A dry cough is very common for many people. It is not a disease but a symptom. Most often, it occurs in the context of colds or respiratory infections and disappears spontaneously within a few days.
A dry cough is usually caused by rhinopharyngitis, laryngitis, tracheitis, bronchitis or sinusitis. It may be accompanied by other symptoms such as fever, runny nose, chest pain.
A cough is not necessarily serious, but if it persists more than 3 weeks. It will become a chronic cough. You may need to consult with your doctor to have an X-ray of the lungs and a medical examination.
Common Causes of a Dry Cough
- Viral Infection – When people have a viral infection in the early stages, the dry cough will be one of the symptoms that will be felt.
- Chronic Infections – When people have infections that do not seem to go away or if they have an infection that has worsened over time, this can be one of the reasons for having a dry cough.
- Asthma – There are instances when people with asthma are more prone to getting dry cough because asthma can cause irritation in the respiratory system.
What are the Causes of Chronic Dry Cough?
- A seasonal respiratory infection
- A whooping cough
- Posterior pharyngeal discharge: a cough happen mostly in the morning and accompanied by discomfort in the throat and nasal discharge. The causes may be chronic sinusitis, allergic rhinitis, coughing viral irritation, etc.
- Gastroesophageal reflux or GERD: This responsible for 20% of chronic coughs, Chronic cough is the only symptom.
- Irritation:Exposure to pollution or irritants, etc.
- Many medications can also cause a cough such as inhibitors of the conversion enzyme, beta-blockers, nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs and contraceptives in women.
Since you already know some of the possible causes, the next thing that you need to know is the various steps on how you can get rid of your dry cough.
How to Get Rid of a Dry Cough With Natural Remedy
1.Onion Syrup
Honey and Onion have soothing and antiseptic properties that can help remove mucus.
- Peel 3-4 medium-sized onions and cut into small pieces.
- Mix a cup of honey with onions in a bowl. Heat them for 2 hours. Make sure do not use too hot temperature.
- Put the preparation in a glass jar after filtering the mixture.
- When you have a cough, take 1 tablespoon.
- You can also cut an onion in half and sniff it, this can help your clogged nose.
2.Onion and Thyme Syrup
This natural remedy is very effective for dry cough at night?
- Peeled and grated 1 white onion.
- Mix the onions with its juice,3 tablespoons of honey, 2 teaspoons of squeezed lemon juice, 1 teaspoon of crushed thyme leaves,2 glasses of water.
- Heat the mixture for 40 minutes. Filter and let it cool.
- Pour this syrup into a closing glass jar.
- Keep it at room temperature. As soon as a cough begins, take a sip to stop it very quickly.
3.Ginger Butter
4.Hot milk with garlic
5.The poultice with flax flour
Flax flour is an old remedy well known for curing a cold. Mix 1 tablespoon flax flour with a little water in a saucepan. This mixture will form a paste. Heat it over low heat, stirring constantly. Fold a towel in 2 layers. Spread on the hot dough. Place the poultice on just below the throat.
6.Violet tea
Pour into a bowl 20 cl of hot water. Add 5 g of dried violet flowers. Let infuse 10 min. Add a teaspoon of honey to sweeten before drinking your remedy. This tea of violets is particularly soothing for bronchi not to mention the fact that it is also diuretic and depurative. Know that all the flowers of violets are edible and all have expectorant virtues.
7.Clove syrup
8.Cayenne pepper syrup
How to Get Rid of a Dry Cough By Lifestyle Change
1. Make Sure That You Are Hydrated
One of the main reasons why people begin to feel uncomfortable when they have a dry cough is because they do not drink enough liquids. The throat will begin to feel itchy and irritated especially after coughing for a long period of time. The instant relief that you can give your throat is to drink water from time to time.
If you do not like water, you can also drink fruit juices and tea. Make sure that you will only drink beverages that will not aggravate your current condition. Drinking beverages that are too cold or that are too sweet may cause the throat to become more irritated.
2.Gargle
From time to time, you can also gargle with your trusted mouthwash or if you would like to make it more natural, you can also gargle with warm water and salt. You can do this in the morning when you wake up and in the evening before you go to sleep. You can also do this throughout the day every time you feel a bit uncomfortable.
3.Humidifier
If you feel that your humidifier will not do much for your condition, you have to remember that breathing in dry air can become a bit hard to do. When you breathe in dry air, this can cause the air to become itchy and irritated.
One thing that you have to remember is to make sure that the humidifier that you will use inside the room is clean. There are instances when people make use of a humidifier that is dirty and this has only worsened their condition because of the bacteria and sometimes virus that is present in the humidifier.
4. Eat the Right Food
You may think that eating will not do much in order to help your condition or make it worse but there are some food products that might make you feel more uncomfortable.
For instance, if you eat spicy food, there is a chance that your throat will become drier and will also cause some problems with how often your cough is going to be heard. Instead, you may want to try eating organic food products that can soothe your throat.
One example of a soothing food product is honey. Since it has anti-inflammatory properties, it can help get rid of the inflammation of your tonsils. There are even some people who say that taking in honey can be the same as drinking cough medicine only it is more organic.
5. Take in Soup
This is connected to the one that has been said in #4, taking in a soup is also one food product that can help get rid of a dry cough easily. What you can do is make sure that you choose a soup that will just help your tonsils out like Chicken soup. The steam from the soup can help make the tonsils feel relief from all the irritation that it has experienced.
6. Avoid Inhaling Harmful Products
There is always a chance that you are going to inhale products that are harmful to your health such as smoke, insecticides and sometimes even other perfume.
If you are going to inhale products that are harmful to your nose, throat and your overall respiratory system, this might make your respiratory system become inflamed which can result in it working harder.
In order to help you out, you may want to wear a mask the whole time that you have a cough so that you will have protection against the main irritants.
7.Elevate Your Head when Lying Down
Now that you have already eaten and done everything that can try to relieve the discomfort that you are feeling, now is the time that you would lie down on your bed. Lying down on the bed can be a bit hard to do since you will not be able to breathe that well or you may have constant coughs that would make you want to sit down. Elevating your head with the use of a pillow may help reduce this need.
8.Rest
Finally, after you have done everything that is mentioned above, the last step that you need to do is rest. You have to remember that resting is something that a lot of people do not do probably because they are too busy. Even if you are very busy, it does not mean that you cannot take the time to rest.
Resting will help heal your body from within and this can aid your immune system to become stronger and eliminate the bacteria or virus that is causing your dry cough so that you can feel better.
The above-mentioned things are the steps that you need to take in order to get rid of dry cough at your very own home. There is a chance that the things that you will do will help but there is also a chance that they will not work that well. If in case your cough persists, it will be best to ask your doctor about it.
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