Definition and causes
Cough is lungernes response to irritation from, for example. smoke, infection or something you have been wrong in the neck. Cough is a reflex in which the diaphragm to pull together so that the air in the lungs squeezed out with great force. Together with the air pressure also slim, dust and other substances that can irritate the airways, op. By cough you get cleaned lungs of the substances that are not normally to be expected.The most common causes of cough are: - Cold.
- Influenza.
- Halsbetændelse .
- Pneumonia.
- Bronchitis .
- COPD (Chronic Obstruktiv Lungesygdom, Rygerlunger).
- Asthma.
- Pertussis .
In children seen in addition to the above, including the following causes of cough: - Astmatisk bronchitis .
- False strubehoste .
In rare cases, the cough be symptomatic of serious diseases such as lung cancer or TB . In addition, cough, which mainly occurs when one is down, a sign of heart failure .
What must be pointed out, if you host?
- Fever: If you have a fever, while hosts, is presumably an infection in luftvejende or lungs.
- Opspyt: If you host mucus up, it is a sign of a irritationstilstand in the lungs. If slimy is yellow / green and opaque, it may be signs of pneumonia . There will often also be fever. There may be particularly after prolonged cough seem a little blood in opspyttet, but overall the bloody opspyt a faresignal, as this can also be seen by lung cancer and TB and should be investigated.
- Duration of cough: By cold , influenza or sore throat coughing often disappears by itself within days to weeks. By pneumonia can cough disappear by itself, but will often require treatment with antibiotics, particularly in the elderly. Cough that lasts more than a few weeks or is getting worse and worse, may signal COPD (Chronic Obstruktiv Lungesygdom, Rygerlunger) , ( asthma , lung cancer or TB .
Consideration of cough
If the cough is due to an infection with bacteria, you have to antibiotics, usually penicillin.
If you have a very tough mucus, one should drink plenty, which may make the slimy more tyndtflydende and thus easier to cough up. In some cases, it may be necessary to take medicine, which soften slimy. Cough can be particularly troublesome at night, but it can help to sleep with closed head.At the very annoying dry cough, you can get cough medicine, but we should be careful with this because the cough is a symptom of irritation in the lungs. Since cough is important to keep clean the lungs, the temptation to cough generally not suppressed. If one suppresses coughing, there is a risk of worsening or even produce a pneumonia. |
