A dry cough is very uncomfortable because it can lead to uncontrolled coughing fits. It is a symptom of many different illnesses. If the dry cough lasts longer than two weeks, if other symptoms are pain, fever or coughing up blood, it is essential that your doctor investigates the cause.
A dry cough is an unproductive cough. Unlike a cough with sputum, no mucus is coughed up with a dry cough. A dry cough often sounds loud, raw, and can also sound like barking or is accompanied by whistling sounds.
The range of triggers that can irritate the airways is vast. Here are some examples:
An unproductive cough tends to be harmless and goes away on its own. But you should see a doctor if you have any of the following:
What is known as a psychogenic cough is a special form of dry cough. This is where a cough or clearing your throat becomes a habit that is difficult to stop.
Lung specialist Prof. Dr Rainald Fischer sees this in his practice: “There are people who get used to the cough while they have an infection and who then cannot drop the habit. You see it in children, but the phenomenon can happen in adults too, where the dry cough lasts for a long time even though there is no physical reason for it. A sign of a psychogenic cough is that patients do not cough at night when their consciousness is switched off, so to speak. In fact, they sleep peacefully through the night. Then when they wake up, the cough resumes.”
If you have a harmless dry cough, you can try to ease your symptoms with some home remedies.
Avoid substances that irritate your airways like cigarette smoke (that also includes e-cigarettes and shishas), dust, strong cleaning products or strong fragrances.
Inhale saline solution with an inhalation device such as the PARI COMPACT2. This moistens the irritated mucous membranes and calms and reduces the urge to cough. Saline solutions also support the self-cleaning function of the airways. Another advantage of inhalation therapy: It reaches the origin of the cough – the airways – without any detours.
Moisten your airways from the inside out by drinking plenty – at least 2 litres a day. Ideally, you should drink still water or herbal teas such as thyme and sage. It is best not to drink camomile tea, as it tends to have a drying effect.
Suck cough sweets, pastilles or lozenges with herbal ingredients (e.g. sage or mallow). This stimulates the production of saliva, which automatically moistens the throat more. Please note that the pastilles only soothe if the cough is in the upper airways.
Coughing is strenuous and is usually a signal that something is not right in the body. So make sure you get plenty of sleep so that you can regenerate and harness your body’s ability to heal itself.
A warm wrap on the chest stimulates circulation, can have a calming effect and can reduce the urge to cough.
Regardless of how severe the dry cough, you can suppress or lessen the urge to cough with breathing exercises or at least cough in a way that is less strenuous and painful.
Note: The information in this blog post is not a treatment recommendation. The needs of patients vary greatly from person to person. The treatment approaches presented should be viewed only as examples. PARI recommends that patients always consult with their physician or physiotherapist first.
An article written by the PARI BLOG editorial team.
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