Coughing fits for last 8 months

[Dirtdobber]

I have a history of chronic sinus and asthma. Last November I developed a cough after a serious upper respiratory infection which has continued up to August. I have tried B Complex, codliver oil and antioxidants for some relief. Recently I found across the counter nasal spray called SINOFRESH which kills nasal mold and bacteria.   This product seems to support the MAYO clinic studies that say a lot of sinus conditions seems to be funi related. Since this product seems to have given me more relief than anything, I now wonder if my cough was not due to post nasal drip and not bronchitis as I thought.

[National Jewish]

The most common causes of chronic cough are asthma, post-nasal drip and gastro-esophageal reflux.  Since your cough is resolving now that you have treated your nasal symptoms, it is likely that was the cause. Even though the upper respiratory infection is gone, sometimes the cough lingers for 3 to 6 months because the cold has caused inflammation in the airways of the lungs.  Eventually this inflammation will go away without treatment, and then the cough will stop.  The effects of this inflammation on the airways of the lungs are similar to asthma.  This inflammation often clears more quickly when it is treated with an inhaled steroid medicine that is used to treat asthma, like the Flovent® (fluticasone propionate) that is contained in the Advair™ Diskus® (fluticasone/salmeterol).  If you do not continue to improve you should see your asthma doctor to make sure your asthma is not the cause of the cough. It may mean you need a change in your asthma treatment.
Please read our Nasal Wash MedFact at http://www.nationaljewish.org/medfacts/nasal.html for more information about our preferred way of doing nasal washes.