More important, these medications have potentially serious side effects, including fatal overdoses in children younger than 2 years old.ĭon't use over-the-counter medicines, except for fever reducers and pain relievers, to treat coughs and colds in children younger than 6 years old. Research suggests that these medicines haven't been proved to work any better than inactive medicine (placebo). Over-the-counter cough and cold medicines are intended to treat the symptoms of coughs and colds, not the underlying disease. Some people need surgery to resolve the problem.ĭuring the time your doctor is determining the reason for your cough and beginning treatment, your doctor may also prescribe a cough suppressant to try to speed your symptom relief. When lifestyle changes don't take care of acid reflux, you may be treated with medications that block acid production. If a bacterial, fungal or mycobacterial infection is causing your chronic cough, your doctor may prescribe medications to address the infection. The most effective treatments for asthma-related cough are corticosteroids and bronchodilators, which reduce inflammation and open up your airways. These drugs are standard treatment for allergies and postnasal drip. Antihistamines, corticosteroids and decongestants.Medications used to treat chronic cough may include: If you're taking an ACE inhibitor medication, your doctor may switch you to another medicine that doesn't have cough as a side effect. If you are currently smoking, your doctor will discuss with you your readiness to quit and provide assistance to achieve this goal. In many cases, more than one underlying condition may be causing your chronic cough. Using a fiberoptic scope (rhinoscope), your doctor can view your nasal passageways, sinuses and upper airway.Ī chest X-ray and spirometry, at a minimum, are typically ordered to find the cause of a chronic cough in children.ĭetermining the cause of chronic cough is crucial to effective treatment. A biopsy can also be taken from the inside lining of your airway (mucosa) to look for abnormalities. Using a thin, flexible tube equipped with a light and camera (bronchoscope), your doctor can look at your lungs and air passages.

If your doctor isn't able to find an explanation for your cough, special scope tests may be considered to look for possible causes.

If the mucus that you cough up is colored, your doctor may want to test a sample of it for bacteria. Your doctor may request an asthma challenge test, which checks how well you can breathe before and after inhaling the drug methacholine (Provocholine). They measure how much air your lungs can hold and how fast you can exhale. These simple, noninvasive tests, such as spirometry, are used to diagnose asthma and COPD. It also tracks the time it takes you to exhale completely after you take a deep breath.

A spirometer is a diagnostic device that measures the amount of air you're able to breathe in and out.

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