Productive cough – symptoms, causes, diagnosis and treatment

Your guide to understanding productive cough.

By: Pavitra Sampath | | Updated: June 13, 2014 3:26 pm

Tags: Phlegm

Also Read - This is how you can get rid of phlegm

When you have a cough, what do you do? Wait for two to three days before reaching out for the cough syrup in your kitchen cabinet? Do you know if it is effective enough for the type of cough you suffer from? Okay, before you answer that, do you even know what type of cough you have? In this post, Dr Mehul Thakkar, renowned pulmonologist tells you more about ‘productive or wet cough’ or ‘cough with phlegm’ (also called ‘balgam’ in hindi) – how to identify it, how it is caused and what you can do about it. Also Read - What the colour of your cough/mucus/phlegm says about your health

Productive cough can be caused due to a number of factors. Some of them include viral or bacterial lung infections like in the case of a common cold. Other more serious diseases like asthma, pneumonia, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), lung abscesses or other conditions like bronchiectasis could manifest as productive cough. Apart from this certain lifestyle factors like smoking could also lead to a person suffering from it. Also Read - Expensive cough syrups' benefits questioned by British study

Identifying productive cough is simple

A classic symptom of productive cough is coughing with sputum or phlegm production. Phlegm usually contains mucus with bacteria, debris or dead tissue, and sloughed-off cells. Other symptoms include heaviness in the chest, slight to severe breathlessness. In some cases a person may even have fever, runny nose and drainage of mucus into the throat.

The diagnosis of productive cough is usually very easy. The doctor will ask the patient about his/her symptoms, listen to the patient’s chest sounds or breathing to check for any sign of congestion or difficulty in breathing (identified by a raspy intake of air). In cases where the doctor suspects other causes, he/she may order further tests including a sputum sample, blood tests and chest x-ray. That being said, it is essential that one go to the doctor at the earliest to minimize complications due to underlying diseases.

Treatment for wet cough is different from dry cough

A dry cough is usually treated by suppressing the cough reflex by the use of syrups that usually have dextromethorphan or codeine like substances. Treatments for wet cough are mainly aimed at relieving the congestion in the chest. OTC (over the counter) expectorants can provide some relief. Along with other medication the cause of the cough should also be treated. For example, asthma is treated with inhaled bronchodilators that may or may not contain inhaled steroids, pneumonia and lung abscess are treated with antibiotics etc. In the case of a condition called bronchitis, there are prescription medicines that contain bronchodilators, or inhalers that contain steroids. There are also tablets available which contain these bronchodilators and steroids. If the situation is severe, there are injectables available.

In some cases where the congestion might be severe, a doctor might prescribe mucolytic agents (substances that break down the mucus) like bromhexine or ambroxol, with or without a bronchodilator. These medications are important to provide symptomatic relief.

Read more about causes, symptoms, diagnosis and treatment of lung disease.

Do not neglect productive cough

Since productive cough is usually the manifestation of an underlying condition, If left untreated, the condition may worsen leading to multiple complications. For instance a lung infection might spread to organs and damage them, a patient with asthma or COPD may develop difficulty in breathing etc. Excessive cough itself can cause chest and abdominal pain, giddiness, unconsciousness, rupture of organs like esophagus (food pipe), lung (leading to air outside lungs, i.e. pneumothorax) and increase in blood pressure.

Formulations by Benadryl can help reduce both the productive and dry kinds of cough with their CR and DR variants. The Benadryl CR formulation has a unique triple action formula which thins, loosens and expels phlegm, allowing consumers to get symptomatic relief.