Treatment

Children

A chest X-ray and spirometry, at a minimum, are typically ordered to find the cause of a chronic cough in children.

Determining the cause of chronic cough is crucial to effective treatment. In many cases, more than one underlying condition may be causing your chronic cough.

If you are currently smoking, your doctor will discuss with you your readiness to quit and provide assistance to achieve this goal.

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.

Medications used to treat chronic cough may include:

• Antihistamines, corticosteroids and decongestants. These drugs are standard treatment for allergies and postnasal drip.
• Inhaled asthma drugs. The most effective treatments for asthma-related cough are corticosteroids and bronchodilators, which reduce inflammation and open up your airways.
• Antibiotics. If a bacterial, fungal or mycobacterial infection is causing your chronic cough, your doctor may prescribe medications to address the infection.
• Acid blockers. When lifestyle changes don't take care of acid reflux, you may be treated with medications that block acid production. Some people need surgery to resolve the problem.

Cough suppressants

During 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.

Over-the-counter cough and cold medicines are intended to treat the symptoms of coughs and colds, not the underlying disease. Research suggests that these medicines haven't been proved to work any better than inactive medicine (placebo). More important, these medications have potentially serious side effects, including fatal overdoses in children younger than 2 years old.

Don'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. Also, consider avoiding use of these medicines for children younger than 12 years old.