed potatoes on a cloth and place on the child's chest up to the throat, wrap. When the compress has cooled down, remove it, cover the child with a warm blanket.

Folk remedies to cure cough

• Grind and get the juice of the aloe stalk, add the same amount of slightly warmed honey.

Take 1s.l. three times per day.

• Take pumpkin decoction for cough.

• Mix radish or carrot juice with the same amount of milk.

Take 1s.l. 5-6 times a day.

• Finely chop the radish, sprinkle with sugar.

Take juice for 1 tsp. every hour, if there are no diseases of the heart and liver. The remedy also helps to cure a smoker's cough.

• Cut 10 onions, one head of garlic, boil in a liter of milk to become soft, add a little honey.

Take 1s.l. once an hour.

• Take 1/2 cup of grape juice with honey as an expectorant.

This folk remedy heals yes 1-2 days.

• Crush rowan berries, add to sour cream, put on low heat for 10 minutes, let cool.

Take 1s.l. 3-4 times a day.

• Brew a glass of boiling water 1s.l. honey, juice of one, two raw chicken eggs, mix, let cool.

Take a sip once an hour.

Update: December 2018

Dry cough is an unconditioned reflex that performs the function of cleansing the airways from various irritants - sputum, mucus, pus, foreign bodies, thereby helping to clear the bronchial tree and trachea.

Usually, dry cough appears at the beginning of any infectious, viral disease, cold. Depending on the causative agent of the disease and the immune response, its intensity can be different, from insignificant to debilitating, paroxysmal, intensifying during sleep.

How to treat dry cough in children and adults, what drugs and folk remedies can be used to alleviate it and quickly turn it into a wet one? This is our article.

Causes of dry cough in children and adults

Before starting the treatment of dry cough, it is necessary to establish the cause that caused its appearance. If this is a common cold or flu, then with bed rest, heavy drinking, symptomatic therapy, after a few days, dry cough becomes productive with light sputum - this is a good sign indicating that the person is recovering.

Dry cough is a reason to visit a therapist, as it can hide a number of diseases. Especially if 10 or more days is a serious reason for contacting a therapist or pediatrician.

The doctor, based on the examination, the patient's history, can refer to the following tests and diagnostics:

• General blood analysis
• Fluorography if pneumonia is suspected or if it has not been done in the last 2 years
• According to indications - X-ray in 2 projections (suspected cancer, tuberculosis, sarcaidosis)
• Sputum culture in case of changes in fluorography or radiography and for decreed groups.
• With purulent sputum and the availability of facilities in the laboratory - sputum culture to identify the pathogen and sensitivity to antibiotics (not done in clinics).
• If you suspect bronchial asthma - spirography with samples (for berotek, cold).
• If necessary, a referral to an allergist for allergy scarification tests and an examination of the ENT with smears from the pharynx and pharynx on.
• For x-ray diagnosis of tumors - bronchoscopy, MRI or CT according to indications.
• With foreign bodies - examination of the ENT, bronchoscopy
• If whooping cough is suspected, blood tests for immunoglobulins or PCR of mucus from the throat.

Basic in children and adults:

• SARS, influenza, colds ()
• Bronchial asthma, COPD, respiratory irritation from chemicals - bronchospasm, allergic cough
• Runny nose, sinusitis, chronic
• Children's infectious diseases -, false croup () and those that occur in adults -,.
• Pleurisy, tracheitis, tracheobronchitis, pharyngitis,).
• Oncological diseases of the respiratory system - lung cancer, bronchial cancer, etc.
• Sarcoidosis
• Congestive heart failure, aortic aneurysm
• Gastroesophageal reflux disease
• Smoker's cough
• Tuberculosis
• A foreign body in the respiratory system - most often occurs and causes a dry cough in children.

How to treat dry cough in children and adults

If dry cough is not caused by colds and viral diseases, then tuberculosis, oncological, cardiac or allergic etiology of coughing should be excluded. After a thorough diagnosis, based on the established diagnosis, appropriate treatment is prescribed. And we will consider treatment options for unproductive cough with the most common variants of its appearance - with colds, viral, infectious diseases of the upper and lower respiratory tract.

