Can Wafarin Cause A Phlegm Cough At The Age Of 80 ?

Posted on Thu, 3 May 2012

Question: can wafarin cause a phelgm cough?
Man aged 80 cant get phelgm coughed up. He has to be on wafarin as he is high risk for a stroke.He also has irregular heart beat and an aneurism in stomach
He gets no sleep at night with this persistant cough and jags of pains now an again is there any remedies that can improve his quality of life?

Answered by Dr. Dr. Naveen Kumar Nanjasetty (2 hours later)

Hi Carolineconnell,

Thanks for the query

The cough with the phlegm is very common in old age mainly because of the two commonest reasons:
1. Aspiration of the food contents and saliva due to weakening of the neurological reflexes in the neck.
2. Reflux of the acid from the stomach into the throat which leads to irritation of the throat, followed cough and phlegm production.

There are no documentations of cough following administration of Warfarin. But, there are chances of formation of blood clots in the lungs which can induce cough. Only after a thorough examination by a good physician the other causes of cough can be ruled out.

> You need to give him warm water to drink, so that the throat irritation reduces and also his cough and phlegm production.
> Chest physiotherapy to bring out the sputum.
> Encourage him to take frequent small meals, and the dinner to be taken at least 2 hours before going to bed.
> The head end should be elevated to prevent the reflux of the gastric contents.
> Also, after consulting your doctor he can be started on proton pump inhibitors to reduce the acid secretion and a mucolytic to reduce the viscosity of the phlegm.

Hope I have answered your query, if you have any more doubts you are welcome.

Regards
Dr. Naveen Kumar

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Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Chakravarthy Mazumdar