What Causes Severe Cough, Tickling At The Back Of Throat And Nausea?

Posted on Mon, 10 Nov 2014

Question: I have a frequent hacking cough that makes my left back chest muscles sore and keeps me awake at night. It starts with a tickle at the back of my throat and can lead to nausea and difficulty breathing due to the coughing. I am not on ace inhibitors but have a number of new meds including mycardis, ropinirole, trazadone to sleep, hydrochlorothiazide, meloxicam, aldentronate, singulair, advair puffers, spiriva inhaller, omeprazole, rosuvastatin, etc. I do not have an infection and my chest xray is normal. How can I stop the cough? XXXXXXX

Answered by Dr. Dr. Naveen Kumar Nanjasetty (31 minutes later)

Brief Answer:
Laryngopharyngeal reflux

Detailed Answer:
Hi

Thanks for posting the query. I have gone through the query and understood your problem thoroughly, I will try my best to help you with this problem.

The symptoms described by you is typical of Laryngopharyngeal reflux secondary to the acid reflux from the stomach into the throat. This usually worsens in the night because of the supine position.

I feel Omeprazole alone will not be sufficient enough to treat this. You may have to go for a newer generation proton pump inhibitors such as Pantoperazole or Esomeprazole along with a prokinetic.

Also, you need to follow few dietary and lifestyle modifications:
1. Drink plenty of warm water
2. Take frequent small meals
3. Give a gap of atleast an hour after meals before you go to bed
4. Avoid coffee/tea/spicy food/citrus foods/stress/smoking/alcohol if any

With the above measures you will definitely be alright.

Hope I have answered your query; I'll be available for the follow up queries.

Regards
Dr. Naveen Kumar N
ENT and Head & Neck Surgeon

Note: Consult an experienced Otolaryngologist / ENT Specialist online for further follow up on ear, nose, and throat issues - Book a Call now.

Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Ashwin Bhandari