You know the feeling: a persistent tickle in your throat that makes you cough without end. This experience can be incredibly frustrating, leading you to ask, “Why Does My Throat Tickle And I Cant Stop Coughing?” A tickle in the throat and a constant cough are common.
Sometimes, simple irritations cause this discomfort in your throat. Other times, underlying conditions affect your throat. We will explore what causes this tickle and what solutions can bring you relief.
Key Takeaways
Many things can make your throat tickle and cause you to cough, like irritants, allergies, and infections.
Conditions such as asthma, acid reflux, and certain medicines can cause a cough that lasts a long time.
You can find relief by drinking warm liquids, using lozenges, and staying hydrated. A humidifier can also help.
Over-the-counter medicines like cough suppressants or expectorants can help with your cough.
See a doctor if your cough lasts more than eight weeks or if you have serious symptoms like coughing up blood or trouble breathing.
Why Does My Throat Tickle: Common Causes
You often wonder, “why does my throat tickle and I can’t stop coughing?” Many common things can cause a tickle in the throat and make you cough. These reasons range from simple irritants to infections.
Irritants and Environmental Factors
Your throat can feel tickly due to many things around you. These are irritants. Allergies are a big cause. For example, hay fever makes your immune system react to pollen, dust mites, or pet dander. This reaction can cause a cough. Insect or food allergies and even strong smells from perfumes or cleaning products can also trigger a cough.
Environmental irritants also play a big role. Tobacco smoke and air pollution often cause throat irritation. Smoking and breathing secondhand smoke lead to this irritation.
Long-term exposure can even cause chronic bronchitis. Some medicines can also make your throat tickle. ACE inhibitors, used for blood pressure, commonly cause a dry cough and a tickle in the throat. Other medicines, like certain calcium channel blockers or fentanyl, can also cause throat irritation.
Environmental factors make your throat irritated and cause you to cough. Pollutants in the air trigger your cough reflex. Studies show that certain channels in your body, called TRPA1, react to irritants in air pollution and cigarette smoke. Diesel exhaust particles, for instance, directly affect your nerves and cause a cough. Exposure to fine particles in the air (PM2.5) also makes your cough reflex more sensitive. Air pollution from traffic can increase how often you cough and cause inflammation in your airways. This suggests pollutants contribute to conditions like eosinophilic bronchitis.
Many things in your environment link to chronic cough. These include:
Tiny particles in the air
Cigarette smoke
Smoke from burning biomass fuel
Dust and gas at work
Air pollution from traffic
These factors change your nerves and cause inflammation in your airways. This leads to chronic cough. How much you are exposed to these things, and for how long, affects your cough. This constant irritation makes your throat feel uncomfortable.
Viral Infections and Post-Viral Cough
Viral infections are a very common reason for a tickle in the throat and a cough. These infections often affect your throat, windpipe (trachea), or the tubes leading to your lungs (bronchi). Doctors sometimes call these infections laryngitis, tracheitis, or bronchitis.
The common cold is a viral infection in your upper breathing system. It usually causes a runny nose and a cough. This cough can last up to four weeks. COVID-19 is another major viral cause of cough. Most sore throats come from viruses. Viral infections can also cause postnasal drip, which leads to a tickle in the throat. Some people with COVID-19 also report an itchy throat. This constant irritation from a virus makes you cough.
A cough that follows a viral infection often goes away on its own. This usually happens within two months. If your cough lasts longer than two months, you should see a doctor. They can find the exact cause of your persistent cough. A persistent cough lasts three to eight weeks. A chronic cough lasts eight weeks or more.
Postnasal Drip and Sinusitis
Postnasal drip is another frequent cause of a tickle in the throat. It can also make you cough. When more mucus than usual builds up and drips down the back of your throat, it creates a tickle. This constant dripping irritates your throat. Over time, this irritation can make your throat sore. It can also cause inflammation, which means your tonsils and other throat tissues swell. This swelling adds to your discomfort and makes you cough.
The steady trickle of mucus from your sinuses irritates your throat. This leads to a nagging cough or other symptoms. You feel a tickle in the back of your throat. This feeling makes you want to cough or clear your throat often. Postnasal drip causes a tickly throat and cough because the constant draining of excess mucus irritates your throat. This irritation creates a tickling sensation. This sensation then makes you cough frequently.
Chronic Cough: Underlying Medical Conditions
Sometimes, a cough lasts much longer than a typical cold. When a cough persists for eight weeks or more, doctors call it a chronic cough. This kind of cough often comes with ongoing throat irritation. You need to understand the underlying medical conditions that cause this persistent cough.
Allergies and Asthma
Allergies can lead to a chronic cough. Your body reacts to allergens like pollen or dust. This reaction causes inflammation and throat irritation. Asthma is another common cause.
Specifically, cough-variant asthma (CVA) often presents only as a chronic cough. This cough can be dry or have mucus. Your airways narrow and swell, causing this cough. These coughing episodes can last for hours or days. Triggers like cold air, exercise, allergens, or strong smells often make the cough worse. CVA is a frequent cause of chronic cough.
It is a dry, non-productive cough, meaning you do not expel mucus. This cough can happen day or night. Nighttime coughing can disrupt your sleep. Physical activity or exposure to dust and strong fragrances can also trigger this cough.
