Cough is one of the top 5 reasons why patients seek medical attention. There is no clinical evidence that over-the-counter cough expectorants or suppressants actually relieve cough. A nonprescription cough remedy does little more than offer comfort to desperate patients. Cough can also be due a serious illness such as heart failure or serious lung infection such as tuberculosis.

Sometimes a cough can linger for several days or weeks after the common cold or the flu, even though there is no fever. Taking a bath for ten to twenty minutes and breathing warm moist air can be helpful in relieving the cough once the infection is over. It usually takes about a week for the common cold infection to clear and some people have a cough that can linger many days afterwards. If you wake up at night with a cough, try the hot bath approach. The moist bath or shower treatment can be done several times a day, and usually this is the most effective action you can take to reduce annoying coughs, dry or wet. For a cough that is disturbing sleep, temporary use of a cough syrup consisting of codeine with promethazine can be helpful when used an hour or two before bed. Promethazine is a phenothiazine derivative that possesses antihistamine, sedative, antimotion-sickness, antiemetic, and anticholinergic effects.

Natural cough remedy due to the common cold or respiratory infection
Herbs used for cough suppression are weak compared to prescription drugs such as codeine, but for mild cases they may be helpful.
Licorice herb
Marshmallow herb
Mullein herb
Iron deficiency may be a cause of chronic cough in some women.
A spoonful of honey reduce cough in some children.

Children under 2 years of age should not be given over the counter cough or cold medicines since serious side effects are possible.

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Antihistamines and Cough
Although an antihistamine cough medicine may reduce cough severity, the sedation and side effects are annoying. The older-generation antihistamines that work against cough include chlorpheniramine. Newer, brand-name antihistamines such as Claritin and Zyrtec are not likely to be helpful for cough.

Dry cough
A natural home remedy for dry cough, especially a type of cough that lingers after a cold or flu is gone, is to stay in the hot bath for at least 15 minutes 3 to 6 times daily and inhale the moist air. This can be done in the middle of the night if the cough is persistent and causing insomnia.

Croup Cough
Croup is a viral infection of the vocal cords. A croupy cough is when a child has a tight, "barking" cough and usually a hoarse voice.

Smoker Cough
Cough often occurs in smokers, and in those who get COPD from chronic smoking over many years.

Chronic Cough Causes
Chronic coughing is defined as a cough that lasts longer than 4 weeks. Chronic cough can have several causes such as postnasal drip, pneumonia, bronchitis, cigarette smoking, acid reflux, heart disease, lung cancer, tuberculosis, and medications such as ACE inhibitors used for treating high blood pressure. Asthma also can cause chronic cough. Allergy can cause chronic cough, also, mostly due to postnasal drip.
   Among people suffering from chronic cough, more than half have symptoms of depression. The good news is that the depression seems to lift as the chronic cough improves.

Cough drop
Cough drops or throat lozenges are tablets which people can suck to soothe the throat or to reduce the severity of coughing. They are usually small, sweetened, and contain an oral anesthetic, such as menthol, which numbs the receptors in the throat that cause the cough reflex. The occasional use of "lozenge" (first used in 1530, according to the Oxford English Dictionary) is due to the original lozenge shape of cough drops. Popular brands of cough drops include Fisherman's Friend, Halls, and Ricola. There is little research to support the effectiveness of cough drops in reducing the severity or intensity of a cough.

Codeine cough syrup
A codeine cough syrup, combined with an antihistamine, could be helpful for chronic night cough, especially at night to help sleep although research is not conclusive. In my opinion, the combination of Phenergan and codeine works well when used in the evening for cough due to the flu or common cold. However, a new study shows that codeine may not work well by itself for chronic cough.
     Codeine is a standard ingredient in cough remedies, but it seems to be no more effective than an inactive "placebo" compound, at least in people with chronic lung disease. Dr. Jacyln Smith of South Manchester University Hospital Trusts and colleagues note that codeine is the standard anti- cough agent to which others are compared. Laboratory studies suggest it is effective for cough due to different causes, but little is known about its impact on cough in people with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) such as emphysema. To investigate further, the researchers conducted a study of 21 such patients who complained of cough. The patients were challenged with citric acid to induce cough and then, on two separate occasions, they were given either codeine or placebo 1 hour before returning home. There they wore a lapel microphone to record the sounds of "explosive" coughing during the day and night. At the start of the study, they subjects experienced an average of 8 seconds of coughing per hour. After placebo treatment this fell to 7 seconds per hour. After codeine, it dropped to 6.41 seconds per hour. Although the time spent coughing was less after codeine, there was no major difference between codeine and placebo from a statistical standpoint . They conclude that the findings are "consistent with the view that any (anti-cough) effect of codeine is attributable to a placebo effect." Smith and colleagues say that studies of cough in other clinical situations are "urgently needed" if codeine is to continue to be used as a cough remedy. Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology, April 2006.

Cough Suppressant Syrup and children
Children should brush their teeth after swallowing syrupy cough and cold medications since the syrup can cause enamel decay.

Child Cough
While coughs in children are worrisome and annoying, cough syrup is not the answer. Cough is very common in children. However, cough and cold medicines are not useful in children and can actually be harmful. In most cases, a cough that is unrelated to chronic lung conditions, environmental influences, or other specific factors, will resolve on its own. Dextromethorphan, often listed on labels as DM, and diphenhydramine, an antihistamine, do not offer any more relief to children suffering from cough than sugar water does. In 2000 the FDA warned against the use of common over-the- counter cold remedies and diet pills containing phenylpropanolamine (PPA) after researchers found it raised the risk of stroke in women.

