How to Stop a Coughing Attack
How to Break the Coughing Cycle
Coughing can be incredibly disruptive to breathing, causing discomfort and making it challenging to prevent an attack from taking hold. Coughing results from irritated airways, and it is a reflex action meant to clear the airways of mucus and other irritants. However, over breathing caused by repeated coughing can cause the airways to become dry and inflamed, leading to more coughing and further over breathing. Breaking this cycle is crucial to stopping a coughing fit. Here are some helpful tips to manage a coughing attack:
Suppress the cough if possible, by swallowing. This may feel uncomfortable, but it will help the coughing to subside over a few minutes.
Use the Breathing Recovery Exercise (sitting variation) to help calm your breathing.
If you must cough, try to keep your mouth closed and cough through your nose.
Avoid forcing out mucus; instead, reduce your breathing and allow the mucus to come up naturally.
Remember that deep breathing and forced exhalations during coughing perpetuate the cycle, so try to minimize them.
Breathing exercises can be effective in reducing coughing attacks if applied early in the attack. However, if the symptoms persist for more than five minutes or if the Control Pause score is less than 20 seconds, it may be challenging to control the attack through breathing exercises alone. In such instances, taking medication is recommended, and for severe attacks, medication should be taken immediately. If the symptoms do not respond to medication, seeking medical attention is vital.
