What Is a Habit Cough?

Coughing is a protective reflex action of the human body, that is, when a person's respiratory tract has pathological secretions (most commonly sputum) or accidentally (especially children) foreign bodies enter the respiratory tract (more It is common to accidentally eat rice grains that fall into the trachea), which will cause the body to react reflexes and expel them by coughing.

Basic Information

Visiting department

Respiratory Medicine

Multiple groups

Child

Common locations

Respiratory tract

Common causes

There is sputum in the respiratory tract, or if you accidentally eat it (especially for children), rice grains fall into the trachea

Common symptoms

cough

Cough reflex cough mechanism

In fact, coughing looks "simple", it is nothing more than "coughing", but it involves many parts and organs of the human body. First of all, there is a special part in our human brain called the extended brain, which is located below the cerebellum and belongs to the brain stem. In the brain, there is a group of nerve cells, and they form a "cough center", that is, this center is the "command" to control human cough. Their task is to accept and "process analysis" of various cough-causing Stimulate, and then send "signals" to the relevant nerves, and these nerves will send signals (or impulses) to the relevant muscles and related organs (such as the glottis, etc.), which then responds to the cough in a coordinated manner.

So what are the nerves related to cough? They are mostly nerves related to the respiratory mucosa, such as what doctors call "vagus nerve", "glossopharyngeal nerve", "trigeminal nerve" and so on. The task of these nerves is to pass stimulation into To the cough center. There are also some nerves related to cough, which are "sublaryngeal nerve", "sacral nerve" and "spine nerve". Their division of labor is to accept the "command" of the respiratory center and transmit impulses to the parts or muscles that can cause cough, such as the pharynx Muscles, glottis, diaphragm, respiratory muscles, etc., and the coordinated actions of these muscles or parts lead to the occurrence of cough. Doctors call this process "cough reflex".

Specifically, the overall process of coughing is as follows: short inhalation, then the glottis immediately closes, and the diaphragm is lowered, and then the respiratory and diaphragm muscles contract rapidly, causing the lung pressure to suddenly increase, and then the glottis suddenly opens, the lungs The internal high-pressure air jets out and hits the narrow gap of the glottis, bursting into a special sound, which is cough. Because of the high-pressure gas ejected during coughing, the secretions or foreign bodies in the respiratory tract (such as accidentally falling rice grains) can be discharged together.

Cough reflex in cough reflex disease

In pathological conditions, most coughs cannot be controlled at will. However, the cerebral cortex of the human body can also affect the occurrence of cough. Therefore, in some cases, cough can be controlled or generated at will. The most common patients are chest pain or abdominal pain during cough. They actively suppress cough in order to avoid pain.

Some diseases have a certain cough. For example, "monophonic cough" is more common in laryngitis, tracheitis, patients with early tuberculosis, and smokers. Others have no illness, but they cough from time to time. This is called "habit "Sexual cough" also belongs to the category of "single cough".

Another kind of disturbing cough is "spastic cough", which is a paroxysmal, severe, and difficult to control cough that is more common in children with pertussis, foreign body inhalation, bronchial asthma, bronchial tuberculosis, and bronchi Tumors, etc. As for long-term chronic cough, it is caused by chronic respiratory diseases, such as the so-called "old chronic bronchitis" (chronic bronchitis in the elderly), bronchiectasis, chronic lung abscess, and cavitary tuberculosis.