COPD and Chronic Cough - How they are Related ?

If you have chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), you’ll likely experience one or more of the following four symptoms:

• shortness of breath, especially with activity
• wheezing or producing a gasping, whistling sound when you try to breathe
• feeling tight or constricted in your chest area
• coughing that produces moderate to large amounts of mucus or sputum

People tend to find coughing the most disruptive of these symptoms. Coughing can interfere with social events, such as going to the movies, and it can prevent you from falling asleep at night. Many people go to their doctor or an urgent care center seeking relief from the chronic coughing associated with COPD.

As annoying as this coughing may be, it actually serves a useful function. Deep coughing clears the mucus that clogs your airways, allowing you to breathe more easily.

Some doctors teach their patients how to cough and encourage them to do so often. Some experts even go a step further and advise against doing anything to stop the coughing, as a clear airway means easier breathing in the long run.

What causes coughing with Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease?

If you’ve had COPD for a while, you probably know how much you usually cough. If you find yourself coughing more than usual, or coughing up sputum that looks different than it normally does, it may be time to go to the doctor to make sure you’re not having a flare-up or an exacerbation.

An increase in coughing can have several causes. Your body may be producing more sputum or mucus. Exposure to irritants, especially cigarette smoke or harsh fumes, can also increase coughing.

You may also be coughing more because you’ve developed a comorbidity, which means another illness exists alongside your COPD. Examples of comorbidities include infections such as pneumonia or influenza, or issues like gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD). When you lie down, GERD can push stomach acid into your throat and mouth and cause you to cough.

If your increased coughing is due to a comorbidity, you can use antibiotics or medications to return to your regular level of coughing. Don’t make any assumptions, though — speak to your doctor, who will make a diagnosis and prescribe you the right medication.

How does a cough become chronic?

Chronic bronchitis is defined as a chronic cough. It’s a cough that persists day after day after day. Some experts, such as those at the Mayo Clinic, say it’s a cough that lasts for three months or longer. So, what causes a person to develop a chronic cough?

Chronic inhalation of chemicals, such as those in cigarette smoke, causes an immune response. Immune cells treat these chemicals as pathogens. They secrete a series of chemicals. And this, over time, causes airways to become chronically inflamed.

This inflammation irritates goblet cells lining airways. So, they produce excessive amounts of mucus. To top this off, the normal mechanisms for bringing this mucus to your upper airway are damaged.

So, you inhale tiny chemicals or particles. Mucus balls them up. But, they are now unable to move upwards. So, this is what induces the cough reflex. Being that this condition is chronic, the cough becomes chronic as well. It becomes one of the initial symptoms of chronic bronchitis.

What to make of this?

You can have a chronic cough and not have COPD. For instance, post nasal drip due to allergies can also cause it. Asthma can cause it. Likewise, you can have chronic bronchitis without having COPD. But, many people with COPD have a chronic cough. And, that’s why we’re talking about it here.

And, while a chronic cough may be annoying, it rarely causes people to seek medical attention. But it probably should. Because, with a proper diagnosis and treatment, that chronic cough may improve over time.

What are the treatments for coughing?

Most importantly, stop smoking to put an end to “smoker’s cough,” the dry, hacking cough common among people who smoke tobacco. A deep, productive cough that clears the airways of mucus may replace this dry cough.

Long-acting inhaled beta-agonists such as salmeterol sometimes decrease coughing. Beta-agonists are another type of bronchodilator, which help open your airways and get more oxygen into your lungs.

Some researchers have studied the effectiveness of cough syrup with codeine. Although a few small studies showed a significant reduction in coughing, other studies were unable to reproduce that result. Using cough syrup and codeine to control coughing is a decision for you and your doctor to make together.

There are other medications that are important for COPD control but that don’t affect a cough. These include:

• corticosteroids such as prednisone (Rayos, Prednisone Intensol)
• long-acting anticholinergics such as tiotropium (Spiriva), which can actually make the cough reflex more sensitive

Can you have COPD without a cough?

COPD results in coughing and excess mucus production, but not in the case of emphysema. Emphysema is one of the diseases classified as COPD. It’s a progressive disease in which the alveoli, or air sacs, in your lungs begin to collapse.

Emphysema may have no symptoms other than shortness of breath. Many people who develop emphysema can have no cough or excess mucus production. Some people have both emphysema and chronic bronchitis.

Emphysema is a serious disease with the potential for severe complications. If you have shortness of breath during even simple activity, see your doctor for an evaluation. You may have a form of COPD, even without an annoying cough.

Understand more about Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease 

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