With a dry cough, also called tickling cough or tickling cough (dry tickling cough), you have to cough, but no mucus or sputum is coughed up. Coughing is a defensive reflex that protects the airways by removing mucus and foreign material, allowing you to breathe freely and unobstructed. Over time, a dry cough can turn into a productive cough as more mucus is produced. A dry cough is a symptom of a wide variety of mild to severe diseases, disorders and conditions. A dry cough can be the result of infection, inflammation, trauma, malignancy, airway obstruction, etc. There are a number of products available to suppress the coughing stimulus. Examples include noscapine, dextromethorphan, pentoxyverine and codeine.

• What is a dry cough or tickly cough?
• What causes a dry cough or tickly cough?

• Cold
• Other infectious causes
• Bronchiolitis
• Persistent dry cough
• Medicines

• What to do against tickly cough?

• Call in your GP
• Treat tickly cough
• Deeper tickle

• Do not use cough suppressants if you have a productive cough
• Cough syrup for both persistent cough and dry cough

 Tickle cough / Source: Ljupco/Istock.com

What is a dry cough or tickly cough?

Creepy cough is a dry cough in which a cough reflex is always present, while you do not have to clear mucus. The mucous membranes actually give off a coughing stimulus for nothing. It is therefore also called non-productive cough. The annoying thing about a tickly cough is that you can end up in a vicious circle, because coughing irritates the mucous membranes even more, causing you to continue coughing or even making the coughing worse. This can cause you to suffer from a long-lasting tickly cough . This is annoying, especially if you also suffer from a tickly cough at night.

What causes a dry cough or tickly cough?

Cold

A dry cough has many possible causes, but the most common is an upper respiratory infection such as a cold. A cold can also lead to a productive cough, which is a cough that produces mucus (sputum).

Other infectious causes

Other infectious causes of a dry cough include whooping cough (pertussis) and tuberculosis (TB).

Bronchiolitis

We especially mention bronchiolitis, an inflammation of the small airways caused by a viral infection. The culprit is the respiratory syncytial virus (RSV). Bronchiolitis mainly affects children under the age of 2 years and especially babies between the ages of 3 and 6 months. The main symptoms are:

• dry cough;
• rapid breathing;
• wheezing; and
• problems with eating or drinking.

The coughing stimulus can also be caused by (secondary) smoking, being in poorly ventilated or dusty spaces, hypersensitivity to certain substances in the air and sometimes by the presence of air conditioning.

Persistent dry cough

A persistent dry cough may also be due to causes related to the respiratory and digestive systems including airway irritation (bronchospasm), aortic aneurysm, asthma and allergies, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), congestive heart failure, airway obstruction (foreign body), lung cancer, pleurisy (inflammation of the membrane surrounding the lungs and chest), pneumothorax (collapsed lung), etc.

Medicines

Furthermore, some medications can cause a dry cough. Medications that can cause a dry cough as a side effect include ACE inhibitors to control high blood pressure.

What to do against tickly cough?

Call in your GP

A dry cough can be a sign of a serious or life-threatening condition. If you have trouble breathing, chest pain, fast heart rate, or swollen legs or ankles, contact a doctor immediately. If your dry cough is persistent or persistent, consult your doctor. If you have a coughing child or baby younger than 6 months, or a child older than 6 months who coughs for more than 5 days, it is also advisable to contact your GP. The GP will, among other things, listen to the lungs and airways (breathing sounds) with his stethoscope.

Treat tickly cough

How to treat tickly cough? If you smoke, you would be wise to stop. It is also advisable to drink something regularly so that you lubricate your throat and keep it moist. All kinds of home remedies such as tea with honey and sucking on licorice can provide relief from the complaints by reducing the stimulus for coughing. By the way, you should not give honey to children under one year of age. Honey may contain traces of bacteria that can make babies sick.Ensure good ventilation and increase the humidity of the air by, for example, hanging containers with water on the radiators. Breathing warm, moist air through steaming can also provide some relief.There are also all kinds of self-care products available at pharmacies and drugstores that can reduce the stimulus for coughing. If you suffer from a tickle that is high in the throat, it is often sufficient to use a product that is mainly aimed at lubricating and soothing the throat. You can think of a soothing cough syrup, such as althaea syrup or thyme syrup (possibly available without sugar).

Deeper tickle

Deeper itching can often only be combated by using a cough medicine that dampens the coughing stimulus. For example, a cough medicine with the active ingredient noscapine , which can also be used during pregnancy and breastfeeding at normal doses. Noscapine has been used by pregnant women for years, without any adverse effects on the (unborn) child. Noscapine can be used from the age of 3 years. It is therefore not suitable for a toddler (from 2 to 3 years old) or even younger children, but it is suitable for a preschooler (a young child from about 3 to 6 years old).A second cough suppressant substance is dextromethorphan . This can be used from 2 years. Due to the greater risk of side effects, this drug is only available in pharmacies and is not a first choice. The doctor can also opt for the combination of paracetamol with codeine , which is mainly used when you suffer from both cough and flu symptoms, such as (muscle) pain and high fever.

Do not use cough suppressants if you have a productive cough

Productive coughs produce mucus. Especially in combination with fever, this is often an indication of a respiratory infection. The cough is an adequate and effective response of the body to remove mucus and facilitate breathing. However, with a non-productive cough, also called tickly cough, tickling cough or dry cough, no mucus is coughed up. Frequent coughing can cause irritation of the throat and airways, causing the cough to persist. Productive cough is useful. Therefore, do not suppress this with medicines. You can use expectorants to treat stuck mucus.

Cough syrup for both persistent cough and dry cough

Bronchostop cough syrup is a traditional herbal medicine that relieves persistent cough due to tough mucus, ticklish or tickly cough and/or sore throat caused by a cold, for example. Bronchostop cough syrup is suitable for adults and children aged 6 years and over. The cough syrup does not contain alcohol and is sugar-free. The product also contains no ingredients that are known to make you sleepy or drowsy. Bronchostop cough syrup is suitable for people with diabetes.

read more

• Chronic coughing: causes persistent cough, tickly cough
• Coughing up yellow or green mucus and coughing blood: causes
• Coughing up phlegm: Coughing up white, yellow, gray, red sputum
• Infectious causes of acute cough: what causes it?
• Cough syrup for all types of cough: Bronchostop cough syrup