- What is a wet cough?
- Wet cough: causes
- How to fight a cough?
- As evidenced by the color of the discharge during a wet cough
- Wet cough: wet cough syrup
- Wet cough: how to take medication?
- Wet cough: home remedies
- Wet cough in children
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A wet cough, also known as a moist or productive cough, although very troublesome, is useful. During it, a thick secretion is expectorated, which from the nose and the paranasal sinuses flows down the back of the throat to the trachea. How to recognize a wet cough and what syrups to choose for a wet cough?
Wet coughhelps to clear the respiratory tract of pathogenic microorganisms, so it must not be inhibited. However, since a wet cough is tiring and troublesome, it is worth using wet cough syrups, which will help to clear the respiratory tract of all secretions remaining in them. Which syrups will help with wet cough, which remedies for wet cough are effective, and what are the home remedies for a wet cough?
Contents:
- What is a wet cough?
- Wet cough: causes
- As evidenced by the color of the discharge during a wet cough
- Wet cough: wet cough syrup
- Wet cough: how to take medication?
- Wet cough: home remedies
- Wet cough in children
What is a wet cough?
A wet cough accompanying a cold or other infection most often appears after a few days of tiring dry cough. And it brings relief to many patients, because with a wet cough, the urge to cough often felt with a dry cough and the tiring feeling of a dry throat disappear. The relief can be apparent, however, as a wet cough can be as tiring as a dry cough.
The scratching in the throat and expectoration of secretions accompanying a wet cough (professionally called sputum by doctors, and phlegm in everyday language) is not pleasant. On the other hand, attempts to cough up whatever remains in the airways can cause chest pain, shortness of breath, and even make you feel weak.
All these symptoms are related to the specificity of the cough itself, which is one of the body's natural reactions and an unconditional reflex. In the respiratory tract - nasopharynx, larynx, trachea, bronchi, pleura - there are so-called cough receptors. In emergency situations (e.g. during an infection or choking), they help to remove secretions or a foreign body - when coughing, the air present in the airways is forced out of them under high pressure.
If the cough is persistent and the attack is extremely long, then it is disturbedthe blood flow in the lungs is left, and sometimes also the blood flow from the heart to the brain, hence the weakness mentioned.
Wet cough: causes
There are different causes for a wet cough.
- Expectorant coughmost often accompanies seasonal respiratory infections, as well as bronchitis, laryngitis, sinusitis and pneumonia, as well as allergies.
- A wet cough is also one of the symptoms of bronchiectasis, a disease in which, due to the widening of the bronchial walls, inflammatory changes occur within them.
- Persistent wet coughalso occurs in people suffering from chronic obstructive pulmonary disease - COPD and tuberculosis.
- May also be a symptom of lung cancer.
- People with cystic fibrosis, a genetic disease in the course of which there is an overproduction of thick mucus, have problems with expectoration of the residual secretions.
How to fight a cough?
As evidenced by the color of the discharge during a wet cough
Sputum expectorated during a wet cough comes from the respiratory tract. It consists of mucus, epithelial cells, granulocytes, pathogenic microorganisms and their metabolic products, and sometimes also blood or pus admixtures. Its color may indicate various diseases.
- Thick, purulent (greenish or white-yellow) dischargeusually accompanies bacterial infections, including staphylococcal and streptococcal infections. It can occur in bronchial infections (e.g. chronic bronchitis, bronchiectasis), as well as in inflammation of the paranasal sinuses and pneumonia.
- Transparent, sticky dischargemay accompany the exacerbation of asthma symptoms, and also be one of the symptoms of the initial stage of bronchial adenocarcinoma.
- Mucinous discharge , accompanied by a coughing lasting at least three months, suggests chronic bronchitis and also occurs in COPD patients.
Wet cough: wet cough syrup
A wet cough will not go away by itself, nor should it be ignored, even if its cause seems trivial - pathogenic microorganisms present in the secretion can lead to complications, and as the infection develops, the secretion will become more and more dense and sticky, it will also become harder and harder to expel it.
In addition to treating infections, you should also usewet cough syrups , which thin the mucus and make it easier to expectorate. There are different types of such syrups. Many patients choose home-made cough syrups first,most often herbal, usually containing saponins from, for example, primrose extract, plantain and common ivy.
These herbal remedies are often enough to gradually heal a wet cough and clear the airways, but most of all to help get rid of the feeling of thick mucus in the airways.
If herbal cough syrups are not effective enough, we treat wet cough with expectorants prescribed by a doctor.
In the treatment of wet cough, preparations that facilitate expectoration are used, which work in two ways. The first group has an irritating effect on the bronchial mucosa - these are drugs containing guaiacol derivatives: guaifenesin and sulfoquayacol.
The second group are the so-called mucolytics, i.e. preparations that thin the mucus secretion in the respiratory tract, reduce its density and viscosity, and improve mucociliary transport, i.e. facilitate the movement of secretions during coughing.
Mucolytic drugs include preparations containing cysteine derivatives (acetylcysteine and carbocysteine), ambroxol, bromhexine.
Wet cough: how to take medication?
How to use syrups and wet cough pills? It all depends on what type of medication we are dealing with. We take mucolytic drugs no later than 17 - do not take them later, because thinned secretions will not allow you to sleep well.
Their action can be supported by hydrating the body - thinning of the sticky secretion consists in increasing the amount of water in it. In the evening, you can use preparations containing guaifhenazine - they do not increase the secretion of mucus.
Wet cough: home remedies
Treatment of wet cough can also be supported with home remedies - but they should never replace proper therapy. What are these methods? For a wet cough also help:
- Onion syrup. It has an expectorant and antibacterial effect.
- Air humidification - it is worth ensuring that the humidity in the rooms where the patient stays is in the range of 45-55%.
- Inhalations with sea water or saline. The easiest way to do them is with a special nebulizer.
- Respiratory physiotherapy, specifically one of its elements: postural drainage. It's about taking a position where the airways can clear themselves. There is static drainage - when the patient is sitting or reclining, and dynamic drainage, when the position should be changed every few tens of seconds.
- Back patting in children. This should be done once a day in the morning. Here is the instruction: sit down, arrange the babyso that the belly is on your thighs and its head is lower than the torso. Hold it at shoulder level with your left hand. The back must not be patted with an open hand. Fold it into a boat, connect your fingers and bend it in such a way that there is a slight depression in the palm of your hand. Start patting in the middle of the back, at the level of the lower ribs, then move your hand higher along the spine, then go back to the center of the back and pat under the shoulder blades. This is best done in short bursts - three pats and a break, then three pats again. The entire tapping session should not last longer than four or five minutes.
- Papping on the chest in adults. We pat the chest from the bottom upwards with the hand folded in the boat.
Wet cough in children
A wet cough in childrenusually indicates that there is an infection in the body, it may also be the first symptom of asthma, reflux, or a slight stuck in the airways foreign body.
Since it is very tiring and may hinder daily functioning, it requires a visit to the doctor.