Treatment of wet cough in adults depends on its cause; it includes measures aimed not only at relieving the patient of this symptom, but also at treating the underlying disease.
The cough reflex is a protective reaction of the human body in response to irritation of the respiratory tract. Cough can be a symptom of many respiratory diseases and disorders of other systems. Depending on whether the cough produces sputum, it can be dry or wet.
A wet, productive cough accompanies many respiratory diseases.
Most often, a wet cough is caused by inflammation of one or another part of the respiratory system. It can appear with acute respiratory viral infections (ARVI), tracheitis, bronchitis, pneumonia, tumors in the lungs, and emphysema. In addition, cough is observed with tuberculosis, syphilis and a number of other chronic infectious diseases. The predisposing factor is inhalation of chemical fumes, adverse effects on the body of environmental factors, and hypothermia.
You can begin to treat a wet cough only after an examination and diagnosis. In order to diagnose the disease, the patient’s complaints and medical history, an objective examination, and laboratory tests of blood and urine are collected. To clarify the diagnosis, it may be necessary to conduct a laboratory examination of sputum with or without an antibiogram and a chest x-ray.
If there is a wet cough, the patient is advised to drink plenty of warm fluids, which helps moisturize the mucous membranes and thin the sputum, making it possible to get rid of the cough much faster.
Treatment of wet cough in adults
When treating a cough, first of all, it is necessary to eliminate its cause. A doctor must prescribe treatment. It is important to comply with the dose, frequency of administration, medications and course duration.
For a wet cough, the patient may be prescribed mucolytic, expectorant medications that help thin and remove mucus from the respiratory tract. Combination medications may also be used. Such drugs simultaneously have anti-inflammatory, expectorant, and bronchodilator effects. If the causative agent of the disease is bacteria, antibiotic therapy is indicated.
When treating diseases accompanied by a wet cough, taking antitussive drugs is contraindicated.
A wet cough in the absence of a fever can be treated with inhalation. Inhalations for wet coughs in adults help to liquefy sputum and remove it, moisturize the mucous membranes of the respiratory system, promote rapid restoration of affected tissues, have an analgesic effect, and relieve bronchospasm.
Inhalations can be cold (using a nebulizer) or steam. For wet coughs, preference should be given to nebulizers, since in this case the drug in the form of extremely small particles penetrates the trachea and bronchi, thus getting directly into the source of inflammation. With steam inhalations, the large size of steam particles does not allow them to penetrate far, which makes them effective only in the treatment of diseases of the throat and nasopharynx and unsuitable for the treatment of wet cough. In addition, steam inhalations are not used when treating a child, and they are also prohibited at elevated body temperatures.
If a cough occurs against the background of an acute respiratory infection, it may be accompanied by pain and/or discomfort in the throat, runny nose, headache, and fever.
For inhalation for wet cough, use a solution of salt or soda, expectorants, anti-inflammatory, antimicrobial drugs, alkaline mineral water, saline solution.
If there is a wet cough, the patient is advised to drink plenty of warm fluids, which helps moisturize the mucous membranes and thin the sputum, making it possible to get rid of the cough much faster. It is useful to drink heated mineral water, decoctions or infusions of medicinal herbs, berry and/or fruit compotes, tea with lemon, fruit drinks, milk with the addition of figs, honey, butter.
If you have a wet cough, the patient needs to drink plenty of fluids.
It is recommended to regularly ventilate and humidify the air in the room where the patient is located. To improve sputum discharge, the patient should sleep on a high pillow. Some patients are indicated for drainage massage and breathing exercises. At least for the period of illness, the patient should stop smoking, but it is better to get rid of the bad habit once and for all. For example, eliminating a smoker's cough without quitting smoking is not possible.
In most cases, there is no need for bed rest for a coughing patient, but some serious diseases, such as pneumonia, are treated in a hospital setting.
What is a wet cough?
Co-author, editor and medical expert – Maksimov Alexander Alekseevich.
Last updated: 10/22/2019
Coughing is a natural protective reaction of the body to irritation of the respiratory tract. It is not a disease, but a symptom of various pulmonary and other pathologies. By its nature it can be unproductive (dry) and productive (wet). With colds, the transition from a non-productive form to a productive form indicates the beginning of recovery. Therefore, a reasonable question arises: is it necessary to treat a wet cough with sputum? Definitely! Competent complex therapy speeds up the process of clearing mucus from the bronchi and helps to quickly cope with the disease.
