Habit cough

Habit cough

A habit cough is a cough that occasionally develops in children after a cold or other airway irritant.

Indications

Habit cough is characterized by a harsh tinny type sound, and becomes persistent for weeks to months. The cough's hallmarks are severe frequency, often a cough every 2-3 seconds, and the lack of other symptoms such as fever. The diagnosis is made when the child falls asleep and the cough stops completely. Any other pathologic cough will not totally stop at night. The child can have trouble falling asleep but once asleep will not cough.

Treatment

The treatment does not involve medicines. Cough medicines, even opioid ones are ineffective as are inhalers or steroids. The child will often begin to miss school and other activities due to the cough. Most of the time these children are not psychologically abnormal, but the cough can be a source of secondary gain.

Successful treatments have involved self-hypnosis, speech therapy, and a brief course of suggestion therapy outlined in the "Annals of Allergy", Volume 67, December 1991, pp.579-83 (Lokshin, MD, et.al.) With suggestion therapy, the patient was given a distractor (lidocaine nebulizer) while being told by a physician (authority figure) that he/she can control the cough with this exercise, and that the cough is just vicious cycle where the initial irritant that caused the cough is gone but the urge to cough continues the irritation.

Then starting with 3 seconds the child is asked to hold the cough for that amount of time. After success the amount of time the child is asked to hold his breath is increased to 5 seconds, 10 seconds, etc. up to 60 seconds. When the child gets to 60 seconds usually the desire to cough is gone and the child congratulated on controlling the cough. Follow-up sessions can be done at home with the parent using chloroseptic spray as the distractor. In the study in the "Annals of Allergy", some children who coughed for months were stopped in one session. If short therapy does not work refer the child to a psychologist.

See also

*Cough

References

* "Outcome of Habit Cough in Children Treated with a Brief Session of Suggestion Therapy," Boris Lokshin, MD:Scott Lindgren, PhD; Miles Wineberger, MD; and Jean Koviach; "Annals of Allergy", Volume 67, December 1991, pp. 579-83.

*cite journal | author = Irwin, RS, Glomb, WB, Chang, AB | title = Habit Cough, Tic Cough, and Psychogenic Cough in Adult and Pediatric Populations. | journal = Chest | volume = 129 | issue = 1 Suppl | pages = 174S–179S | year = 2006 | pmid = 16428707 | doi = 10.1378/chest.129.1_suppl.174S | doi_brokendate = " [http://www.chestjournal.org/cgi/reprint/129/1_suppl/174S.pdf] "


Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.

Игры ⚽ Поможем сделать НИР

Look at other dictionaries:

  • habit cough — coughing, usually in children, that lacks a physical basis; it is a dry cough unaccompanied by other symptoms, seen only during waking hours, often lasting for weeks, and refractory to medication. Called also psychogenic c …   Medical dictionary

  • Cough — A young boy coughing due to pertussis (Whooping Cough). ICD 10 R05 ICD …   Wikipedia

  • Habit (psychology) — Habits are habituated routines of behavior that are repeated regularly, tend to occur subconsciously, and tend to occur without directly thinking consciously about those behaviors. [Butler, Gillian; Hope, Tony. Managing Your Mind: The mental… …   Wikipedia

  • Cough — A rapid expulsion of air from the lungs typically in order to clear the lung airways of fluids, mucus, or material. Also called tussis. * * * 1. A sudden explosive forcing of air through the glottis, occurring immediately on opening the… …   Medical dictionary

  • psychogenic cough — habit c …   Medical dictionary

  • List of Little Britain characters — This is a list of characters for the British television and radio sketch show Little Britain (and its American spin off, Little Britain USA). Contents: A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T …   Wikipedia

  • smoking — smok·ing (smōʹkĭng) adj. 1. Engaging in the smoking of tobacco: smoking passengers. 2. Designated or reserved for smokers: the smoking section of a restaurant. 3. Of or relating to the use of tobacco: corporate smoking policies. * * * Breathing… …   Universalium

  • Discworld characters — This article contains brief biographies for characters from Terry Pratchett s Discworld series. This list consists of human characters. For biographies of noted members of the Discworld s ethnic minorities (Dwarfs, trolls, undead), see the… …   Wikipedia

  • Hydrocodone — Systematic (IUPAC) name 4,5a Epoxy …   Wikipedia

  • List of characters in the Banjo-Kazooie series — This is a list of characters from the Banjo Kazooie series of video games. Main characters Banjo Banjo is a rare anthropomorphic brown honey [ [http://web.archive.org/web/19990220041733/www.rareware.com/recent/games/banjo/castlist/ Rarewhere:… …   Wikipedia

Share the article and excerpts

Direct link
Do a right-click on the link above
and select “Copy Link”