How to Stop Cough Symptoms

Incessant coughing makes you feel miserable.

Cough symptoms, whether due to a cold, allergies or virus, can leave you feeling miserable and uncomfortable. When your cough won't stop it leads to embarrassment and interrupts activities and work. Although to effectively get rid of the cough completely you must deal with the source, you can ease coughing and cough-related symptoms temporarily to allow your body to rest.

Things You'll Need

• Honey
• Herbal tea
• Hard candy
• Vaporizer
• Cough suppressant

Instructions

1. 

   Drink water to soothe a cough and relieve sore throat.

   Drink several eight-ounce glasses of water throughout the day to help loosen mucus from the back of the throat and keep your body hydrated. When mucus is continuously draining down the throat, it causes irritation and a tickling feeling that result in coughing.

2. Swallow a spoonful of honey, slowly, to stop your cough. Honey can be used in place of over-the-counter cough medicines to stop cough and relieve a sore throat. As an alternate to eating the honey plain, you can stir it into a glass of warm water or mix it into a cup of herbal tea.

3. Suck on a hard candy to relieve the tickling sensation in your throat that can cause you to cough. This is especially effective when you have to do a lot of talking at work or school. Keep a stash of hard candies in your desk drawer, purse or briefcase.

4. Run a vaporizer at night, while you're sleeping. The moisture dissipated by the vaporizer keeps your throat and nasal passages from becoming dry, which can help alleviate coughing.

5. Take a cough suppressant at night to avoid be woken up by a hacking cough. Follow package directions.

Tips & Warnings

• See a doctor to diagnose the source of a persistent cough that doesn't respond to these steps.

• Store-bought throat lozenges or cough drops can be used in place of hard candy.

• Consult a doctor immediately if you're coughing up blood, have recently lost weight without trying or are having difficulty breathing. Babies less than three months old with a cough should be taken to the doctor immediately.

References

• Mayo Clinic; Chronic Cough: Treatments and Drugs; May 2011
• University of Maryland Medical Center: Cough
• Family Doctor; Colds and the Flu; November 2010