Why won't my cough go away after a cold?
Answered by the AskDoc Medical Team · Medically reviewed under our Medical Director, MBBS
A cough outliving its cold by weeks is usually post-viral airway irritation: inflamed passages overreact to cold air, talking and laughing long after the virus has gone. Average cough duration is nearly three weeks, far longer than most people expect.
Post-nasal drip and silent reflux keep many coughs alive; treating those ends them.
The eight week mark is the formal line: beyond it, or at any point with blood, breathlessness, weight loss, night sweats or a smoking history, the cough earns an examination and usually a chest X-ray rather than another syrup.
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