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.
In: 569
Cough can be a very effective method to remove mucus or possibly a small foreign body from the airway. Anyone who has had bronchitis and coughs up what seems like a cup of mucus a day can attest to this. There is also a method to producing a more effective cough which involves taking a very deep breath and then doing a force blow out. This also does less damage to your vocal cords.
https://www.clevelandclinicabudhabi.ae/en/health-hub/health-resource/treatments-and-procedures/controlled-coughing
But you are talking about a non-productive cough which basically implies your airways are damaged, irritated and hypersensitive, and you are coughing due to the cough reflex. In a non-productive cough, your airways don’t know there is nothing cough up. Like many systems in our body, they only know how to react in a certain way and the airway react to injury by coughing. Sometimes there is an issue with the nerves becoming hypersensitive after injury (particularly after viral infection) and this causes you to cough at inappropriate stimuli – like just breathing in cold air will make you cough. Cough suppressant can help with this but personally I’ve found them to be largely unhelpful.
Latest Answers