Constant, irritating gutteral cough

[mgalexa]

A young adult family member has an irritating tic, an almost constant, deep short cough - series of 4-6 about every 2-10 minutes.  he has alergies and blames it on that, but many people have alergies and don't have that tic.  Says he feels like something in his throat, nothing found medically to back that up.  This actually started as a constant throat clearing, about the same frequency and then progressed to the short, gutteral cough.  What can do done to fix this?  I'm afraid it will hinder his job search and may even cause job/empolyment problems later.  He can control it as he says he did not cough even once during his interview, which was maybe 40 minutes long.  
Thanks for your help.

[swabes]

Hi, my partner suffers from this also. A lot of people might not understand why you posted this here but I do.

I feel my partners cough is definitely triggered by nervousness or feeling uncomfortable.  When I first introduced him to my family, the cough was non stop. Gutteral as you described and quite honestly very irritating. As months passed he felt more comfortable around us and the cough lessened but never fully went away.
Consequently, he has just be diagnosed with minor OCD and ADD, something which I had suspected.
The only way I can explain it is as a coping mechanism of sorts. Instead of fidgeting or having a nervous twitch, he coughs. It is something I doubt will ever go away but can be reduced. My partner similarly says he feels like something is stuck in his throat, that needs cleared. The only thing i can suggest is, the more you point it out to him the worse it will become. Just try to make him feel comfortable and perhaps maybe deal with stress better.
Has he been to the doctor?

[Sandman2]

    Not sure why you posted this on the ADHD site, but here are some ideas.
  Studies have shown that there are "3 conditions account for the etiologic cause of chronic cough in 92-100% of immunocompetent, nonsmoking patients with normal chest radiograph findings.[14] In order of frequency, they are as follows:

    Upper airway cough syndrome (UACS), previously referred to as postnasal drip syndrome (PNDS)
    Asthma
    Gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD)"
  
    The PNDS is the most common and would fit with his allergy problem.  Thats pretty easy to check out.  Take an anti-histamine pill and see if the cough goes away for awhile.   Usually, its a post nasal drip that is causing the irritation.  And many times the person is not even aware of it.  A decongestant would also help with that.   So you might try one of the combo cold medicines that have both in them and see what happens.
     I also wonder if the cough is always there.  It may be something in the house or yard that bothers him (any smokers in the house?)
     Also he might try sucking on some hard candy to stop the cough.  
    Hope this helps a little.