DID YOU KNOW Reasons for Coughing
Many a times there is not just one but various reasons for coughing.
1. Postnasal drip is the most common cause where mucus drips into the throat causing constant irritation. Patients usually don’t recognize this and keep coughing. The nose glands enlarge preventing proper drainage. The sufferer keeps clearing the throat or swallows.
2. Asthma, the second common reason has various forms. Commonly, a patient coughs, has shortness of breath, tightness in the chest and wheezing. But this may not exist in every patient. Some may only experience cough. This is known as Cough-variant asthma.
3. Stomach reflux is the most under recognized reason when acid from the stomach refluxes into the oesophagus. This causes irritation in the windpipe as the walls of the wind and food pipe are close enough. This results in cough. 30 percent people not experiencing stomach reflux have acidity.
4. Chest infections can be another reason. There are various kinds like pneumonia, Tuberculosis, etc. Symptoms differ for each infection. Lung infection causes pneumonia and a particular scar on the lungs can be seen in an X-ray.
5. Certain medicines like those used for high blood pressure can be cough inducing.