Coming down with a cough these days is a complicated business. Not only can a bad cough be tough on your throat and chest, but it could also score you a concerned look in the age of COVID. After all, coughing in public is now — more than ever — seen as a faux pas or sign that you could be infecting everyone around you.
These days, coughing seems to be hitting a peak. As François Leblond, senior brand manager with Norwell Consumer Healthcare, whose brands include Prospan by Helixia, points out, the level of coughing reported in the summer looked similar to last winter’s coughing levels during peak cold and flu season.
Thankfully, there is help if you develop a hack you’re unable to quiet. In partnership with Prospan by Helixia, a clinically proven cough syrup that has been the #1 pharmacist-recommended Natural Cold Remedy in Canada for the last five years, we look at ways to calm that cough, including home remedy products you can turn to.
“It’s hard to figure out what the main cause of the cough is, but there are generally one of three assumptions,” Leblond says. The first is an illness, including COVID-19* as well as cold, pneumonia and more.
The second is allergies (this year’s pollen levels were particularly high), and the third is climate change. “It’s directly impacting air quality and causing coughing, especially in the older population,” Leblond adds.
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It helps to know a bit about our coughs, starting with the fact that cough itself is divided into two categories: productive and non-productive.
A productive cough means you’re producing phlegm or mucus when coughing. “A productive cough should generally not be suppressed and is a natural reflex of the body to get rid of any foreign body in the lungs,” says Duc Thang Nguyen, PhD, a scientific communication specialist in the drug information and pharmacovigilance department with Norwell, a Quebec-based pharmaceutical company. Productive coughs are the kind you may develop after a viral infection such as pneumonia or bronchitis.
Then there’s the non-productive cough, “These are dry hacking coughs that may be found toward the end of a cold or after exposure to an irritant such as dust or smoke,” Nguyen says, noting this is the kind of cough that can also come with allergies or asthma.
READ MORE: Dry coughs, wet coughs, mucus: Everything you need to know about coughs and phlegm
When it comes to solutions for those coughs, medications are also divided into two categories: drug products and natural health products. Drug products include prescription and non-prescription pharmaceuticals. These are either antitussives, also known as cough suppressants, or expectorants, meaning they help clear phlegm or mucus out of your airways.
Prospan by Helixia falls into the second category. As an expectorant, it helps your body clear phlegm out of your airways to help relieve your cough. Prospan by Helixia also falls into the natural health category. Prospan by Helixia contains naturally sourced ivy leaf extract, a natural expectorant, and is free of such medicinal ingredients as decongestants, making it safe for people with high blood pressure.
Beyond medications, there are some home remedies that you can employ. Increasing your hydration with clear fluids, such as water, tea, broths and juices, is a good place to start. Not only do fluids ease cough-ravaged throats, but they can help loosen mucus or phlegm. Sucking on lozenges or hard candies can also help with throat lubrication.
Honey is also a good cough-battling ingredient to add to a hot liquid you’re sipping, though be sure to not give honey to children under the age of one year.
And to help you get some shut-eye? Nguyen suggests firing up a cool mist humidifier to help loosen any phlegm. It’s also a good idea to avoid any further irritants to your cough — smoky rooms or dusty spaces.
But there are also times when you may need medical advice. Nguyen says to keep tabs on your cough and call your doctor if you see green or yellow phlegm or blood when you cough, or if you develop a fever, have trouble breathing or begin wheezing.
*Prospan® by Helixia® is not indicated as a treatment for the virus that causes COVID-19.
READ MORE: Nighttime coughing? Here’s what you should and shouldn’t do
To learn more about natural cough remedies like Prospan by Helixia, visit the Helixia website.