You’ve finally settled down, and you feel the tickle in your throat. Before you know it, you’re hacking uncontrollably. But how to stop a cough?
Coughing can feel painful and exhausting. It’s your body’s way of clearing your airways. And it’s forceful.
In fact, coughs can push air out at a speed of almost 100 miles an hour. (Consider that baseball pitchers tend to pitch around 90 miles an hour.)
For a cough to occur, an irritant must enter the throat. That irritant can take the form of dust, water, mucus, smoke, or allergens like pollen.
Coughs can feel wet or dry. Exercise can trigger coughing. So can lying down.
As for how to stop coughing, we have some suggestions you can try.
Identify Your Type of Cough
Do you have a dry cough? A wet cough? A cough related to allergies? Is it chronic or acute?
Here’s how to tell:
- Wet coughs — This is a cough that often involves mucus. You can usually feel it in your throat. It often accompanies cold symptoms, like a runny nose.
- Dry coughs — There’s no mucus with a dry cough. It can feel like a tickling sensation in your throat, leading to exhausting coughing fits. Sometimes, a dry cough happens toward the end of an illness.
- Acute cough — This is a type of short-term cough. It often accompanies colds and flu or a bout of bronchitis.
- Chronic coughs — These coughs last longer than two to three weeks and are often related to asthma, chronic bronchitis, allergies, or COPD.
When you know your type of cough, you can figure out which of the following strategies for easing a cough might work best.
1. Cough Medicine
Many types of cold and cough medicine are available over the counter.
- Cough suppressants — Designed to quiet (suppress) your cough. Cough suppressants can help stop a cough quickly.
- Expectorants — Helps loosen and thin the mucus in your lungs. This type of medicine is good for wet coughs. It doesn’t stop the cough, but it does help it become more productive.
- Nasal decongestants — Helps unclog your stuffy nose. These can help with coughs related to postnasal drip. Postnasal drip, or a mucus drip down the back of the throat, often causes coughing.
- Antihistamines — Helps with sneezing, itching, and runny noses. Antihistamines can help with coughs related to allergies but not other coughs.
Remember that kids under 4 shouldn’t take over-the-counter cough and cold medicine. You can take these medicines from ages 4 to 6 if your doctor says it’s OK. After age 6, they’re generally safe as long as you give them the correct dose.
2. Try Drinks That Soothe
Just staying hydrated is one way to fight a cough. But for fits of coughing, you might try:
- Hot tea (especially calming teas, like ginger or chamomile).
- Hot coffee (with the caveat that caffeine can dehydrate you, which can make a cough worse).
- Hot water with lemon.
- A tablespoon of honey by itself or stirred into a hot drink or hot water. (Don’t give honey to children under 1 year old.)
- Chicken broth or chicken soup.
Gargling with hot salt water can also help stop a cough. Mix about ¼ teaspoon of salt into an 8-ounce glass of water to make the solution.
Take a mouthful, tilt your head back, and gargle for a few seconds. Then, spit it out.
3. Bring on the Steam
Using a humidifier to moisten the air can help soothe your throat, especially if the air in your house is dry. This problem is more common in the summer (with air conditioning) and winter (with heat).
Humidity can help loosen any mucus that’s causing a problem. If you don’t have a humidifier, you can run a hot shower and shut the bathroom door. Wait a few minutes and then enter the bathroom, breathing in the steam.
This solution works well for babies and young children with croup, an intense, wheezing cough that often occurs at night. The steamy bathroom is one of the best ways to stop a cough at night.
4. Use Products Known to Open Airways
Menthol, eucalyptus, and peppermint can help stop your cough. It’s why they’re common ingredients in lozenges and cough drops.
Have you ever had a coughing fit after a bout of exercise when you’re just getting over a cold? This usually happens because your airways have suddenly constricted. A cough drop can help this a lot.
(If you frequently cough with exercise, you might have a more chronic problem and need an inhaler.)
Even if you don’t have cough drops, sucking on a hard candy can help. This increases your saliva, which can help calm a cough.
You can also use menthol rubs. This is especially helpful for children who are too young for cough drops. Rub a thick layer over their chest, neck, and throat.
5. Change Your Environment
Do you know what’s causing your cough? If it’s allergies, what can you change about your environment?
For example, if your space is dusty, it can exacerbate a cough. You may need a humidifier if the air is particularly dry (see above).
If your cough worsens at night, look at your sleeping situation. Lying down can cause mucus to pool and drip down your throat. It might help to elevate your head with another pillow.
Also, investigate any new beauty products or detergents that might irritate your nasal passages and throat.
When to Call the Doctor About a Cough
Home remedies can help alleviate or ease many types of coughs. Call your doctor if:
- You’re coughing up blood.
- You have a high fever or a fever that lasts four days or more.
- You’re having breathing problems, like wheezing or gasping.
- You have a persistent cough that lasts for several weeks.
- You have a fever or cough that goes away but comes back within a few days or weeks.
At UPMC, our primary care doctors can treat coughs. We can also see you at UPMC Urgent Care.