We'll be in touch every so often with health tips, patient stories, important resources and other information you need to keep you and your family healthy. What causes that terrible nighttime cough? What triggers these annoying coughing spells and what can you do to avoid them?
What causes nighttime coughing? While many issues trigger coughing, there are two common causes I see among many of my patients: acid reflux and post-nasal drip. When you lie down at night, you lose the gravitational advantage that you have while standing during the day.
If you have acid reflux, the acid comes back up your esophagus, essentially burning and irritating your throat and causing you to cough. Are your lifestyle choices worsening the problem? Although there are some patients with more serious underlying conditions, there is a good chance your nighttime coughing can be curbed by changing your habits. For example, patients with acid reflux often report that they had a late night snack before bed. When food has no chance to enter your stomach before your body shuts down for the night, reflux worsens and coughing ensues.
In addition, post-nasal drip is often caused by allergies. Many patients have allergies to pets, pollen, ragweed and dust, and daily behaviors can irritate these allergies, causing post-nasal drip and coughing at night. What are these behaviors and how can you change them? If you have acid reflux, you might be guilty of grabbing late-night drinks with friends and hitting the hay as soon as you get home, which triggers coughing fits.
Instead of immediately going to bed, give your stomach some time to digest. People with animal allergies are often guilty of sleeping in bed with their furry friend.
Lots of coughs get worse at night. When your child has a cold, the mucus from the nose and sinuses can drain down the throat and trigger a cough during sleep. This is only a problem if the cough won't let your child sleep.
Asthma also can trigger nighttime coughs because the airways tend to be more sensitive and irritable at night. Cold air or activity can make coughs worse during the daytime. Try to make sure that nothing in your house — like air freshener, pets, or smoke especially tobacco smoke — is making your child cough. A child who has a cough, mild fever, and runny nose probably has a common cold.
In this case, call your doctor immediately. Kids often cough so much that it triggers their gag reflex, making them throw up. Also, a child who has a cough with a cold or an asthma flare-up might vomit if lots of mucus drains into the stomach and causes nausea. Usually, this is not cause for alarm unless the vomiting doesn't stop. Coughs caused by colds due to viruses can last weeks, especially if a child has one cold right after another.
Asthma, allergies , or a chronic infection in the sinuses or airways also might cause lasting coughs. If your child still has a cough after 3 weeks, call your doctor. If you're concerned about your child's cough, call your doctor. Depending on the type of cough, other symptoms, and how long it's lasting, the doctor might want to see your child.
Many health care providers now offer telemedicine visits, which can save parents a trip to the office especially for a nighttime cough. Hearing the cough will help the doctor decide whether and how to treat it. Most coughs are caused by viruses and have to just run their course. Sometimes, this can take up to 2 weeks. Doctors usually don't prescribe antibiotics because these only work against bacteria.
Unless a cough won't let your child sleep, cough medicines are not needed. They might help a child stop coughing, but they don't treat the cause of the cough. If you do use an over-the-counter OTC cough medicine, call the doctor to be sure of the correct dose and to make sure it's safe for your child. Keep in mind that you cough to get rid of irritants such as mucus, germs, or dust from your throat and airways. Remember how coughing helps get rid of mucus and other irritants in your throat and airways?
Another reason why coughs get worse at night is acid reflux. People who have this condition may experience terrible nighttime coughs because lying down forces acid to come back up the esophagus, activating the coughing reflex.
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