Treatment of wet cough in adults is prescribed only after studying the accompanying symptoms and finding out the true cause of its occurrence.
Folk remedies for wet cough
In addition to basic therapy for wet cough, folk remedies can be used.
Sage tea helps with wet coughs. To prepare it, add 1 teaspoon of dry herb to a glass of boiling water. The infusion should be drunk warm throughout the day, divided into several doses, so it is convenient to brew sage tea in a thermos.
In bronchial asthma, the sputum is transparent, glassy, and the patient also experiences wheezing and attacks of suffocation.
For a wet cough, you can also prepare a decoction of linden blossom and birch buds, mixed in a 2:1 ratio. To prepare it, pour 2 tablespoons of the mixture into 2 glasses of hot water, boil for 5 minutes, remove from heat, cool, filter and add boiled water to 500 ml. This amount is enough for two days. The decoction is drunk warm with the addition of aloe juice (0.5 teaspoon per 1 glass) and honey (1 teaspoon per 1 glass) several times a day.
To prepare another effective folk remedy against a wet cough, grate 1 medium-sized black radish on a fine grater, squeeze out the juice and mix it with honey in equal quantities. The product is drunk 1 tablespoon 3-4 times a day.
Warming compresses, the basis of which can be heated cottage cheese or boiled potatoes, are very helpful against wet coughs. You can also make honey cakes, for which honey, flour and vegetable oil are mixed in equal parts. When placing warm compresses on the chest, do not touch the heart area.
The patient can rub the chest with badger, goose or any other interior fat, turpentine, a mixture of vegetable oil and red pepper.
How to treat a wet cough in an adult
A wet cough that occurs in an adult is most often caused by the following factors:
- tumors in the lungs;
- complication during inflammation of the airways of the respiratory system;
- the end of a cold, flu or acute respiratory viral disease;
- chronic infectious diseases, such as pneumonia, tuberculosis or syphilis.
When a wet cough appears with a cold and lasts more than two weeks, this means that the patient needs immediate medical attention. Chronic diseases can remain in incubation mode for a long time and manifest themselves when favorable conditions occur. It is a strong wet cough that is often the first sign of such diseases, the treatment of which should be carried out exclusively by an experienced doctor.
Establishing diagnosis
It is possible to identify the exact cause that caused a productive cough if you undergo a full examination at the clinic. When conducting diagnostics, the doctor may prescribe the following procedures:
- external examination and listening to the chest with a stethoscope;
- radiography or fluorography;
- if necessary, percussion (tapping with a finger);
- general tests (blood, urine, feces), as well as biochemistry;
- bacteriological culture of sputum.
Only after a diagnosis has been made can we talk about treatment.
When a wet cough occurs in adults, antitussive drugs that inhibit the natural occurrence of cough cannot be used to get rid of it. Thus, the sputum that forms in the bronchi will not be excreted, which will lead to its stagnation, thereby creating all the necessary conditions for the development of inflammatory processes and their successful progression.
A wet cough caused by a viral or bacterial infection is treated with drugs that thin out accumulated mucus and improve expectoration. It is recommended to use syrups in this case. Their composition usually contains all the necessary components to thin mucus and stimulate the immune system:
- glycosides;
- tannins;
- polysaccharides;
- saponins;
- organic acids, etc.
Even during the treatment process, doctors may prescribe other medications containing herbal substances, for example, extracts of plantain, thyme, primrose, etc. The following medications have proven themselves to be good for the treatment of wet cough:
These remedies can be used not only for wet but also dry coughs, as they have a combined effect. Before purchasing, you should check with the pharmacy that you need specific syrup. We should not forget that before treating a wet cough in an adult, you should definitely consult a doctor to make sure there are no more serious diseases.
Combined medications
You can quickly eliminate a cough using combination drugs with expectorant and mucolytic properties. The group of mucolytic medications includes:
The expectorant group contains the following effective medications:
It is also recommended to use homeopathic ointments, which in a short period of time penetrate into the body through the skin, warm the bronchial passages and promote a speedy recovery.
Carrying out inhalations
You can effectively fight a cough with inhalations. Inhaling warm medicinal vapors improves the production and dilution of bronchial mucus, and also improves its expectoration. For example, you can mix saline solution, mineral water and a couple of drops of pine aromatic oil. Inhalation of such steam activates the production of mucus and its further discharge.
