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What Causes Cough And White Spots In The Throat?
Hi, I ve had a cough for about a week( was only bad when laying down). I ve been sucking on a lot of cough drops also. Now the cough went away and I noticed white spots on back of throat( don t have tonsils). I have not had any other symptoms besides the cough. Should I be concerned or are the spots due to having too many cough drops?
Mon, 3 Apr 2017
Hello,
Thank you for your query. I understand your concerns.
Yes, I think you are right in feeling that overuse of the cough drops caused the white spots.
From what you have mentioned I feel the white spots are oral candidiasis,commonly called as oral thrush.It is a fungal infection.
Small number of Candida fungus live on the skin and in the mouth cavity. These normally do not cause any infection. But when they multiply in large numbers, it causes infection.
Oral thrush can occur if you have used recently used antibiotics or anti-bacterial medication. Some cough drops do contain as antiseptic in them. They kill the useful germs of the mouth cavity, thus causing the candida in the mouth to multiply to large numbers, hence leading to oral thrush.
If oral thrush is not treated it can cause soreness and pain in the throat. It can also spread over the tongue and into the throat. So it is better to be treated.
Treatment is by taking either Clotrimazole oral gel/lozenges ( e.g. Oraloz 10 mg lozenges) 4 times a day or Nystatin oral drops (100,000 units/ml ) 1 ml four times a day for 1 week. You need to continue the medicine at least for another 2 days after the last white spot has disappeared. Do not eat or drink for at least half an hour after you applied the gel or sucked on the lozenge. Majority of oral thrush settles with this. For resistant cases, you can take Fluconazole oral anti-fungal tablets for 1 week.
You cough could have been due to a viral infection. It is good that it has settled.
I hope this answer has been helpful to you.
Regards
Dr Sunita Sayammagaru
Thank you for your query. I understand your concerns.
Yes, I think you are right in feeling that overuse of the cough drops caused the white spots.
From what you have mentioned I feel the white spots are oral candidiasis,commonly called as oral thrush.It is a fungal infection.
Small number of Candida fungus live on the skin and in the mouth cavity. These normally do not cause any infection. But when they multiply in large numbers, it causes infection.
Oral thrush can occur if you have used recently used antibiotics or anti-bacterial medication. Some cough drops do contain as antiseptic in them. They kill the useful germs of the mouth cavity, thus causing the candida in the mouth to multiply to large numbers, hence leading to oral thrush.
If oral thrush is not treated it can cause soreness and pain in the throat. It can also spread over the tongue and into the throat. So it is better to be treated.
Treatment is by taking either Clotrimazole oral gel/lozenges ( e.g. Oraloz 10 mg lozenges) 4 times a day or Nystatin oral drops (100,000 units/ml ) 1 ml four times a day for 1 week. You need to continue the medicine at least for another 2 days after the last white spot has disappeared. Do not eat or drink for at least half an hour after you applied the gel or sucked on the lozenge. Majority of oral thrush settles with this. For resistant cases, you can take Fluconazole oral anti-fungal tablets for 1 week.
You cough could have been due to a viral infection. It is good that it has settled.
I hope this answer has been helpful to you.
Regards
Dr Sunita Sayammagaru
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