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Cough
Treatment in the home
- Stay quiet in a warm room
- Take soothing medicines if the cough interferes with sleep or appears to tire the sufferer
- Drink plenty, particularly warm drinks
- Steam inhalation may help if it is a dry cough. Trap steam in a bowl with a towel over the patient's head and the bowl. Inhale for ten minutes 3 times a day.
- Do not smoke.
- If it is a cough accompanying a cold, do not suppress the cough with cough mixture, the cough that comes with a cold is caused by the nose running down the back of the throat, and by coughing it helps to keep the discharge off the chest. For children and babies troubled by a cough when laid down at night- lay babies on their side. An older child may be more comfortable if sat upright with an extra pillow. If cough is very bad rub a little vapor rub on the chest.
When to go to the doctor’s
- If coughing produces blood
- If coughing produces yellow or green phlegm
- If there is chest pain, shortness of breath or persistent fever
- If the coughing is getting worse or persists after two or three weeks, or in a child after three days
- If coughing continues for more than a week or two after a common cold has cleared up
- If the patient or parent is unduly anxious
- If there is a possibility of an inhaled foreign body
- If a child’s breathing is very fast or difficult, or if any shortness of breath prevents talking
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