Cough Treatment

Successful treatment for chronic cough is hard to find. The multifactorial nature and intrinsic complexities of chronic cough presents a challenge to the treating practitioner and most patients presenting with chronic cough have received medical evaluation and treatment by various providers for months, if not years. Many have tried and failed multiple medications prescribed without a clear pattern of escalation or substitution. In the meantime, patients are frequently socially isolated, anxious, at times with a sense of hopelessness and increased cough stigma.

At The Cough Clinic, initial assessment looks to exclude or account for potential organic causes, taking a thorough, patient-focussed case history and then commencing rehabilitative cough therapy if appropriate to do so. Our multidisciplinary evaluation routinely involves ENT nasendoscopy, but for those choosing to start therapy directly, your care may involve facilitation of this nasendoscopy or referral to a wider medical care team to instigate unexplored work-ups such as lung function tests, chest imaging and reflux testing. Such referrals are more likely if you have not been reviewed by a medical specialists in the last 12 months. Patients may be prescribed neuromodulator medication such as Gabapentin or Amitriptyline depending on their clinical picture and their response to cough therapy. We will always seek to provide the best treatment available given your history and unique chronic cough. Written reports are provided to your GP for continuity of care.

Chronic cough therapy is essentially an airway desensitisation program with supplementary treatment of associated conditions and causes, such as inducible laryngeal obstruction, acid or non-acid reflux, and voice disorders. Treatment is non-intrusive and seeks to moderate cough reflex sensitivity by optimising throat/airway hygiene, recovering mucosal integrity and barrier function, progressively attenuating the stimulation of cough receptors, and improving both the awareness and control of cough.

Cough clinicians are university trained allied health professionals with qualifications in speech pathology and advanced training in middle/upper airway disorders. Chronic cough and speech therapy are curious bedfellows and yet appropriately aligned given the accompanying expertise in head and neck pathology and ability to elicit behavioural change. Chronic cough treatment can be successful for both adults and children (usually over the age of five). We take clinical evidence seriously. Cough therapy is an evidence-based program with science at its core.

If you’re fed up with your cough, we sympathise with your struggle and we’re here to help :)