Summer Vacation Can Challenge Your Cough

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Summer vacation can challenge your Cough.  After all, vacation is very often a time to be-off your regular schedule, eat new and more foods, visit new places, and relax medication and exercise routines.  Fun for sure, but vacations can be challenging for managing your Cough.

Dr. Mandel Sher, nationally renowned Cough expert, will evaluate the triggers and cause of your Cough and recommend a customized Cough treatment plan that will deliver effective and sustainable Cough relief.  Learn how to manage your Cough and enhance your enjoyment of vacation.   Contact Center for Cough:  727-393-8067. www.centerforcough.com.

As patients are checking-out and scheduling their next CENTER FOR COUGH appointment, we hear “…I’m going to be traveling over the summer” or “I’ll be away during the month of July…” or “I’m going back-up north and won’t be back in St. Pete until the fall.”  Of course, we remind patients that Dr. Sher and the CENTER FOR COUGH team will be staying-put and will be available if they have questions while they are away.  But we also remind patients to pay attention to how their daily summer vacation regimen may affect their cough.  Here are some of the tips we offer on how to manage summer vacation and your Cough:

  • Medication Compliance: Vacation-time is often a planned opportunity to deviate from daily routine – but that should not include your medications.  It is very important to remember to take your medications as prescribed.
  • Diet and Reflux: Vacations are a wonderful time to sample and enjoy new foods and some foods that you may usually forbid yourself from eating like chocolate and fatty foods.  You may find yourself eating more than usual.  Sometimes, vacations may also include more caffeine and alcohol.can act as a trigger of Chronic Cough.  So, if your Cough accelerates during vacation, evaluate your diet and consider the possibility of GERD triggering your Cough and the need for diet modification.
  • Climate: You may be vacationing in an area with a dry climate.  A dry climate may further dry-out your throat and trigger Cough.  If you are Coughing more frequently, consider the possibility of climate contributing to your Cough.  Sip…Sip…Sip.  Carry a water bottle with you.  Suck-on a Cough lozenge where pectin is the active ingredient.
  • Allergens: Could your cough be triggered by allergens found in the area you’re visiting?  Remember, while the peak of seasonal allergies may be waning in most areas of Florida, seasonal allergies in other destinations may just be getting underway.  So if allergy symptoms accompany worsening Cough, then consider allergens as the culprit.
  • Exercise: Voice therapy exercises and “hard swallowing” help alleviate Cough.  These exercises are easy-to-do and can be done quickly – even while sitting at a traffic light.  So, if your Cough is accelerating, remember to do your exercises.

Summer vacation may include many Cough triggers such as GERD, Dryness, Allergens, and inconsistent adherence to Medications and Exercise.  BUT the underlying reason you’re probably Coughing is that you are hard-wired and hot-wired to Cough.  Likely that the nerve endings at the back of your throat are super-sensitive and easily irritated to produce a Cough wildfire.

Contact Dr. Mandel Sher at CENTER FOR COUGH for Effective and Sustainable Cough Relief.  Enjoy Vacation.  Enjoy Life:  727-393-8067.  www.centerforcough.com.