A cough is our body’s way of responding to irritants in the throat and airways. A cough that persists for long periods of time is not just frustrating, it can interfere with daily life and ruin a good night’s sleep. Chronic cough can usually be resolved by treating the underlying problem, however the difficulty is in figuring out what exactly the cause is. The most common causes are postnasal drip, asthma, and acid reflux, but it can also be caused by GERD, medications, and respiratory tract conditions such as asthma, bronchitis, or an infection, among other things. 

Chinese medicine particularly excels at accurate diagnosis, because it is based on a very careful examination and analysis of a person’s overall symptoms. For this reason, it can often find a successful avenue of treatment for mysterious problems that Western medicine finds difficult.

Acupuncture can help with chronic cough by looking to these underlying causes to resolve the problem. By seeing the cough as a symptom of a larger pattern of imbalance, we can focus on improving health and correcting imbalances in order to resolve the symptoms. Of course, there are also limits to what acupuncture can do. In the case of cough, it’s always important to speak with your doctor to make sure that it’s not a result of a serious underlying problem such as an infection.

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