Also, during the treatment of wet cough, the use of inhalers, for example, a nebulizer, is very important. The device is very convenient for carrying out self-inhalations; it is enough to direct the flow of therapeutic steam into the bronchial passages, and the patient determines how long to carry out the procedure independently. There are several types of nebulizers:
- compression devices are universal devices that allow the use of different medications;
- steam - intended exclusively for essential oils;
- ultrasound - used in the treatment of bronchitis. For inhalation, saline or herbal solutions are used.
Using a nebulizer greatly facilitates self-inhalation at home, thanks to which you can get rid of annoying cough much faster.
Traditional treatment
For effective treatment of wet cough, it is worth using traditional medicine methods using medicinal herbs and products. Just check out some popular recipes:
- Infusion of flaxseeds - two teaspoons of flax seeds should be poured into 0.25 liters of water and boiled for ten minutes. The decoction should be drunk warm, adding a little honey.
- Sage decoction - one tbsp. pour a spoonful of dried sage into 0.25 liters of just boiled water, then leave for 25 minutes. Strain the broth using gauze and mix with milk. You need to drink it warm, about four times a day.
- Linden blossom and birch bunches - to prepare this remedy, take one glass of linden flowers, which are mixed with half a glass of birch bunches. Pour the mixture with 0.25 water and cook for five minutes. The resulting medicine should be strained and waited until it cools, then add half a teaspoon of aloe juice and a little honey. You need to drink the resulting medicine in four doses throughout the day.
- Simple ginger tea is very helpful in treating dry cough; to prepare it, just take a glass of boiling water and add one teaspoon of chopped ginger root.
Wet cough and accompanying symptoms in various diseases
The mucus that comes out when you cough may be thin, thick, or sticky and difficult to cough up. If the mucus contains impurities of pus, it acquires a yellowish-greenish tint. If there is blood in the sputum, it has a rusty or reddish color.
In diseases of the respiratory system of viral etiology, sputum is usually clear and watery. The same sputum can be observed in patients with allergic diseases of the respiratory system. If the patient produces white, curd-like sputum, this may indicate that the inflammation is caused by microscopic fungi. Tuberculosis is characterized by copious sputum mixed with blood.
For wet coughs, preference should be given to nebulizer inhalations, since in this case the drug in the form of extremely small particles penetrates the trachea and bronchi, thus getting directly into the source of inflammation.
If a cough occurs against the background of an acute respiratory infection, it is accompanied by pain and/or discomfort in the throat, runny nose, headache, and fever.
In inflammatory diseases of the upper respiratory tract, cough often bothers the patient at night and in the morning.
Cough should be treated only after finding out its cause and making a diagnosis.
In acute bronchitis, at the beginning of the disease the cough is dry, after a few days sputum begins to separate. If the disease becomes chronic, the patient experiences prolonged persistent bouts of coughing with the release of mucopurulent or purulent sputum.
With pneumonia, patients complain of increased sweating, fever, weakness and fatigue; when coughing, mucopurulent sputum is released.
With whooping cough, there are bouts of severe coughing that can lead to suffocation. Sputum is scanty.
In bronchial asthma, the sputum is transparent, glassy, and the patient also experiences wheezing and attacks of suffocation.
If a wet cough develops, you should consult a doctor, especially if the patient has had a fever for more than 7 days, pain in the chest, shortness of breath, pus or blood in the sputum, weight loss, heavy sweating, frequent chills, severe cough, which does not stop for more than an hour.
How to treat a wet cough in an adult
The appearance of a wet cough caused by irritation of the mucous membranes of the trachea, bronchi or larynx is a mechanism of defense of the body. Its task is to clean the airways and ensure their passability. In medical practice, a wet cough is also called “productive”, because all foreign particles and infectious microorganisms are eliminated along with bronchial secretions. Before treating a wet cough in an adult, it is necessary to identify the exact cause of its occurrence in order to eliminate the causative agent of this symptomatology.
When an adult has a wet cough
Diagnostics
Important symptoms to evaluate include:
- duration of cough;
- sonority and timbre;
- type and amount of expectorated sputum;
- the appearance of a cough at a certain time (in the morning after sleep);
- the occurrence of symptoms due to irritants (odors, air humidity, changes in external temperature, stress);
- the presence of accompanying symptoms (chest pain, fever, headache, runny nose, weakness).
With a wet cough, the timbre of breathing always changes, which is due to the movement of sputum along the bronchopulmonary tract. A doctor using a phonendoscope will be able to notice most of the signs. Additional research methods will help make a correct diagnosis:
- laboratory examinations (sputum culture, general clinical tests);
- radiography;
- spirometry;
- laryngoscopy;
- bronchoscopy.