Acid Reflux Disease
Acid reflux disease, also known as gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD), can cause a chronic cough. Stomach acid flows back up into your esophagus and sometimes reaches your throat. This acid causes significant throat irritation and a tickle in the throat. This irritation triggers your cough reflex.
Laryngopharyngeal Reflux (LPR) is a type of reflux where acid reaches your voice box and throat. Up to 10% of chronic cough cases come from LPR. One study found LPR in 36.1% of chronic cough patients. Another clinical study showed reflux in the throat area for 52% of patients with chronic cough. While GERD can cause a cough, it is often a contributing factor rather than the main cause. You might not even have typical GERD symptoms like heartburn.
Finding Relief for Your Tickly Throat and Cough
When you experience a persistent tickle in your throat and cannot stop coughing, you want relief. Many effective strategies can help soothe your throat and calm your cough. You can find comfort through simple home remedies and over-the-counter options.
Soothing a Tickle in the Throat
You can take several steps to soothe that annoying tickle in the throat. These actions help calm your irritated throat and reduce the urge to cough.
Drink Warm Liquids: Warm beverages are very comforting. Hot tea with honey is a relaxing soother. It helps coat your throat and can temporarily stop the tickle. Herbal teas, especially those with lemon or ginger, also provide relief. Avoid too much coffee because caffeine can dehydrate you.
Suck on Lozenges or Hard Candies: Sucking on a throat lozenge or even a hard candy stimulates saliva production. This keeps your throat moist and helps relieve the tickle.
Gargle with Salt Water: Mix half a teaspoon of salt in one cup of warm water. Gargling with this solution can help reduce throat irritation and provide temporary relief.
Avoid Irritants: Stay away from things that make your throat worse. This includes tobacco smoke, strong perfumes, and very cold air.
Hydration and Humidity Solutions
Proper hydration and maintaining good air quality are crucial for relieving your cough and tickle.
Stay Hydrated: Drinking plenty of fluids helps keep your throat moist and thins mucus. This makes it easier to clear. You should drink liquids often, including water, juice, and soup. For healthy adults, general guidelines suggest about 15.5 cups (3.7 liters) of fluids per day for men and about 11.5 cups (2.7 liters) for women. This includes fluids from beverages and food. When you fight off infections like a cold, your fluid needs increase. Do not skimp on liquids during these times.
Use a Humidifier: Dry air can worsen a cough and throat irritation. A humidifier adds moisture back into the air and your airways. This is especially helpful when heating makes the air dry. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) recommends maintaining indoor humidity levels between 30% and 50%. This range is crucial. Air that is too dry can cause problems. Humidity exceeding 60% can also foster the growth of allergens like dust mites and mold. These can worsen respiratory issues. Humidifiers help alleviate cough symptoms by providing consistent humidity. This consistent moisture helps maintain hydration in your respiratory tract. This eases irritation and discomfort associated with coughing. For sick children, maintaining humidity levels within the optimal range of 30-50% is also advised. This balanced environment supports respiratory health, prevents dryness, and aids in healing.
When to Seek Medical Help for Persistent Cough
You need to know when your tickly throat and persistent cough require professional medical attention. While many coughs resolve on their own, certain symptoms signal a more serious underlying issue.
Recognizing Red Flag Symptoms
You must recognize certain signs that indicate a serious problem with your cough. These are red flag symptoms. If you experience these, seek immediate medical attention.
Your cough lasts three weeks or longer.
You have significant systemic illness, like a change in mental status.
You experience breathlessness (dyspnea) or increased work of breathing. This means your respiratory rate is over 20 breaths per minute, you use accessory muscles to breathe, or you cannot speak normally.
You have pleuritic chest pain.
You have a prolonged or high fever.
Your respiratory exam is abnormal, showing wheezing, crackles, or stridor.
You notice cyanosis, a bluish discoloration of your lips, mouth, fingers, or hands.
You cough up blood (hemoptysis).
You suspect an inhaled foreign body.
You have difficulty swallowing (dysphagia).
You experience urinary incontinence or vomiting with your cough.
There is suspicion of lung cancer.
Your heart failure symptoms worsen, such as shortness of breath, orthopnea, or weight gain.
You have an acute exacerbation of COPD or asthma that does not respond to initial therapy.
These symptoms mean you need professional help for your persistent cough and irritated throat.
When to Consult a Doctor
You should consult a healthcare provider if your cough persists. A cough is considered normal for up to two or three weeks after it starts. However, if your cough lasts longer than eight weeks after an initial illness, you need medical advice. Seek care if your condition worsens.
Consult a doctor if alarm symptoms appear, such as a high fever, bloody or rusty sputum, or shortness of breath. You should also see a doctor if your persistent cough keeps recurring or happens without other symptoms. If your persistent cough brings up blood or red phlegm, contact a healthcare professional immediately. Do not ignore a persistent tickle in your throat that leads to constant coughing.
You now understand why a tickle in the throat and a persistent cough can happen. Many things cause this tickle. You learned about irritants, infections, and medical conditions. This helps answer “why does my throat tickle and i cant stop coughing”. Understanding your symptoms helps. Try home remedies to soothe your throat. However, know when to see a doctor for your cough. They can diagnose and treat your throat issues. You can find relief from that annoying tickle.
