Smoker's cough: Symptoms, Causes, and Home Remedies

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

• Hoarseness of the voice

• 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. 

Useful Home Remedies for a Cough

General coughing is entirely natural and helps in clearing irritants or phlegm from anybody’s throat. But, a period of sustained coughing can be a problem and may relate to a variety of conditions, such as a bacterial infection, a viral infection, or an allergy. Most of the coughs are related to sinus infection, allergy, or cold and are easily treated with over the counter medication. However, there are also a variety of home remedies that can give soothing relief.

Here are few of the most helpful home remedies for a cough:

Honey

Honey is a great choice for use as a cough suppressant. Honey is also one of the favored choices for soothing a sorethroat. Honey is best combined with lemon to give the dual action of helping with congestion and soothing the irritation. Use the honey spread on bread or add to herbal tea.

Probiotics

Probiotics are not able to give direct relief from cough, but still able to help and balance the buildup of bacteria in the intestines. By controlling the bacteria it is possible to promote the immunesystem and make it more efficient at fighting off the cough. Probiotics are naturally found in several foods, including sourdough breads, miso soup and some yogurt types.

Bromelain

Bromelain is a type of enzyme found in fruit like the pineapple. Bromelain is useful for loosening the buildup of mucus in the throat and to lower down further coughs. The best way to introduce bromelain to the diet is to drink a glass of pineapple juice two or three times per day, or simply eat a slice of fresh fruit.

This enzyme can have other useful benefits such as treating swelling and inflammation, as well as allergy-based sinus issues.

Peppermint

Peppermint leaves act much like a decongestant to help break down mucus and soothe the throat. The preferred way to benefit from this remedy is a regular drink of peppermint tea. Alternatively, it is possible to inhale peppermint vapors by creating a steam bath consisting of hot water and peppermint oil. Add 150 ml of hot water for every ¾ drops of oil.

Thyme

Thyme is rich in flavonoids that are useful for relaxing the throat muscles to lessen inflammation and minimize the discomfort from coughing. A regular drink of thyme tea is a useful remedy. This is created by blending 2 tsp of thyme leaves with 1-cup of hot water. Leave the tea too steep for 8-10 minutes before drinking.