Coughing is a reflex action of humans to clear your throat of foreign irritants or mucus. While everyone coughs to clear the throat from time to time, a number of conditions can lead to coughing more often.
A cough lasting less than three weeks is an acute cough. Most episodes of cough will go away or at least improve significantly within two weeks.
If your cough lasts between 3 and 8 weeks, gets better by the end of that period, it’s considered a subacute cough. A persistent cough that lasts longer than eight weeks is a chronic cough.
You should see a doctor if you are coughing up blood or a “barking” cough. You should also call them if your cough doesn’t get better within a few weeks, as this could indicate something more serious.
Coughing is supposed to protect you. It expels foreign bodies that shouldn’t be in your lungs and throat, such as feces or inhaled food. The following are common triggers for coughs:
Allergies and asthma
Allergies or asthma can trigger a coughing attack. Asthma can also be accompanied by a feeling of tightness in your chest or shortness of breath. It’s not always easy to tell if you have an allergy or a cold, because the symptoms can be similar. If you suffer from this, inhaling triggers such as mold can cause your lungs to overreact. They try to get rid of what is bothering them.
Virus
Colds and flu are the most common causes. While irritating, a “productive” cough expels germy mucus from your lungs when you’re sick. Most of them will go away in a few days. However, after a cold, several “dry” coughs last week. It could be because coughing irritates your lungs, which causes more coughing, that irritates your lungs, and so on.
COPD
It includes one or more of three separate serious conditions: Emphysema, chronic bronchitis, and chronic obstructive asthma. This disease weakens the passageways in your airways (bronchial tubes) and the tiny sacs (alveoli) that carry oxygen into your blood and expel carbon dioxide. Smoking is the commonest cause of COPD.
You Smoked.
Commonly referred to as a smoker’s cough, this type of cough can occur when your body tries to push chemicals out of your lungs.
You have been exposed to irritants or pollutants.
You may find yourself coughing in a dusty room or heavily polluted area, or if you breathe in strong chemicals or fumes. In most cases, the cough will stop as soon as you no longer have the irritant.