Dry cough medicines

• Centrally acting cough suppressants: Butamirat (sinekod), Glauvent (children from 4 years old).
• Combined drugs: Codterpin, Codelac (from 2 years old) additionally improve sputum discharge, liquefy sputum Stoptussin (for children older than a month), Glycodin (from 12 months), with antipyretic action - Grippostad (from 6 years old).
• Peripheral cough medicine: Levopront (from 2 years old), Libeksin (from 3 years old).

Plentiful warm drink with a dry cough is the key to a quick recovery

Plentiful warm drink is a banal phrase, everyone knows about it, but sometimes they do not attach much importance to this important component of treatment. But the rate of transition of a dry cough into a wet one with sputum in various colds and viral diseases directly depends on how much liquid the patient drinks. You can drink the following fortified drinks:

• , jelly from currants, raspberries
• Decoctions of medicinal herbs, in the absence of allergies to them, are decoctions of plantain, mother and stepmothers, licorice, sage,
• Hot tea with lemon, honey, raspberries
• It is useful to drink warm goat's milk, while melting a piece of butter in it or adding almond oil, honey (but only for those who do not suffer from pancreatitis). It is very good to drink such a drink at night.
• Black radish juice with honey
• Warm mineral alkaline water without gases
• Licorice root infusions

Dry cough inhalation

Inhalation is also a very effective way to alleviate a dry cough. To carry out inhalations, you can use special devices - nebulizers, inhalers, and you can also carry them out in the old way - breathing over the steam, covered with a towel, you can also use the spout of the kettle, and inhale the vapors through a paper cone. Solutions for inhalation can be very diverse:

Rubbing, massage, compresses for the treatment of unproductive cough in children

Rubbing, massage, compresses - any warming procedures can be performed only if the patient does not have a high body temperature. Particular care should be taken with such drugs in the treatment of dry cough in children.

If a child has a dry cough that is allergic or caused by whooping cough or false croup - in these cases, the use of various strong-smelling or allergenic agents can worsen the condition, especially ointment causes allergies - Dr. Mom, which includes camphor, menthol, eucalyptus, nutmeg, turpentine oil, thymol. Ointments that have a warming effect include - Dr. Mom, Badger, Pulmeks, Evkabal - many pediatricians do not recommend using these ointments for children under 2 years old, and if the child is prone to allergies, then do not use at all.

As for massage, it can also be performed only at a low body temperature, in the absence of even suspicions of complications from colds or flu. Best of all, it helps with bronchitis, since massage is designed to improve sputum discharge, but it can also be done to alleviate the condition with an unproductive cough in children and adults. Drainage massage should be done very carefully, after a warm bath. After the massage, the child should lie down for about half an hour, while he should be covered with a warm blanket, and a compress can be made at night.

For a compress, you can make such a solution - 1 tbsp. spoon of sunflower oil, 1 tbsp. spoon of vodka, 1 tbsp. a spoonful of honey - this mixture should be heated in a water bath. Wet a linen cloth in this solution, so large as to cover the neck and the interscapular zone, put cotton wool on top of the cloth, then cellophane. A compress should be tied to the back of the baby with a scarf or scarf. It should be borne in mind that the child will have to sleep all night like this, the nodules should be made small and placed on the side. Every day such a compress should not be done, it is better every other day.

The room in which the child sleeps with a compress should have cool air. Alcohol should be used very carefully for compresses, it should not be used in large quantities, since the skin in children under 7 years of age partially performs the function of breathing, and in case of an overdose, alcohol poisoning of the baby may occur. The same applies to the use of vinegar to relieve fever - this is an old folk method for lowering a child's temperature often leads to poisoning, you should not use it.

Medicinal plants to help

The use of medicinal plants - you can buy in pharmacies, which can be consumed orally and inhaled. Among medicinal plants, the following herbs have significant expectorant and mucolytic properties: oregano, marshmallow root, sage, coltsfoot leaf, anise fruit, licorice root, pine buds.

Climatic conditions in the patient's room with dry cough

Creating optimal humidity and air temperature in the patient's room is also the most important condition for the speedy transition of a dry cough into a productive one, since dry, dusty, too warm air aggravates the condition of the mucous membranes of the nasopharynx and the condition of the lower respiratory tract. It is very important to observe the correct climatic conditions in order to avoid complications from viral and infectious diseases, so that pathogenic microorganisms do not descend to the lower respiratory tract.

• Humidity should be at least 50%, more precisely from 50 to 70%
• Air temperature not more than 20C

Dry air, especially during the heating season, can be easily dealt with with the help of special air humidifiers; there is now a large selection of them on the home appliance market. It is more difficult to create a comfortable temperature if the apartment has central heating and you cannot regulate the heating of the room, in this case you should always keep the windows open.

