It’s annoying when the urge to cough just won’t go away. How long should you endure this? And what could be behind it? The pharmacist reveals which placebo she swears by and how to prepare a good cough tea.
Just to get this out of the way: Doctors only consider a cough to be chronic if it lasts longer than eight weeks. Eight weeks! I would start looking for the cause after three o’clock at the latest. So go to my family doctor or an ENT doctor. Simply because coughing is so physically demanding. Because it ruins your nights and is so annoying that the urge to cough is always stronger than you are.
Dry cough: Sometimes medication is to blame
There are many possible causes. As a pharmacist, the first thing that comes to mind is of course the drug-induced cough. Some of the most common medications can have this side effect, such as ACE inhibitors and beta blockers, which are used for high blood pressure. Then the cough goes away very quickly if you switch to another medication.