In autumn, the climate is dry, the temperature is low, and all kinds of respiratory discomfort symptoms always come out to make trouble in this season. Many people have this feeling. When autumn comes, their throat looks like they can't open the plug. It's hot, dry, itchy and full of phlegm. If they are careless, they will be harassed by coughing, which is very annoying. Today, let's talk about why the respiratory tract is fragile in autumn and who is prone to cough.
Cough is not necessarily a bad thing
The respiratory tract is divided into upper respiratory tract and lower respiratory tract. The upper respiratory tract consists of mouth, nose, pharyngeal cavity and throat. The lower respiratory tract consists of trachea, bronchus and lung. Respiratory tract is the internal organ that people contact most with the outside world every day. It is vulnerable to various external stimuli, such as cold, heat, dryness and infection. However, the lung is a more "dumb" organ. It can't feel cold and hot, pain and touch, or, frankly speaking, no feeling. The biggest response to injury is cough.
When the airway is stimulated, the nerve reflex will make the human body produce a series of actions: the glottis is closed, and the respiratory muscles contract rapidly to produce the expiratory action; Because the glottis is closed and the breath cannot be exhaled, the pressure in the chest rises sharply, and then the glottis is burst open; Then, the gas spews out at high speed, bringing out the "bad" things in the trachea - this is the protective defense mechanism of the lung.
Therefore, coughing is not necessarily "sick", and coughing when sick is not necessarily a bad thing. Coughing can help people expel germs from the body, which is conducive to the improvement of the disease.
Of course, coughing is very annoying. Cough during the day; Cough at night; Cough when talking too much; Cough when inhaling cold air; In particular, severe coughing in public places will not only make patients uncomfortable, but also make others nervous. Some people will retch, affect sleep, and even have pneumothorax when they cough violently. If the pleura on the surface of the lung breaks, chest pain and suffocation will also occur, which may endanger life in serious cases. Patients with severe cough can cause loss of consciousness, which is called "cough syncope" in medicine. This situation is very dangerous when driving or working at heights. Therefore, patients with a history of cough symptoms should go to the hospital as soon as possible for symptomatic treatment.
There are three situations according to the duration
When talking about cough, we should first distinguish whether it is really cough. Some people also call the action similar to "clearing the throat" cough, usually one or two times, because they feel uncomfortable in the throat or something sticks; Some coughs are habitual actions, which are common in smokers and are caused by pharyngitis. What is really called cough is mainly manifested as a series of coughs one after another.
In medicine, cough can be divided into acute cough, subacute cough and chronic cough according to the length of cough.
1. Acute cough refers to cough within 3 weeks, most of which are caused by diseases such as colds and tracheitis;
2. Sub-acute cough refers to cough from 3 weeks to 8 weeks. In addition, this situation occurs in older patients, mainly after infection;
3. Chronic cough refers to a cough with a course of more than 8 weeks. The main causes are cough variant asthma, retronasal drip syndrome (upper airway cough syndrome), eosinophilic bronchitis, gastroesophageal reflux cough, allergic cough, etc.
Seasonal cough is mainly caused by these conditions
Cough can occur all year round, but it often occurs during the season. Because the alternation of cold and hot is obvious during the changing season, especially in autumn, many people do not pay attention to adding clothes and keeping warm in time, and their immunity is reduced, which will create opportunities for various bacteria and viruses to invade the human body, and then lead to respiratory tract bacterial or virus infection, and the incidence of cough after infection is higher, and respiratory tract infection is easy to induce cough variant asthma. This is also the main reason why people feel that they cough easily in autumn.
Why cough after respiratory tract infection? In fact, cough after infection is a respiratory symptom caused by the repair of airway inflammation. After the infection improves, it will be cured by using antitussive drugs alone, and the course of disease is relatively short.
The essence of cough variant asthma is the increase of airway sensitivity caused by chronic airway inflammation, which is non-infectious and can be induced by respiratory tract infection without taking anti-inflammatory drugs. It can be allergic or not. Although it is called "asthma", the patient does not pant and the lung function is normal. However, some patients can turn into typical asthma. Therefore, correct treatment can reduce the incidence of typical asthma.
The dry and cold climate is very unfriendly to the airway. The cold itself is a kind of stimulation, while the low temperature makes the water content in the air drop, and the airway is more sensitive when it is short of water, leading to cough and wheezing. The nasal cavity has the effect of warming and humidifying the inhaled air, but too dry, open mouth breathing and vigorous exercise may reduce the airway humidity and increase the airway sensitivity.
