A smoker’s cough occurs in long-term smokers. Smoker’s cough is an obstinate cough which is present for more than 3 weeks. At the start, the cough may be dry, however, over time smoker’s cough may produce phlegm. The phlegm may be clear, white, yellow, or green. The cough is worst on waking, and improves gradually.
The air passages are lined with cilia which capture inhaled toxins and move them towards the mouth. Smoking paralyzes cilia; hence they fail to do their job optimally. Instead of being caught, the toxins enter the lungs, where they settle and give rise to inflammation.
This inflammation results in coughing as the body tries to get rid of the toxins from the lungs. During the night, cilia start repairing themselves as they are no longer exposed to smoke. As the cilia get rid of the collected toxins, there is increased coughing in the morning.
Symptoms of Smoker’s Cough
• Chronic persistent cough, worse every morning on rising
• The cough may be dry or productive
• Occasionally, the person may cough up blood
• There will be associated breathlessness
• Some smokers suffer from wheezing
• Unexplained weight loss is another accompanying feature
Causes of Smoker’s cough
Cilia are the tiny hair-like structures along your airways. When smoker’s smoke, the cilia lose some of their ability to push chemicals and other foreign materials out of smoker’s lungs. Because of this, toxins remain in smoker’s lungs for much longer than they normally would. In response, smoker’s body has to cough more to remove the chemicals from smoker’s lungs.
Smoker’s cough can be especially irritating in the morning because cilia regain their ability to remove the chemicals from lungs when smoker has not smoked for a few hours. This can make the cough much more unpleasant when smoker wake up.
A smoker’s cough can also involve postnasal drip. This is when mucus leaks into smoker’s throat. It causes you to cough or clear your throat frequently, and it can make your cough worse.
Home Remedies to get rid of Smoker’s Cough
- Make sure you are well hydrated; drink 3 liters of water daily.
- Water lubricates the throat so that the bruising caused from constantly and persistently coughing will be less painful. Water also keeps the body hydrated, while cigarette smoke dries it out.
- Boost your intake of vitamin C. Step up your consumption of limes, lemons, oranges, guavas, mangoes and bell peppers. Smoking gets rid of vitamin C and calcium in the body. Consume loads of vitamin C rich foods every day to reinstate the lost vitamin C. Smoker’s can also confer with their health care provider and start a vitamin C supplement on a daily basis.
- Honey is an excellent remedy for smokers cough. Have 3 to 5 spoons of honey every day. Smoker could also add generous amounts of honey to their tea. Honey is a lubricant and will cool an inflamed and irritated throat.
- Rinse the mouth with hot saline water several times in a day to clear the phlegm in throat. Smoker could also add a spoon of turmeric to the hot water.
- Fill a pan with water and boil the water. Add a few drops of tea tree essential oil to it. Inhale the vapors, taking deep breaths, whilst you cover your head. This calms cough and releases phlegm. Instead of tea tree oil, smoker can also use caraway seeds. These caraway seeds are very effective too. Make sure smoker follow this ritual every night before he goes to bed.
- Boil mint leaves and ginger in water. Inhale the vapors as well as drink up the mixture, 3 to 4 times daily. It will yield quick and wonderful results.
- Garlic is an excellent home treatment for smoker’s cough. Cut 2 flakes of garlic and add it to some milk. Boil the mixture for about 15 minutes. Strain and drink this blend at least 5 times every day.
These natural remedies are beneficial and will help in easing smoker’s cough; nonetheless, for complete and permanent cure, smoker needs to quit smoking. Try these remedies for about a fortnight and if there’s no betterment, go for doctor’s opinion.
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