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I had the flu, viral not bacterial, runny nose is over but I have very bad dry cough. doctor says i should wait. can i take anti-histamine?
16 أبريل 2015

د. Zakia Dimassi طب الأطفال
You could take an anti-histamine though I can tell you from now that it will not help much in reducing the cough - this kind of cough is known as post-viral cough, and is due to the irritation of the upper part of the respiratory tract following a viral infection, usually because of the secretions and because of residual swelling (edema) of the upper airways. Waiting it out is what we usually recommend. Cough suppressants, a short course of oral steroids may be helpful to provide some symptomatic relief especially when the cough is persistent.
But you should keep in the back of your mind one, albeit less likely, possibility: if the cough is incessant and severe, occurring in bouts, then there may be the possibility of whooping cough (also known as pertussis) - so should the cough be that bad, let your doctor examine you again, maybe do a chest X-ray as you may require oral antibiotics.
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