Caring For Coughs

Consult your GP or nurse for advice or assessment. For emergencies, call 999, and for less urgent matters, use out-of-hours services or GP contacts provided.

This booklet provides up-to-date information and advice about the causes of coughs, when they should clear up, whether antibiotics are helpful, causes of symptoms, how to help your immune system, self-care measures, and when to seek further help.

Coughs are commonly caused by viral infections (like colds or flu), bacterial infections, hay fever or allergies, cigarette smoke, or air pollution. Infections irritate your airways, leading to coughing as your body's way of clearing them.

A tickly cough is caused by irritation in the throat or airways, while a chesty cough involves coughing up phlegm due to inflammation—often called bronchitis.

A normal cough or bronchitis typically gets worse for up to 10 days, remains bad for another week, and begins to get better over the next 1–2 weeks. It can take 3–4 weeks to clear up completely, and for some people, up to 6 weeks.

No, most chest infections and coughs are caused by viruses, which antibiotics do not treat. Even bacterial infections often clear up at the same rate without antibiotics. Antibiotics usually do not help people with acute cough.

Antibiotics may be helpful for rare causes of cough such as pneumonia or persistent infections suspected to be bacterial and getting worse. Your doctor will decide if they are needed.

Unnecessary use of antibiotics promotes antibiotic-resistant bacteria, reduces your body’s natural defenses by killing ‘good’ bacteria, and can cause side effects such as diarrhea, rashes, or more severe reactions.

Risks include taking an unnecessary or wrong antibiotic, using out-of-date medication, not completing the right course or dose, and harming your body’s defenses or risking serious side effects.

The immune system naturally fights off most chest infections without the need for antibiotics or medical intervention, given proper rest, fluids, and nutrition.

Stay hydrated, keep warm, get enough sleep, eat a balanced diet with fruit and vegetables, manage stress, and consider echinacea or vitamin C, which may help in some cases.

Phlegm (green/yellow mucus) is produced as a normal reaction to airway inflammation, helping to clear the lungs. A tiny amount of blood in phlegm can occur and is often not serious, but persistent or large amounts should be reported to a doctor.

Soothe your throat with a homemade syrup of 2 parts honey to 1 part lemon juice, keep your room moist with a bowl of water, drink plenty of fluids, use a humidifier, and avoid smoking or smoky/dusty environments.

Cough suppressants (like dextromethorphan) can help with tickly coughs, expectorants and mucolytics (including guafenesin) help with chesty coughs by loosening phlegm, and paracetamol or ibuprofen can ease pain and inflammation.

Yes, partly suppressing a cough does not harm the lungs or delay recovery, and your body will still automatically cough up anything that needs to be cleared.

Seek urgent help if you are much more short of breath than usual, have a high fever (38.5ºC+) lasting 4+ days, get side chest pain not due to muscles, develop meningitis or septicaemia symptoms, have a rash that doesn't fade with pressure, or feel extremely weak, faint, or have unusual skin color.

If your cough lasts more than 4 weeks without improvement, if you have a high fever for over 48 hours with no other infection signs, if you have significant unexplained weight loss with a new or changed cough, or if you continue coughing up blood.

People over 65 or with underlying conditions such as asthma, diabetes, lung disease, heart problems, or immune system suppression should seek help sooner for a cough.

No, your body will automatically make you cough if you need to even when you’re asleep, so there’s no risk of choking while sleeping.

Yes, chest pain is common, often from inflamed airways due to coughing or from strained chest muscles. Pain on the side may be muscle-related or due to viral inflammation of lung lining.

Antibiotics may cause diarrhea, rashes, feeling sick, or even rare severe reactions such as collapse or spasms of the airways.

Consult your GP or nurse for advice or assessment. For emergencies, call 999, and for less urgent matters, use out-of-hours services or GP contacts provided.

This booklet provides up-to-date information and advice about the causes of coughs, when they should clear up, whether antibiotics are helpful, causes of symptoms, how to help your immune system, self-care measures, and when to seek further help.