Syrups, pastilles and other natural remedies have not made it possible to relieve you. Your cough has been going on for several weeks, or even months, but you don’t know what has caused it. No ENT infection, or allergy or asthma on the horizon … If no physiological cause has been identified, your persistent cough could be a somatic symptom, in other words a physical manifestation of a mental disorder.
What is a psychogenic cough?
Also called nervous or functional cough, psychogenic cough is an often dry, irritating and persistent cough (more than 8 weeks). It cannot be explained by any identifiable physical disorder. The patient concerned does not suffer from any infection, allergy or inflammation. The cough reflex is very real but it has no physiological justification.
This cough increases at certain times and disappears to others. “”Toux somatization syndrome, or SST, formerly called psychogenic cough, is marked by a cough absent at night and disappearing during the activities “, Can we read on the site of the French language pneumology company. Indeed, it tends to manifest itself in the event of stress, anxiety or too full of emotions; And to dissipate when the brain is soothed or occupied. This particularity reinforces the diagnosis of psychogenic cough.
What relationship between stress and cough?
As surprising as it may seem, stress can be the trigger for a chronic cough. Faced with a stressful situation, the body will set up mechanisms to react quickly in the event of danger. The nervous system will order the heart to beat faster, which will speed up the rhythm of breathing, an often superficial breathing (in the upper body) which can dry the throat. This drought at the throat will create a feeling of irritation that pushes us to cough to be relieved.
Stress would also have an effect on the brain. In some people, it can activate the brain areas involved in respiratory reflexes.
The problem with this type of cough is that it self-stands. The more we cough, the more the throat is irritated, which accentuates it. This cough can in turn be a source of anxiety and stress, which will worsen it.
Do not hesitate to consult
Do not hesitate to consult if your cough has lasted for weeks, that the doctors have not found any physiological cause to its occurrence and that it is accompanied by other symptoms such as anxiety or sleep disorders. The diagnosis of psychogenic cough is a diagnosis of elimination. The doctor suspected a psychogenic cough when he found no physiological cause after a rigorous exploration.
Make an appointment with your general practitioner who can direct you to psychological care. The treatment of psychogenic cough is based on multidisciplinary management: cognitive-behavioral therapies, sophrology, hypnosis, anxiolytic treatment…