Angina is an infectious disease characterized by an inflammatory process in the tonsils and pharynx. The causative agents are various viruses and bacteria. Acute bacterial tonsillitis is especially dangerous for the development of formidable complications, such as an abscess of the pharynx or brain, chronic inflammation of the kidneys, rheumatism, septic arthritis, blood poisoning, otitis media, toxic shock, lymphadenitis, laryngeal edema. Some complications (sepsis, brain abscess) in the absence of timely medical care can be fatal.
The clinical picture of the pathology is sharply expressed: the rapid development of intoxication, a rapid rise in temperature to high numbers, which is difficult to bring down, a sharp sore throat, swelling of the tonsils and mucous membranes, plaque on the tonsils.
Temperatures may not be present in some types of tonsillitis.
Catarrhal and lacunar angina are the most common forms, and are usually accompanied by a cough and a runny nose, among other symptoms.
Types of cough
Cough is a reflex reaction of the respiratory system to irritation. This is a very complex act in which the respiratory muscles contract sharply, and air is thrown out of the lungs with a powerful push. The purpose of the reflex is to restore airway patency.
A pathological cough with angina can be varied.
With the flow:
- the acute type occurs at the onset of the disease, lasts up to two weeks;
- protracted - it happens for a month or more;
- subacute - lasts from four to eight weeks;
- chronic - occurs when the disease becomes chronic, it lasts two months or more.
By the presence of exudate:
- dry without sputum discharge;
- wet or damp with expectoration.
Symptoms
A cough with sore throat causes a sensation of perspiration and severe burning in the throat, it is accompanied by shortness of breath, lacrimation, mucous discharge from the nose, and hoarseness. There may be a headache following the attack.
A dry (unproductive) cough is difficult for patients to bear, it is painful and debilitating. Especially if it turns into a so-called barking cough, which can injure the mucous membrane of the pharynx and leave small wounds on it. Usually, a dry cough has a paroxysmal course and can occur at any unpredictable moment, even in a dream. Such a reflex is not beneficial, it irritates the mucous membrane even more, can lead to its rupture and provoke vomiting.
An unproductive cough with angina is worse tolerated. It happens in children more often than wet.
Manifestations in which you must definitely contact a specialist:
- the nature of the cough is barking, paroxysmal, prolonged;
- attacks cause vomiting;
- attacks can be at night;
- the cough reflex is accompanied by allergic rashes and fever;
- for several days, there is an increase in the symptom.
A dry cough in a child may indicate that a foreign object has entered the respiratory tract
With a wet cough, mucous discharge is observed, which are mixed with pus and / and blood. It depends on the shape of the tonsillitis. In any case, such a cough reflex is productive, it helps to clear the upper respiratory tract of phlegm and pathogenic microbes contained in it. It significantly speeds up recovery and prevents the development of complications, provided adequate timely treatment.
Treatment
It is necessary to treat a cough with angina depending on its type. Treatment always begins with the elimination of the cause of the disease.
Improper treatment of the cough reflex can aggravate the course of tonsillitis, therefore, all therapeutic measures are applied after consulting a doctor and according to his appointment
Traditional therapy for dry cough
- the main purpose of medicines prescribed for dry cough is to suppress the cough center, which is located in the medulla oblongata, as well as soften the mucous membrane of the throat. Such funds contain codeine: tusuprex, pentoxiverine, paxeladine, dectromethorphan, oxeladine. Codeine belongs to natural narcotic analgesics, so it is used with caution and in short courses. It blocks the cough reflex for 4-6 hours by suppressing the respiratory center. But it is the depression of respiration that reduces ventilation of the lungs. Long-term use leads to drug dependence. Medicines with codeine are not prescribed for pregnant women and children under two years of age;
- drugs that soften the mucous membrane of the respiratory tract and make it less sensitive to irritants: libexin;
- preparations for resorption with diclonin are used as adjuvants that reduce irritation and perspiration, moisturize the mucous membrane;
- inhalations with herbal decoctions and moisturizing essential oils: oil of eucalyptus, sea buckthorn, calendula, menthol.
In many cases, a dry cough cannot be treated because it quickly turns into a wet cough.
Traditional wet cough therapy
- drink plenty of warmth: jelly, fruit drinks (except for cranberry), natural juices diluted in half with water, teas with lemon, low-fat fermented baked milk and kefir, vegetable and chicken broths. You can not drink coffee, carbonated drinks, too sweet or sour drinks. You can only eat warm soft food. It is not recommended to eat hard, hot, irritating food for sore throats;
- expectorant drugs reduce the viscosity of mucus and increase its volume, as a result of which mucus is much easier to evacuate from the respiratory tract: carbocisteine, bromhexine, ambroxol;
- mucolytic agents thin mucus, almost without increasing its volume: preparations containing acetylcysteine. To date, the most actively used drug is ACC;
- antihistamines reduce an allergic reaction, relieve mucosal edema: centri, diazolin, loratadine;
- inhalation of decoctions of herbs with expectorant and anti-inflammatory effect: chamomile, eucalyptus, sage.
Folk remedies
Sore throat cough can be effectively treated with unconventional methods.
- Boil the lemon in water for 10 minutes. Cool, cut and squeeze the juice into a teacup. Add 2 tablespoons of internal glycerin, add honey to make a full cup. Reception: 2 teaspoons three times a day before meals.
- Mix milk and carrot juice in half. Take a tablespoon once a day at least five times a day.
- Grind walnuts with honey 1: 1. Reception: dilute a teaspoon of the medicine in 100 ml of water.
- Insist a tablespoon of sage in a glass of hot water, mix in half with milk. Drink half a glass.
- Insist a tablespoon of red clover in a glass of boiling water, strain, mix in half with milk. Reception: half a glass warm.
- Mix half a glass of viburnum berries with a glass of honey, cook for 5 minutes, cool. Reception: 2 tablespoons at least five times a day.
- Pour 2 mashed bananas with a glass of hot water, heat slightly. Divide the mixture into 3 doses.
- Cook 2 peeled onions in a glass of milk, leave for 3 hours, drain. Take a tablespoon three times a day.
- Herbal tea: oregano, calendula, chamomile, sage. Brew equal parts of herbs, insist, strain, drink like regular tea.
It is necessary to treat cough with non-traditional means in parallel with drug therapy. Traditional medicines do not give an instant effect, but they work correctly, and do not burden the body with chemicals, like conventional medicines.
