Choosing Cough Medicine for Children

Transition season can lead to the emergence of a variety of illnesses such as coughs and colds. Well, if your kids have the disease, parents should be able to recognize the symptoms of cough and choose the right cough medicine.

The body is already trying to adapt to changes in air temperatures. However, environmental factors such as weather and wind can still accelerate the spread of communicable diseases are triggered viruses and bacteria. So that accompanied the transition seasons and temperature changes such as this have to watch out for causing various diseases.

Some factors of global warming (global warming) in which the average temperature atmosphere, ocean, and land surface increases also affect the spread of the disease. This factor, according to CBSNews website, allowing disease-causing bacteria, viruses and fungi move into a new area that could harm the diverse species, including humans.

Types of Cough

One of the diseases that are familiar in the transition is cough and colds. Coughing is actually not necessarily an enemy because it is one of the body's defense mechanism. The air coming out due to coughing, for example, it will make everything in the airways inhibits flushed out. Especially foreign objects, liquids, or mucus, so the airways so clean.

Therefore, the coughing sometimes it is necessary to get rid of all that clog the airways. Cough newly classified dangerous objects that block the airway can not be removed through coughing mechanism.

But when a family member affected by cough, you should not be complacent. Instead, you should pay attention to the causes of cough and cough occurred in what circumstances. Because, in addition to regular cough that is still within the limits of tolerance, there is also a symptom of the disease cough. If the cough is very frequent, such as occurred during the night, this could be a symptom of cough illness that must be treated.

In addition, there is also a cough that is caused by abnormalities in the body. For example, cough due to allergic stimuli such as dust or dirty air, or because of odors that sting. Coughing may also occur due to abnormalities or diseases that occur in the respiratory tract. For example tuberculosis, airway constriction, or other lung disease.

In infants, the cough can be a symptom of allergy, milk allergy or dust either. Babies can also have a cough due to viral infection and the presence of backflow of gastric contents into the direction of the airway (gastroesophageal reflux). Such cough usually occurs in children who have digestive problems.

Choose the Right Drug

The various types of cough cough resulted handling should be tailored to the cause. Is it because of allergies, viral infections, or other physiological abnormalities? For first aid, drug-free is fine. However, if the child is coughing up phlegm, even just once, you should immediately bring the baby to the doctor to tell if there was just a common cold or allergic factors.

Equally important is to identify the type of cough, whether dry cough or cough with phlegm. By knowing the types of cough, we can buy cough medicines appropriately and consult with a pharmacist.

Note also the composition of cough medicine or cough medicine if it contains other components that can cope with diseases other than coughing. Because the current cough medicine is often combined with other drugs, such as antihistamines and analgesics.

Type of cough medicine on the market today is the antitussive (suppressing cough), expectorant (remove phlegm), and mucolytics (thin phlegm). Some of the substances that are normally found in cough medicines include antitussive to suppress coughing and decongestants (relieve the airway), thinning mucus, or a combination. Decongestants generally helps dilate the upper airway by reducing edema (swelling of the airways in the nose).

Well, you should be careful when using cough medicine containing mucus thinners. Especially for small children breathing muscles are still weak. Besides not good if used for too long, watery mucus instead will meet the airways so that the child is experiencing shortness of breath.

Therefore, before purchasing cough medicines in drugstores or pharmacies, choose the appropriate medication to the child experienced coughing. First, mention complaints with age. What also must be taken into account, whichever comes first, if the cough or thin the mucus. Sometimes, cough should not be suppressed it, because if pressed and the child is not coughing, the child might even claustrophobic because of mucus. Well, if the child was also recovered just after a week, you should immediately go to the doctor to look for the cause of the cough.