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I am referred many patients with non-pulmonary, chronic cough (CC) because I have extensive experience diagnosing and treating both reflux-related and neurogenic cough. This expertise evolved over a period of 25 years, because I have special diagnostic technology, airway reflux testing and electromyography. These tests allow me to precisely diagnose reflux-related and neurogenic cough. Interestingly, of 50 CC patients recently studied, 12% had neurogenic cough alone, 40% had reflux-related cough alone, and 48% had both; see the abstract of the paper here.
I also see many patients with pulmonary disease (e.g., bronchitis, COPD, asthma) that may or may not be related to airway reflux, as well as patients with reactive airway disease (laryngospasm, paradoxical vocal fold movement, and pseudo-asthma). In most cases, these patients have acid reflux as well. In other words, chronic airway reflux can cause other airway diseases.
Airway Diseases That May be Caused By Reflux
COPD (chronic obstructive pulmonary disease)
Chronic or acute bronchitis
Paradoxical vocal fold movement
Paroxysmal laryngospasm
Asthma / Pseudo-asthma
Reactive airway disease
Vocal cord dysfunction
Vasomotor rhinitis
“Allergic” rhinitis
Chronic cough
Sinusitis
Reflux-Related vs. Neurogenic Cough
The back flow of material from the stomach/esophagus into the throat, that is, into the airway, is a very common cause of chronic, non-pulmonary, cough. By the way, the term “non-pulmonary” provides an important distinction here; it implies that the cough is NOT due to primary pulmonary (lung) disease. In other words, “non-pulmonary” implies a pulmonary specialist has declared the lungs to be okay and/or that the patient has a normal chest x-ray.
Over the past 25 years, my clinical history taking in CC patients has evolved to the point that ten key questions usually distinguish neurogenic from reflux-related cough. Awaking in the middle of the night from a sound sleep coughing and gasping for air like a fish out of water is virtually always REFLUX. Conversely, coughing when exposed to perfume or ambient temperature change is NEUROGENIC. See also the other posts on this blog.
Here are the ten questions, and the PDF version of the Koufman Chronic Cough Index (KCCI) may be seen by clicking here.
KOUFMAN CHRONIC COUGH INDEX (KCCI)
Please circle “Yes” or “No” for every question (R= Reflux, N= Neurogenic)
Do you awaken from a sound sleep coughing YES NO
violently? With trouble breathing?
Do you have choking episodes when you cannot YES NO
get enough air, gasping for air?
Do you usually cough when you lie down into YES NO
the bed, or when you just lie down to rest?
Do you usually cough after meals or eating? YES NO
Do you cough when (or after) you bend over? YES NO
Do you more-or-less cough all day long? NO YES
Does change of temperature make you cough? NO YES
Does laughing or chuckling cause you to cough? NO YES
Do fumes (perfume, automobile fumes, burned NO YES
toast, etc.) cause you to cough?
Does speaking, singing, or talking on the phone NO YES
cause you to cough?
R_____│_____N
Add up the total R and N. More Ns suggest neurogenic cough and vice versa. While the author’s treatment paradigm is beyond the limits of this post, here are three key points:
- Neurogenic cough is usually treated with medications such as amitriptyline (Elavil), gabapentin (Neurontin), and/or tramadol (Ultram). Usually, these three drugs are used in very small doses alone or in combination. Yes, there is often a lot of trial and error involved in finding the right combination.
- Initially, reflux treatment must be intense and individualized for people with reflux-related chronic cough. This includes twice-daily (before breakfast and before dinner) proton pump inhibitors (e.g., Prilosec, Prevacid, Protonix, Nexium), an H2-antagonist at bedtime, as well as the Induction Reflux Diet.
- Many people have both airway reflux and a neurogenic component to their cough and to get optimum results, both must be identified and treated.
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