Probably a large misunderstanding of human anatomy but why does it seem that coughing is really inefficient at removing whatever the body is trying to expel from the lungs. As a comparison, vomiting, diarrhea, sneezing are all very forceful without really any effort on the part of us. However, coughs seem to barely expel anything without help from medication and continue WELL after the actual infection is resolved unlike those other body expulsion techniques mentioned above. I type this with a non-productive cough two weeks after a cold.
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For a non-productive, ticklish cough, slowly dissolving a spoonful of honey in your mouth will generally quell the urge to cough. Bonus points if it’s Manuka honey known for its antibacterial properties, or local, raw honey, (which is also helpful if you suffer from seasonal allergies as it contains tiny amounts of local pollens which can desensitize you over time).
As for wet sounding productive coughs, doing gentle huff breaths (as if you’re fogging up a window) followed by coughing will help bring up more mucous. Huffs consolidate the mucous from the smaller airways into the larger ones, and then coughing moves it up and out.
If you have a lot of mucous, doing lung physio such as Active Cycle of Breathing or the more challenging, Autogenic Drainage physio can help loosen and consolidate the mucous even more. Doing it for about 3 minutes followed by 3 huffs and several coughs and repeated 5 to 10 times can be very effective. There are also airway clearance devices that you can use too.
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