Good Cough. Bad Cough.

Once in awhile you inhale something that is just too much for your creeping mucus blanket to trap and dump. Mother Nature in her infinite wisdom designed a number of back-up defense systems to keep garbage out of your fragile lungs.

A 400-mph cough is one way to knock that junk out of the park. An EFFICIENT cough is amazing and can keep you from aspirating that tuna sandwich downstream into your lungs. A cough can forcibly eject saliva from dripping down the wrong tube and can expel the gnat you just inhaled.

An INEFFICIENT cough, however, is nearly useless and can actually work against you. An irritating chronic dry hacking cough that doesn’t seem to move anything out of the chest is the body’s cry for help and it needs to be brought to your doctor’s attention. A ten-day cold doesn’t count. A ten-month cough should never be ignored.

You may have an allergy. You may have asthma. The mucus blanket may be too dry because of one of your medications. The air quality inside your house may be causing problems.

The cough that was designed to protect you, begins to tear up the very system it was meant to defend. Over-the-counter stuff may simply mask the symptoms and delay the cure. The cure could actually be something quite simple. But residual damage is often irreversible so please see your doctor as soon as possible.

Be well. Breathe beautifully.