Common Cold Cough
Cough due to the common cold is probably the most common cause of acute cough. In a significant subset of patients with "postinfectious" cough, the etiology is probably an inflammatory response triggered by a viral upper respiratory infection (ie, the common cold). The resultant subacute or chronic cough can be considered to be due to an upper airway cough syndrome, previously referred to as postnasal drip syndrome. Taking a bath for ten to twenty minutes and breathing warm moist air can be helpful in relieving the cough once the infection is over. It usually takes about a week for the common cold infection to clear and some people have a cough that can linger many days afterwards. If you wake up at night with a cough, try the hot bath approach.

Additional Herbs potentially useful for Cough and Cold
Coltsfoot herb
Oroxylum Indicum herb

Cough Suppression with Over the Counter medicines
Cough-suppressant therapy, previously termed nonspecific antitussive therapy, incorporates the use of pharmacologic agents with mucolytic effects and/or inhibitory effects on the cough reflex itself. The intent of this type of therapy is to reduce the frequency and/or intensity of coughing on a short-term basis. However, over the counter cough medications, at best, are minimally effective. Quite a number of medications are sold with limited research to back up the claims, for instance Halls cough drop.

Cough medicines for infants withdrawn from market
In October of 2007, makers of over-the-counter oral cough and cold medicines for infants two years and younger announced that they are taking those products off the market. The following are being voluntarily withdrawn:

Dimetapp Decongestant Plus Cough Infant Drops
Dimetapp Decongestant Infant Drops
Little Colds Decongestant Plus Cough
Little Colds Multi-Symptom Cold Formula
PEDIACARE Infant Drops Decongestant (containing pseudoephedrine)
PEDIACARE Infant Drops Decongestant & Cough (containing pseudoephedrine)
PEDIACARE Infant Dropper Decongestant (containing phenylephrine)
PEDIACARE Infant Dropper Long-Acting Cough
PEDIACARE Infant Dropper Decongestant & Cough (containing phenylephrine)
Robitussin Infant Cough DM Drops
Triaminic Infant & Toddler Thin Strips Decongestant
Triaminic Infant & Toddler Thin Strips Decongestant Plus Cough
TYLENOL Concentrated Infants ' Drops Plus Cold
TYLENOL Concentrated Infants ' Drops Plus Cold & Cough

Cough remedy danger
Widely used over-the-counter cough and cold medicines should not be given to children under 6 years of age. The majority of over the counter cough medicines do not work and some can be dangerous in young children.

Between 2004 and 2005, approximately 1,500 children younger than 2 years old were treated in U.S. emergency departments for adverse events associated with cough and cold medications, Dr. A. Srinivasan and colleagues at the CDC note in the January 12th, 2007 issue of the Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report. In three dead infants, a medical examiner or coroner determined that the cough and cold medications were the underlying causes of death. Blood levels of the decongestant pseudoephedrine at autopsy ranged from 4700 to 7100 ng/mL, compared with blood levels of 180 to 500 ng/mL normally expected after therapeutic dosing in children between 2 to 12 years old. Because of the risk of toxicity, the lack of dosing instructions, and the scarcity of published evidence on effectiveness of these cough medications in children younger than 2 years old, parents and other caregivers should not administer cough and cold medications to children in this age group without first consulting a health-care provider and should follow the provider's instructions precisely. Cold and cough medications are no more effective than placebo in children younger than 2 years of age. Furthermore, the American College of Chest Physicians in 2006 released clinical practice guidelines for management of cough, advising clinicians to refrain from recommending cough suppressants for this age group. Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, January 12, 2007.

Cough and cold medicines send about 7,000 children to hospital emergency rooms each year. About two-thirds of the cases are children who took the medicines unsupervised. However, about one-quarter involved cases in which parents gave the proper dosage and an allergic reaction or some other problem developed.

Tussionex cough medicine danger
Numerous reports of adverse events -- including death -- have been reported with the misuse of Tussionex, a hydrocodone-containing prescription cough suppressant.

Whooping cough
Whooping cough (pertussis) is still a very serious infection when it occurs in children under the age of one year old. But thanks to an effective vaccine and prevention against infection, whooping cough is now quite rare. Before the vaccination against whooping cough was introduced, three out of four children caught the disease and some died every year. Today only a few get whooping cough.

Cough Questions
Q. Is there an herbal cough cure?
   A. I am not aware of an herbal cough cure at this time.

Q. I am a 70 year old Norwegian who emigrated to the US from Norway with my American wife when I retired ( 3 years ago ). I had been suffering from a constant cough caused by post nasal drip since 1999. In Norway I got some pills on prescription from my doctor, and they worked, but unfortunately they are not on the market in the US. However, after having used Day Quil and Night Quil in relatively large quantities for some time I started to look for the active ingredient in the pills I got in Norway. It turned out to be Acetyl Cysteine. Looking for that in the web I found N-Acetyl-L-Cysteine which I promptly purchased. It works. My constant cough is gone. I take 3 pills a day. One in the morning, one about 4 PM and one around 10 PM. The first half hour or so after taking a pill I may have to clear my throat a few times, but that is all. After years of persistent cough the relief is almost unbelieveable. I have no idea why it works, but it does. I though that it might interest you.