What causes a chronic cough?

A chronic cough (lasting more than two weeks) may be caused by lung issues, post-nasal drip, sinus infections, acid reflux caused by poor diet/stress, or asthma. ENT surgeon Moshe Ephrat, MD, explains the various causes and what you can do.

Transcript

00:00

The other thing that's in the high up on the list for chronic cough is acid reflux. [MUSIC PLAYING]

00:12

So patients with a chronic cough-- we're talking about coughs that lasts more than two weeks-- the first thing they want to do is rule out a lung problem.

00:21

So lung problems, they would go to their primary care doctor, get their lungs listened to. If their lungs are OK and there's no pulmonary problem,

00:29

one of the top things we think of is post-nasal drip. Post-nasal drip is mucus that's made from the nose and sinuses.

00:36

And your nose and sinuses create over a liter of mucus a day. And that mucus can drip down the back of the nose and into the throat, resulting in a cough.

00:45

Sometimes a sinus infection can cause a post-nasal drip. The tail end of a sinus infection can do it. And so we've got to look out for that.

00:53

The other thing that's in the high up on the list for chronic cough is acid reflux. Something called laryngopharyngeal reflux

01:00

is acid from your stomach that creeps its way all the way up to your throat. It actually spills onto your vocal cords.

01:06

And your cough is your voicebox or vocal cords saying they're being irritated by the acid.

01:14

One of the causes of chronic reflux would be diet, stress. So we have to try to control our stress.

01:22

Everyone has stress. But diet is also very important. And when not talking about calories here. We're talking about the types of food.

01:28

We're looking at spicy foods, late night meals, acidic products like red sauces, are all bad for acid reflux.

01:39

Coffee, caffeine products, chocolate-- all the good things-- are not great for acid reflux.

01:46

So it's very important to control acid reflux, not just because of your symptoms, but because if acid reflux goes untreated and persists,

01:54

it can cause changes to your esophagus, changes we don't want, sometimes pre-malignant changes, and sometimes can actually

02:01

be responsible for cancer of the esophagus. And so that's another cause of chronic cough. Asthma is another big reason for cough.

02:10

And so again, that all goes with seeing your primary care doctor or your pulmonologist to rule those things out.