It is also very important that the air is clean, for this daily wet cleaning should be carried out, there should be no carpets and carpets in the room. It is also best to use air purifiers.

Antitussives - dangerous to use without prescription

Combined should be used only as directed by a doctor, such as Stoptusin, Libeksin, Broncholitn, since these drugs can lead to stagnation of sputum, mucus in the respiratory tract, some of them have a central effect on cough centers.

They are indicated for such diseases when a dry cough is painful, greatly interferes with sleep, for example, with whooping cough. Best used for treatment, Bronchicum, Linkas.

This article is for informational purposes only. If you have symptoms of any disease or feel unwell, the first thing to do is consult a doctor! The tips in this resource can help you in emergency situations where qualified medical personnel are not available.

“Doctor, doctor, help, the child began to cough, come!”, “Ambulance? Accept the challenge, the child goes into severe coughing fits” - pediatricians have to listen to such or very similar complaints almost dozens of times during a work shift.

Let's define the concept of "cough" and measures to combat this phenomenon.

- Spontaneous increased exhalation, provoked by irritation of the mucous membrane of the larynx, respiratory tract or bronchi. It has a paroxysmal character.

In bronchial asthma, pneumonia and tuberculosis, coughing occurs from irritation of the lung tissues, since the process itself is aimed at exhalation, it contributes to the rejection and removal of foreign bodies, mucus, sputum formed, and therefore helps to cleanse the lungs, bronchi and respiratory tract.

Doctors call such a cough productive, it is useful for the body, contributes to the speedy recovery of the body, as it removes sputum, if not for this, any respiratory disease would turn into pneumonia - persistent pneumonia.

Other types of cough can easily be classified as non-productive cough, this type includes:

• dry,
• barking,
• wavy-paroxysmal,
• intrusive.

Such types of cough do not bring with them a positive outcome during the course of the disease and are not a productive process in the body. And they bring severe physical suffering, cause a gag reflex, provoke muscle pain.

By duration, cough can be divided into acute, lasting up to 3 weeks inclusive, lasting from 3 to 8 weeks inclusive.

Cough, the treatment of which is not started in a timely manner, can lead to congestion in the body.

How many unpleasant consequences this necessary symptom can bring. Depending on the type of cough, the appropriate treatment is also selected.

How to treat a cough

All medications are conventionally (since they can have several different directions of action) divided into:

• thinning agents - mucolytics,
• aggravating cough - expectorant,
• suppressing the functioning of the cough center.

There are combined drugs, for this reason the division is rather conditional.

Unfortunately, there is currently no magic “golden” cough pill. But let's hope, maybe in the future, they will invent such a medicine.

Treatment of cough in children

There are two approaches to treating cough in children. Traditional, medical treatment or folk remedies for cough.

is a concomitant symptom of many diseases. Therefore, it is necessary not only to eliminate one cough, but also to receive treatment from a doctor for the disease. We will deal with the main methods of treating this symptom.

How to cure a cough in a child

Whatever kind of cough, it is a protective reaction of the body. To facilitate breathing and eliminate dust, harmful microbes and accumulations of sputum, the body reflexively provokes coughing shocks.

For babies, a cough is so dangerous that it rapidly starts in the bronchial area. It can even cause pneumonia. Through this feature of the child's body, it is dangerous to independently select remedies for the treatment of cough. Without fail, the baby must be examined by a doctor.

How to cure a cough in a child

• Aerosols for special purposes. It happens that a child is diagnosed with bronchial asthma. The parents of this crumb in the home first aid kit certainly need to have special aerosols recommended by the pediatrician. Since with a beginning cough, shortness of breath often appears. And you can't do without a bottle of aerosol. It is necessary to provide emergency care to the child even before visiting a medical institution.
• Trituration. In addition to medicines, massage will help relieve coughing. To do this, you need a warming ointment or eucalyptus balm. It is necessary to take a small amount of rubbing and rub the chest and back of the crumbs. Movements should be slow and smooth. Then the rubbing will be evenly distributed over the surface of the skin and will effectively perform its healing functions. At the same time, one should not stay too long in one place. After all, the skin of a baby is so delicate and fragile.

