Misunderstanding and Truth About Coughing...Natural defense, if you put up with it, it can cause complications
May 02, 2025
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◇Cough, excessive suppression may cause complications
In general, cough is worse when you have bronchitis or pneumonia than when you have a cold. This is because the more severe the disease, the more bad substances there are in the respiratory tract, so you have to cough more severely to get out.
Professor Ryu Ho-joon of the Department of Respiratory Medicine at Eulji University Hospital in Daejeon said, `If you suppress your cough too much, you may not be able to discharge bad substances and phlegm that enter your body, causing more severe complications"If you cough with a cold, you don't have to use medicine on purpose to stop your cough unless it's very bad enough to make you uncomfortable to live."
Therefore, treatment to suppress coughing seems to improve cold symptoms, but there may be cases where it is not helpful in treating colds. It is recommended to suppress the cough only when necessary, and to treat the cough naturally as the cold is cured. In fact, when treating a cold, the phlegm is thinned and the bronchial tubes are expanded to make coughing easier, and this temporarily causes more coughing, but most of them improve on their own over time.
◇'Cover your mouth with your arms and turn your head around'Etiquette required
When you cough, numerous fragments of your mouth fly into the air. At this time, viruses that cause colds or flu can fly together and transmit the disease to others. To avoid transmission to others, you should turn your head when you cough, cover your mouth with your arms, not your hands, and cough. In addition, if a person with a cold wears a mask, such damage can be prevented in advance.
When you cough a lot, it's best to rest. It is always good to maintain a clean and pleasant environment, and adjust it so that the temperature difference between inside and outside the house is not severe.
Professor Ryu Ho-jun said, `It is important to keep the airway mucous membrane dry by maintaining proper humidity in the living environment, and if phlegm sticks to the airway mucous membrane, it is difficult to cough, so drink a lot of water to dilute the phlegm" he advised.
※Misunderstanding and truth about coughs
- Cough I thought it was a cold, why does it continue?
▶ Usually when you say 'cough' the first thing that comes to mind is 'cough'. In fact, most coughs caused by colds improve within one to two weeks, and rarely last more than three weeks. Therefore, if the cough continues for more than 3 weeks without any obvious cause, there may be other causes such as asthma, pneumonia, pulmonary tuberculosis, and even rare lung cancer in addition to the simple cold, so it is important to see a specialist for the exact cause.
Coughing is caused by a wide variety of causes, and the cause may vary depending on the sound or pattern of the cough, when it gets worse, age and underlying disease. Therefore, rather than simply suppressing a cough, identifying the cause of the cough and receiving appropriate treatment is a shortcut to health recovery.
-Why can't I stop coughing when I'm taking cough medicine?
▶ There are cases where the cough does not stop immediately even after taking the cough medicine. This may be because the drug is not fit for constitution, but it may also be that the airway mucosa is damaged or the bronchial tubes are temporarily sensitive after infection. In this case, it can feel as if the cough continues. In fact, coughs that appear during the recovery process may last up to one to two months in some cases. If you see a gradual improvement over time, watching the progress rather than changing the medication immediately can be an important part of the treatment.
-Can't I just leave the cough alone?
▶Cough and phlegm are natural defense actions for the body to protect and recover the respiratory system on its own. Without these coughs and phlegm at all, we would be far more susceptible to infection. So, even if the cough is somewhat uncomfortable, if it persists lightly for a short period of time, it is also a way to watch the body's recovery process rather than worrying too much. Of course, if the cough is severe or lasts long enough to interfere with daily life, it is recommended to consult a specialist at any time.
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This article was translated by Naver AI translator.
