Tips on How to Help Relieve an Annoying Dry Cough

A dry cough can cause annoying and uncontrollable coughing fits that can end up giving you sleepless nights and a nasty headache after coughing too hard.

There are many things — from acid reflux to allergies — which can cause a dry cough. In some cases, it may be a mystery. Regardless of the cause, an ongoing dry cough can be a major annoyance to your day-to-day life, especially if it’s worse at night and keeps you awake.

Luckily, there are plenty of OTC medications and home remedies that can provide quick relief from a dry cough.

In this article, we’ll explain the causes of a dry cough and give you tips on how to help relieve an annoying dry cough.

TYPES OF COUGHS

A cough is a reflex action that clears your airway of mucus and irritants and. There are two types of coughs - non-productive (dry cough) and productive (chesty cough).

What Is a Dry Cough?

A non-productive cough, also known as a dry cough, is a cough where no mucus or phlegm is produced. A dry cough is often irritating and is associated with a tickly throat that triggers coughing fits.

There are many over-the-counter medications and home remedies available to quickly relieve symptoms of a dry cough.

What is a Chesty Cough?

A productive cough (aka “wet” or “chesty”) is almost always a sign of a viral or bacterial infection. When you have a cold or the flu, your body produces more phlegm than normal.  Chesty cough symptoms might include feeling heaviness and discomfort in the lung and chest area, with congestion that may lead you to cough up mucus or phlegm. This is why a chesty cough is also known as a wet or productive cough because you are expelling harmful mucus, which is good. A good treatment for a wet cough is Robitussin Chesty Cough Syrup.

DRY COUGH CAUSES

Common causes of a dry cough are listed below. Sometimes it may be tough to differentiate what is causing dry cough, below are a few of the most common causes..

  • Asthma
  • Allergies
  • Gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD)
  • Postnasal drip
  • Viral Infection
  • Upper respiratory infection
  • COVID-19
  • Environmental irritants
  • Certain medications such as ACE inhibitors Smoking

TIPS ON HOW TO RELIEVE AN ANNOYING DRY COUGH

Home Remedies to Treat a Dry Cough

Dry coughs can be difficult to treat. After your airways become irritated and overly sensitive, they’re easily irritated by coughing, creating a vicious cycle.

There are many home remedies you can do for relief, regardless of what’s causing your cough. Try:

  • Adding honey to a hot drink to soothe irritated throat tissue
  • Gargle with hot water
  • Add fresh ginger, turmeric powder, marjoram oil, marshmallow plant oil, or slippery elm powder to hot water and drink
  • Inhaling steam for 20 minutes can help moisturize and soothe your throat and lungs

There are times when you may also need to take the medication in addition to using home remedies to soothe your cough symptoms.

You can also try these dry cough remedies from your local pharmacy:

If you need a cough suppressant to treat your dry cough, Online4Pharmacy has a wide variety of OTC and home remedies available to treat your cough and cold. We also have a full range of over-the-counter medications for all conditions.