How to cure a cough in a child with homeopathy

If the parents are not supporters of chemicals, then they can take the baby to an appointment with a homeopath. He will individually prescribe a suitable cough remedy. The medicine can be purchased at a specialized pharmacy. It is not possible to choose a homeopathic remedy on your own. Since when prescribing it, the doctor takes into account not only the disease, but also the height, age, weight of the baby and even the characteristics of his character. In addition to the prescription, the doctor will issue a medication regimen, which will indicate the time of administration and the dose of the drug.

Mom should remember that the effect of homeopathy does not come from the first days of treatment. The cough may even get worse. But we must be patient and continue to give grains. A little time will pass. And there will be no trace of coughing.

Folk remedies

Medicines can help, but their cost is quite high, in addition, there is a risk of undesirable consequences. Medicines do not always help, bouts of prolonged coughing can cause inconvenience to a sick person for a long time. We will tell you about a less cheap, and less risky way of treatment.

Such methods of treatment have long been considered proven folk remedies - herbs, roots, natural honey and others.

And although their action is not as strong as that of pharmacy counterparts, they still do an excellent job with the task. In addition, proven folk remedies do not have side effects, which cannot be said about medicines.

The beginning of cough treatment is to eliminate the causes of its occurrence. Next, you should find out the nature of the disease, the type of cough.

At this stage, diagnostics should be carried out, tests should be taken, and only after the diagnosis has been established, one or another treatment can be prescribed.

All these procedures are carried out in special institutions. The doctor must make the diagnosis.

And folk recipes can help to recover.

So, let's go directly to the tools themselves.

An excellent option in the treatment of cough are infusions from plants such as mint, chamomile, mother and stepmother, wild rosemary, oregano and many more others. If you do not have some ingredient, it does not matter, the infusion does not lose its healing abilities from the absence of one component.

Mixture based on natural honey

Also a wonderful option is a mixture based on natural May honey.

We will need the following products:

• a little honey
• about the same amount of cocoa and butter,
• two spoons of vodka (moonshine).

All of these components must be mixed until a homogeneous mass is obtained. This medication should be taken half an hour before meals three times a day.

onion broth

An effective option with a lot of positive reviews is onion broth. So, how to make this tool.

To get started, we need:

• liter of water,
• a couple of nice bulbs
• 250 grams of granulated sugar.

We put the water on the fire and wait for it to boil. When it happens, we put unpeeled onions and sugar in this water, after which we boil for another hour over low heat. After the specified time has elapsed, the broth must be filtered and allowed to cool. It is necessary to consume half a glass four times a day.

Milk based products

Oddly enough, regular milk helps a lot with dry coughs. A little cream is added to half a liter of milk, about the same amount of honey and one egg yolk.

To prepare this remedy, milk must be brought to a boil and add the above ingredients. You can use the drug only warm, six times a day for half a glass.

It is useful to drink warm goat's milk, while melting a piece of butter in it or adding almond oil, honey (but only for those who do not suffer from pancreatitis). It is very good to drink such a drink at night.

Plentiful drink

Drinking plenty of water is one of the most important points in the treatment of dry cough. Since under this condition, the speed of recovery is doubled. During illness, it is advisable to use the following:

• Warm tea with various additives (lemon, honey, jam).
• Cranberry juice, various jelly.
• The aforementioned decoctions of various herbs,
• Warm goat's milk with a small amount of butter added.
• Alkaline water without gas
• Infusion of licorice root.

Another fairly effective method of treating this cough is inhalation.

Decoctions of medicinal herbs

Decoctions of medicinal herbs, in the absence of an allergy to them, are decoctions of plantain, mother and stepmothers, licorice, sage, dog rose

Helps and hot tea with lemon, honey, raspberries.

• Black radish juice with honey
• Warm mineral alkaline water without gases
• Licorice root infusions

Folk remedies for cough are widely used to treat children in the first years of life, since folk remedies for cough have less side effect than cough tablets.

Cough remedies for children are very tasty and desirable, such as the Brazilian banana mix.

Grate ripe bananas or chop in a blender, add water with sugar (at the rate of 1 banana per 100 ml of water), the mixture is heated and consumed.

Treatment of dry cough with folk remedies includes the use of animal products, beekeeping and crop products.

Warm milk with soda - a proven folk remedy

Warm milk with honey and the addition of soda, the best way to turn a dry cough into a wet, expectorant one. This remedy is tasty and useful not only for treating cough, but also for strengthening the body.