In addition, there are allergic factors. In addition to the warm spring, pollen allergy in autumn is also very serious. Both spring and autumn are prone to allergic cough, allergic rhinitis and asthma.
It should be reminded that cough variant asthma, postnasal drip syndrome, eosinophilic bronchitis and allergic cough are more or less related to allergy. If there are symptoms such as sneezing, runny nose, itchy eyes and nose, and tears when coughing, it is found that the eosinophils and total IgE (immunoglobulin E) are high in the hospital, then receiving anti-allergy treatment will be very effective.
Why CT is often selected for diagnostic examination
In theory, lung CT is not a necessary examination for cough. In most cases, the lung CT findings of patients with simple cough are normal. Most chronic coughs, such as cough variant asthma, eosinophilic tracheitis, allergic cough, etc., have no obvious lesions in the lung. Why do doctors often recommend lung CT examination when they go to the hospital to see a cough?
Because doctors should first rule out some serious diseases, such as tuberculosis, lung cancer, bronchiectasis, etc. The treatment of these diseases is mainly to treat the primary disease, not to treat cough alone. Doctors should first see whether the lung is diseased, and the best means to "see" the lung is lung CT and chest X-ray.
Which is clearer, lung CT or X-ray chest film? Lung CT is relatively clearer. X-ray chest film can produce many artifacts, and heart blood vessels and bones may also block the focus. Therefore, bronchiectasis and lung cancer are mostly diagnosed by lung CT, while infectious diseases such as tuberculosis and pneumonia can be diagnosed according to X-ray chest film.
The receiving doctor usually asks the patient's medical history in detail, preliminarily judges the nature of cough, and considers what examination to do. Lung CT is the first choice for elderly patients with chronic cough and hemoptysis. Since the X-ray absorption dose of lung CT examination is higher than that of X-ray chest film, it is recommended that patients take recent imaging results with them when they go to different hospitals for consecutive visits to avoid repeated examination as much as possible.
Do I have to take medicine for cough
Many old people give medicine to their children when they see their cough, saying "keep the disease down"; There are also patients who are afraid of tracheitis and then turn to chronic cough, and take medicine immediately when they cough. But as long as it is medicine, it has side effects, especially for children. Therefore, if it is not a severe cough, do not take cough medicine in a hurry, but take medicine for the cause in time.
For patients with cough, the doctor's primary concern is whether there is respiratory tract infection. If there is a severe cough, the stimulation of the airway may aggravate the inflammatory reaction and delay the improvement of the disease, which requires symptomatic medication. Let's talk about what drugs may be used for coughing.
● Antitussive drugs
Anticough drugs take effect quickly, but they are not specific to the cause. Commonly used antitussive drugs mainly include compound methoxyphenamine, licorice tablets, dextromethorphan, compound codeine syrup, Chinese medicine Feilike, loquat syrup, etc., which achieve the purpose of antitussive by inhibiting the central and peripheral cough reflex, anti-allergy, bronchiectasis and other mechanisms. Among them, compound methoxyphenol is used to treat acute and chronic cough, and compound dextromethorphan solution is often used to cough after a cold.
Most antitussive drugs of western medicine are compound preparations, which may include antitussive drugs, chlorpheniramine, pseudoephedrine, etc. The side effects are relatively more, but the impact is small. You can take it safely. After taking chlorpheniramine, it will cause drowsiness, and is not suitable for professionals who need to concentrate on work, such as drivers, who can replace other antitussive drugs according to the doctor's advice.
It should be noted that most of the western medicine compound antitussive drugs have the same or substitute ingredients, and should not be taken at the same time.
● Anti-allergic drugs
Commonly used antiallergic drugs include loratadine, cetirizine, etc., which are suitable for cough caused by allergic factors, especially for patients with allergic rhinitis.
Among them, Monroest is used to treat asthma and allergic rhinitis, which is relatively safe and can be used together with other anti-allergic drugs.
In addition, among inhaled hormones and bronchodilators, the more commonly used ones are salmeterol, fluticasone, budesonide and formoterol, which are used to treat cough variant asthma, eosinophilic tracheitis, allergic cough, etc. While relieving cough, it can also reduce the probability of patients developing into typical asthma.
Many patients are worried about side effects when they hear the hormone. In fact, these drugs have been on the market for a long time, and the incidence of serious side effects observed is very low, which is relatively safe. What should be noted is that the mouth should be rinsed in time after inhalation to remove the excess drugs in the mouth.
