What is a cough? It is an involuntary action by one's brain that tries to clear an irritant or a blockage from the body's airways. There are two main types - the chesty and dry cough. It may also be the result of a viral infection such as a common cold or the flu.

Of the two types of cough, the dry cough is really the less productive type of cough. With a chesty cough, you bring up mucus or phlegm from the lungs, but a dry cough can just seem to be plain irritating. Many smokers may have a continual dry cough during their entire lives.

What causes one to cough? It typically means that there is a foreign object in a person's respiratory passages that shouldn't be there. This usually occurs when a piece of food accidentally goes down the wrong way or it could also be caused by breathing in dust particles that are present in the air we breathe. It may also mean that an infection in one's lungs is making the passages in the airways produce phlegm.

There are several different kinds of coughs. Below are listed some of the kinds of coughs that you may have had at one time:

• Whooping Cough
• Croup Cough
• Allergy Cough
• Chronic Dry Cough
• Asthma Cough
• Nighttime Cough

Here are some solutions that you may find helpful for alleviating coughs:

Home remedy for cough - One very good home remedy for coughs is to fill one cut lemon with salt and black pepper powder and suck it to reduce the cough's intensity.

Take 1 teaspoon of pure honey and add a pinch of grounded white pepper. Use this 2 - 3 times a day for 4 - 5 days, and you will find that it will cure your cough.

If you have a cough and cold, it can be cured when you eat grapes for a number of days. The grapes help to tone up the lungs and act as an expectorant.

Take 1 - 2 grams of black pepper powder, dry ginger and long pepper in equal proportions and make a mixture. Take this mixture along with honey 2 - 3 time a day to get relief from a cough.

During the winter, eat garlic at night with supper twice a week. This is a very simple cough cure.

Mix the pulp of Belleric Myrobalan fruit along with honey and long pepper and consume this mixture twice a day.

Another beneficial home remedy for coughs is to take a combination of honey with grape juice.

Make a paste of ¼ teaspoon of ground ginger, ¼ teaspoon of red pepper, 1 tablespoon of apple cider vinegar, 1 tablespoon of honey and 2 tablespoons of water. Mix all of these ingredients well and take 1 teaspoon of this mixture when you have a cough.

Cough expectorant - Expectorants are able to thin the mucus that block the air tubes that lead to the lungs. This makes it much easier to cough up the mucus. This is essential for conditions that require patients to cough up mucus. For example, if someone has pneumonia, coughing is beneficial and should not be stopped as it clears the airway of any mucus build-up. Expectorants make coughing up mucus less irritating and much easier. This is able to relieve chest congestion so that breathing is made easier. Guaifenisin is the main expectorant that is used and is available under many brand names. If you have a wet sounding cough, do not use preparations that may contain other drugs such as antihistamines. These dry up the mucus and will counteract the expectorant's mucus-freeing action.

Cough drop - This is a small, often medicated as well as a sweetened lozenge that is taken orally to ease coughing or to soothe a sore throat. This tablet is designed to deliver active ingredients that will suppress or relieve the cough reflex. They are made like hard candies - ingredients are mixed together, are cooked, cooled, and packaged. Cough drops were first developed in the 18th century and have grown to become a large part of the $2 billon cold and cough market.

Nonprescription cough drops usually contain two types of active ingredients that are cough suppressants and expectorants. An expectorant helps to remove phlegm from the respiratory tract. It works by being able to block the sensory nerves that trigger the cough. Antitussives are cough suppressants and work in numerous ways affecting the muscles, lungs, or brain.

How do you know when to seek medical treatment for your cough? Chronic coughing may be extremely serious. People suffering from chronic coughing have sometimes broken ribs due to the forcefulness of their cough. People who have chesty coughs that last over two weeks should seek the advice of their physician. Coughing that is just a symptom of the flu or cold usually subsides within two weeks; if it does not, then it could mean that there is a more serious problem.

If coughing lasts longer than two weeks, it may be necessary to get a chest x-ray to diagnose the problem. It could be a sign of pneumonia or bronchial problems. Phlegm will also have to be analyzed in order for the doctor to make an accurate diagnosis. The main course of treatment is usually antibiotic medicine.

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