Hard-Wired to Cough and Chronic Cough

Are you hard-wired to cough?  And if you are hard-wired to cough, then normal cough that everyone experiences and needs becomes exaggerated.  That means your cough mechanism is easily irritated and sets-off coughing spells. People who are hard-wired to cough suffer from Chronic Cough.  Dr. Mandel Sher is a Cough Specialist and one of the very few doctors in the Tampa Bay area who is specially trained to use an advanced diagnostic tool during an office visit to determine if you are hard-wired to cough.  Accurate diagnosis of cause is the key to developing an effective cough treatment plan.

A current school of scientific research and thought around Chronic Cough points to an overly sensitive cough mechanism, also known as Hypersensitive Cough Reflex, as the underlying cause of Chronic Cough.  A relevant discussion was presented by Eva Millgvist, M.D., Ph.D. in “The Problems of Treating Unexplained Chronic Cough” in the March 2016 issue of the journal Chest.  The article reports that chronic cough, similar to chronic pain and itch, is neurogenic mediated. In the case of Chronic Cough, this means that the nerve endings at the back of the throat become irritated and set-off a coughing episode. 

Dr. Mandel Sher is one of the nation’s leading doctors investigating neurogenic mediated cough.  Dr. Sher’s diagnostic approach concludes by identifying the underlying cause of your unique cough.  People who are hard-wired to cough may follow a cough treatment plan that includes speech therapy and a combination of prescription drugs such as chlorpheniramine extendtabs and gabapentin to cool down the cough.

If you have a cough that won’t go away, contact Dr. Mandel Sher today at Center for Cough:  727-393-8067.