The treatment of dry cough with folk remedies can be supplemented by a number of additional manipulations, such as inhalation and breathing exercises. Based on the fact that coughing is a process that usually occurs during exhalation, it means that a change in the rate of exhalation of air increases or slows down the rate of a coughing fit.

Attempts to cough can be kept if you apply the following measures:

• Stretch your mouth into a slit and draw in air, making the sound “FFFFFF”.
• Tighten the chest muscles.
• Without relaxing the muscles of the chest, exhale quietly, without making any noise.

The right choice of treatments

Whatever principle of treatment is chosen: drug treatment or treatment with folk remedies, we must remember that treatment must be carried out in combination with an increase in immunity, an increase in the body's defenses.

But the most important thing is prevention.

Causes of dry cough

• Colds and flu overtake the population during the season of sharp cooling or warming, and the first manifestation of the disease is a runny nose and cough.
• Cough has different degrees of severity. The cause of cough is irritation of the larynx, trachea and bronchi, and the cough itself is a protective reaction of the body, which is trying to clear the bronchi and lungs in this way.
• I would also like to note that cough is manifested not only with colds and acute respiratory infections, but also with such severe diseases as asthma, tuberculosis, lung cancer, diseases of the nervous system, and so on.
• Sometimes a person does not know for what reason a cough appeared and writes off everything for a cold, which sometimes may not be entirely justified.
• To establish a real cough problem, you should visit a therapist and not start self-treatment, since you can not only not get the desired result, but also complicate the problem.
• People suffered from cough almost at all times and therefore the people have long learned to get rid of it. For example, people believe that the best cough medicine is radish and honey.
• There are many different recipes and here is one of them. Wash the radish well, cut it in half and cut indentations in each half. Then cut the pulp, pour honey inside, let it brew so that the juice that comes out of the radish mixes with honey. The resulting mixture is taken 1 tablespoon 5 times a day.

Using carrots to treat cough

Carrots are also a good cough medicine. Pre-squeezed carrot juice is mixed with honey and taken in a tablespoon every two hours.

The use of juices of fruits and berries for the treatment of cough

To dilute sputum, they take viburnum or lingonberry juice with honey, and for a good expectorant effect, it is recommended to take honey with lemon, aloe.

The best expectorants from natural raw materials

Some of the best expectorants are:

• coltsfoot,
• eucalyptus,
• plantain,
• chamomile,
• Linden,
• calendula,
• sage,
• raspberries and viburnum,
• mint,
• sagebrush.

Decoctions and infusions are made from the fees, the recipes of which are varied. The easiest way to prepare a decoction is to fill the leaves of a plant (for example, coltsfoot) with boiling water and infuse such a decoction for two hours.

It helps with coughing and rubbing badger or goose fat into the chest. Some add onion or aloe juice to the fat. After rubbing, you need to wrap yourself up in order to sweat well. Then the disease leaves the body.

Folk remedies are good and effective, but in the modern world, everyone should definitely consult a doctor.

If folk remedies do not help and the cough has not gone away or subsided within five days, consultation with a specialist is required.

You may need to start taking antibiotics. It should be remembered that a neglected cough may be due to bronchitis, pneumonia or tuberculosis, which means that folk remedies will not help here, and individual treatment is required, which only a doctor can establish.

How to treat dry cough

As you know, a dry cough is manifested, as a rule, with diseases such as pleurisy and chronic disease of the serous membrane of the lungs.

This cough leads to rather unpleasant sensations, such as acute pain in the chest, fever, difficulty breathing, and an acceleration of the pulse.

This situation in most cases portends bronchitis. Also, the harbingers of bronchitis are: burning in the chest, severe shortness of breath, weakness.

Proven remedies for dry cough

• If an inflammatory process occurs in the trachea, then it can be dealt with by frequent inhalations of various herbs.
• Also, in order for a dry cough to bring you as little pain as possible, it is advisable to drink a decoction of green mustache leaves and buckwheat flowers.
• An excellent option is the treatment of dry cough with garlic. It is necessary to finely chop a couple of cloves of garlic, add a little honey and literally two or three tablespoons of vodka.
• It is advisable to store this medicine in the refrigerator. It is necessary to use this product in the morning and in the evening for one day. If the procedure does not give the desired result, repeat the treatment again.

Garlic juice is the number one cold remedy