By Mildred Siabi-Mensah
Takoradi, Aug. 25, GNA – Dr Saiid Kwasi Adu, a health practitioner at the Last Homoeopathic Clinic, has advised the public to seek medical attention for persistent coughs, stressing that they could be symptoms of underlying health conditions.
He said chronic coughs should not be ignored and must be thoroughly investigated to help rule out other diseases, including certain heart-related disorders.
In an interview with the Ghana News Agency (GNA), Dr Adu described cough as one of the most common disorders associated with the respiratory system.
He explained that coughs generally fall into two categories: productive and non-productive coughs.
According to him, productive coughs help to expel mucus, phlegm and other foreign materials from the bronchial tubes and lungs.
He said non-productive, or dry coughs, do not produce mucus but often cause irritation and soreness in the airways.
Dr Adu explained that coughing was a natural mechanism used by the body to clear the respiratory tract whenever mucus, foreign objects or other substances obstructed the nasal cavity or air passages.
He noted that dry coughs were often caused by inflammation and irritation of the respiratory tract, particularly the windpipe.
Dr Adu explained that dry cough may be due to inflammations and irritations especially in the windpipe, adding that “We even cough sometimes when we are eating. This is when the food or water is swallowed wrongfully through the respiratory tract.”
While the productive cough was necessary to remove the obstructive objects for relief and cure, the dry cough demanded treatment that heals the inflammation or irritation.
He said that medication for productive coughs should help the patient to remove more phlegm as in asthma and medicines for dry coughs should heal the Inflammation or the irritation as in bronchitis.
On asthma, he said the condition presented a difficulty breathing triggered by sudden narrowing of the bronchi tubes which may last for a short while or longer periods depending on the seriousness of the narrowing.
Asthmatic attacks were caused by different triggers. Among the causes are allergies or hypersensitivity to dust, atmospheric pollutions, cigarette smoke, perfumes and other general forms of smoke.
Some asthmatic attacks were also caused by psychological and Nervous factors, infections and sudden change in the weather conditions might also ignite an attack.
He gave symptoms of asthma to include cough, breathlessness, wheezing noise when breathing and severe spasm in the chest cavity.
He mentioned alveolar asthma, bacterial asthma, bronchial and cardiac asthma and hay and thymic asthmas as types of asthmas, which he noted could be successfully treated.
GNA
Edited by Justina Hilda Paaga/Lydia Kukua Asamoah
Reporter: Mildred Siabi-Mensah