It’s normal to cough when something tickles your throat or a piece of food “goes down the wrong pipe.” After all, coughing is your body’s way of clearing your throat and airways of mucus, fluids, irritants, or microbes. A dry cough, a cough that doesn’t help to expel any of these, is less common.
干燥的，黑客咳嗽可能会刺激。但这也可能是更严重的迹象，例如慢性肺部疾病。如果您有持续的干性咳嗽，这是一些原因，您应该将其检查出来。
咳嗽会给您的体内发生许多事情，尤其是如果没有消失。实际上，咳嗽是人们拜访其初级保健医生的最常见原因克利夫兰诊所。慢性咳嗽是一种持续八周以上的咳嗽，似乎令人担忧。但这实际上很普遍，可能是由以下原因引起的：
- 过敏
- 哮喘
- bronchitis
- gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD)
- 后滴
- 治疗
angiotensin-converting-enzyme inhibitors
In nonsmokers, these are the causes for chronic coughs in nine out of 10 patients, according to哈佛健康。但是与其他症状相结合，慢性干咳嗽可能是一个更大，更严重的问题，包括：
- lung infection
- lung cancer
- 急性鼻窦炎
- chronic sinusitis
- 细支气管炎
- 囊性纤维化
- 气肿
- 喉炎
- pertussis (whooping cough)
- COPD
- heart failure
- chroup
- 结核
- idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis
（IPF）
如果您目前抽烟或曾经抽烟，则会增加患慢性干咳嗽的风险。美国肺协会。考虑到可能导致干咳嗽的一系列原因，可以肯定地说，仅仅这是不足以诊断出更大的问题。您的医生很可能需要进行进一步的评估和测试，以便在建议治疗方案之前了解根本原因。
当您开始出现其他症状时，持续的干性咳嗽可能是更严重的标志。如果未经治疗，IPF，肺癌和心力衰竭等慢性肺部疾病可能会迅速恶化。如果您的干咳嗽伴有以下症状：您应该立即看到医生：
- 呼吸急促
- high or prolonged fever
- choking
- 咳嗽up blood or bloody phlegm
- 弱点，疲劳
- 胃口损失
- 喘息
- 胸痛不
咳嗽 - 夜汗
- 腿部肿胀恶化
Often, it’s the combination of one or more of these symptoms along with dry cough that can be alarming, say experts, but it’s important not to jump to conclusions until a full workup has been done.
“A persistent dry cough is one common symptom of IPF. There are usually other symptoms of IPF as well, such as shortness of breath and a Velcro-like crackle in the lungs a doctor can hear through a stethoscope,” says Dr. Steven Nathan, medical director of theAdvanced Lung Disease and Transplant Programat Inova Fairfax Hospital.
“However, physicians generally try to rule out more common conditions causing a cough, such as postnasal drip, GERD, or a hyperactive airway. Once a physician determines a more common condition isn’t the issue and patients aren’t responding to therapies, then a physician focuses on more uncommon diagnoses, such as IPF.”
根据您的其他症状，您的医生可能会下令进行许多检查，以帮助诊断干咳嗽的原因。进行身体检查后，您的医生会问您一些有关干咳嗽的问题，例如何时开始，如果您发现任何触发因素或患有任何医疗疾病。您的医生可能订购的一些测试包括：
- 胸部X射线
- 血液样本
- CT scan of your chest
- throat swab
- 痰样品
- spirometry
- 甲基酚挑战测试
Some of these will help your doctor get a closer look inside your chest as well and test your bodily fluids to check for infections or other health issues. Others will test for how well you can breathe. If these still aren’t enough to pinpoint an issue, you may be referred to a pulmonologist, a doctor who specializes in lung and respiratory diseases, who may order more tests.
许多非处方药和自然疗法可供您尝试从干咳嗽中找到暂时的缓解。但是，由于咳嗽几乎总是一个更大问题的症状，因此重要的是要记住，这些解决方案不太可能使咳嗽消失。根据您的医生访问后进行的任何诊断，他们将相应地推荐治疗选择。
同时，您可以尝试以下内容，美国肺协会，帮助缓解慢性咳嗽：
- cough drops or hard candy
- 蜂蜜
- vaporizer
- steamy shower
A chronic dry cough can pose a threat to your overall health if it’s not treated. It can make any current conditions like IPF worse by scarring your lung tissue even more. It can also make your daily life more difficult and cause discomfort and potentially damage.
“No current evidence exists to suggest a dry cough is damaging. However, some physicians think it could be damaging due to the tremendous force and pressure to the airway that a cough generates,” says Dr. Nathan.
美国肺协会概述了您可能会出现慢性干咳嗽可能面临的一些风险：
- 精疲力尽
- headaches, nausea, vomiting
- 胸部和肌肉酸痛
- sore throat and hoarseness
- broken ribs
- 失禁
如果问题很严重，您甚至可能会发现自己避免了社交情况，这可能导致焦虑，沮丧甚至抑郁。持续的干性咳嗽可能并不总是是威胁生命的事物的迹象，但可能是有害的。因此，很重要的是要快速解决它。