- How do I recognize a wet cough?
- How To Treat Wet Cough?
- How to recognize a dry cough?
- How to treat a dry cough?
- Dry and wet cough - how to fight it?
Wet cough or dry cough? How can you tell if you have a wet cough or a dry cough? It is important to distinguish which type of cough has developed in the body as dry cough and wet cough are treated differently.
How to recognize wet and dry coughIt is important to distinguish between a wet cough and a dry cough. First of all, it determines the choice of medicines.
Dry cough means the beginning of an infection or an allergy, asthma, and even a reaction to certain medications. Requires the administration of antitussive or antiallergic drugs.
A wet cough is almost always a signal of infection, from common colds to serious infections. It requires the administration of expectorants and sometimes antibiotics.
Contents:
- How do I recognize a wet cough?
- How To Treat Wet Cough?
- How to recognize a dry cough?
- How to treat a dry cough?
How do I recognize a wet cough?
How to distinguish between a dry and a wet cough? A wet cough is deeper and slightly gurgling than a dry cough.
A wet cough, also known as a productive cough, is also characterized by the presence of a secretion that is expectorated when coughing. It is sticky, dense, white or yellowish. Such purulent discharge during a wet cough indicates the presence of an infection.
A wet cough is our ally in fighting infection, because thanks to it, the throat, larynx and trachea, or bronchi and lungs are removed from the secretion formed there during the inflammatory process, along with the live and dead microorganisms that caused the disease.
How To Treat Wet Cough?
To cure it, you need to support it with mucolytic agents, i.e. preparations with an expectorant and often anti-inflammatory effect. It is also worth using expectorant cough medications that stimulate the cleansing of the respiratory tract.
An effective and natural way to cough is onion syrup, which has antibacterial and expectorant properties, as well as various inhalations (e.g. with eucalyptus oil). Patting the back works well in the treatment of wet cough.
Drugs that inhibit the cough reflex should not be administered to wet cough, so as not to retain secretions in the respiratory tract.
How to recognize a dry cough?
A dry cough produces different sensations than a wet cough. When it is drycough, there is a characteristic feeling of irritation in the trachea - as if there is a tickling feather deep in the throat. This causes attacks of suffocating coughing or continual coughing.
Dry cough is tiring sounds like barking and does not cause coughing up secretions. Dry cough is characteristic of the beginning of an infection, e.g. a cold, but it can also be a signal of allergies or asthma (especially when dry cough attacks wake us up at night).
The cause of dry cough may also lie outside the respiratory system. A dry cough occurs with heart failure, and it can also develop in response to some medications you are taking, such as certain medications for high blood pressure.
How to treat a dry cough?
If a dry cough is a symptom of an infection, it usually turns into a wet cough on its own after 2-3 days. Before this happens, dry cough syrup may be given to speed up the appearance of mucus and change to a wet cough.
Persistent dry cough will also be alleviated by drugs that inhibit the cough reflex. They work especially well at night - bouts of dry cough disturb sleep.
Also read:
- Cough in a child - types and treatment
- Cough in pregnancy - how to deal with a cough in pregnancy?