Is your cough more than just a cough?

Cough is a very common occurrence. Every one of us have caught cough many a times. The reason could be change in weather, too much intake of cold things or due to certain medical conditions. Mostly people avoid going to doctor instead they would prefer home remedies or take medicines on their own. But sometimes it could take much longer than anticipated. So what is the right time to visit a doctor for getting your cough cured?

See, cough is a natural process of cleaning the airways initiated by the body itself. Treating a cough would depend on the underlying cause. If you have got fever, antibiotics would help you get relief from the cough. Any cough which is a result of an allergy would get treated by treating the allergy.

Cough

For visiting a doctor for cough, the biggest reason would be that the cough continues for very long. The other symptoms for which one could visit the doctor could be:

·         Cough is accompanied with chest pain, shortness of breath, wheezing

·         Yellow or green mucus

·         Coughing up blood or bloody mucus

·         Cough accompanied with fever of 101 or higher

·         Unexplained weight loss

·         Night sweats

Understanding the type of coughs

A cough which lasts for seven to 10 days is an acute cough.

A cough which is around for one to two months is a sub acute cough (the reason could be a respiratory infection)

Any cough which continues for more than eight weeks is a chronic cough and it could be due to certain medical conditions like:

·         Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD)

·         Gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD)

·         Asthma

·         Lung cancer

·         Bronchitis

·         Congestive heart failure

·         Any damage to airways due to infection

·         Certain medications

It is necessary that if the cough does not get better within 1o days one should visit a chest physician. Better take precautionary measures well in advance and keep healthy than left to suffer.