Cough may be unpleasant, but it is a very necessary and important process. If you cannot cough, you are at risk of aspiration (choking on your own food or saliva). The cough mechanism protects our airway by expelling liquids and foods that inadvertently enter the voice box and wind pipe. Most cough problems are temporary and are related to colds and flu, in which the cough expels infected mucus from the trachea to protect the lungs from injury. There are numerous additional causes of cough that are more longstanding:
- Allergy to inhalants, foods and medications
- Aspiration and Reflux, due to injury to the nerves of the neck and larynx, surgical procedures that affect the vocal cords, achalasia (loss of muscle strength of the esophagus), strictures of the esophagus.
- Vocal Cord Paralysis due to infection, neck injury and neck surgery.
- Tumors, which can injure or irritate the nerves of the throat, voice box, trachea and lungs as well as paraneoplastic syndromes.
- Injuries to the neck, larynx, trachea and lungs.
- Autoimmune disorders, such as Wegener’s granulomatosis, Sjogren’s syndrome, scleroderma and sarcoidosis.
- Congenital Anomalies, which impair swallowing by affecting the nerves to the larynx and lungs or due to laryngeal malformations or tracheoesophageal fistula.
- Central nervous system causes, such as pituitary gland malfunction and neural malfunctions.
- Medication and drug reactions.
- Infections, such as tuberculosis and mycobacterium avium-intracellulare.
