What is the reason for repeated coughing

In fact, in life, many people will have coughing phenomenon. Generally speaking, we all know that coughing and colds are closely related. However, there are also people who do not have a cold but still have repeated coughing, which has a great impact on our life and work. So let’s take a look at what causes repeated coughing and what harm it will bring to us.

Because coughing actually affects our breathing and health, even a small cough needs to be taken seriously and actively treated, otherwise it will develop into a more serious disease. So I hope everyone will not ignore repeated coughing.

1. Chronic cough after upper respiratory tract infection

It is more common in preschool children under five years old. After other symptoms of upper respiratory tract infection (URTI) subside, the dry cough persists for weeks or even months. The reason is that the upper respiratory tract viral infection damages the mucosa, exposing the nerve endings under the mucosa, which are stimulated by the secretions flowing down the nasopharynx and induce coughing. It takes 3 to 7 weeks to repair mucosal damage after a cold, so the cough may last for several weeks. Because viral infection can induce temporary airway hyperresponsiveness, children who originally had no cough or wheezing may also experience wheezing. Such children often have low cellular or humoral immune function. If not treated properly, inflammation of the upper respiratory tract may spread downward, affecting the trachea and bronchi, manifesting as cough with sputum and possible rales in the lungs.

2. Lung heat cough

Children have a yang constitution and are prone to internal heat, commonly known as getting "on fire". Cough caused by heat in the body is what Chinese medicine calls a lung heat cough. Many parents have experienced this: when their children just go to kindergarten, eat too much or catch a cold, they will develop lung heat, bad breath, dry mouth, thirst, red face, lips, and tongue tip, eye mucus in the morning, etc. Experienced parents can basically tell that their children are getting angry, and they will often have symptoms such as long-term coughing and asthma. This type of cough is quite common. When children are treated with Western medicine, they often experience recurrent coughing and prolonged illness. Traditional Chinese medicine syndrome differentiation and treatment treats both the symptoms and the root cause. While treating cough, traditional Chinese medicine focuses on clearing away heat, detoxifying, and eliminating the root cause of the disease, while also resolving phlegm, relieving cough, and treating symptoms.

3. Cough variant asthma

The diagnostic criteria are usually based on the routine prevention and treatment of childhood asthma in my country: ① persistent cough for more than one month, often occurring at night and/or early morning, aggravated by exercise, exposure to cold air or smelling special odors, with little sputum, no clinical signs of infection, or ineffective treatment with antibacterial drugs for a long time; ② treatment with bronchodilators can relieve cough attacks (this is the basic diagnostic condition); ③ personal or family history of allergies or family history of asthma, and positive allergen (allergen) test can be used as an auxiliary diagnosis; ④ excluding chronic cough caused by other reasons.

Through the above introduction, we found that there are actually many factors that can cause recurrent coughing. Therefore, even when actively treating it, we cannot treat it blindly. We must find out the real cause so that we can provide symptomatic treatment, recover health faster, and stay away from the trouble of coughing.