It depends on the severity and underlying cause of the cough that the treatment can be suggested.

Doctors all over the world treat cough in many ways. What follows is just a list of some very general methods of cough treatment adopted by doctors worldwide.

• If your cough is due to smoking, environmental irritants, or allergies, your doctor will advise you to eliminate the contact with the offending substances. This approach may take several weeks or may be months to be effective as the length of time required to get rid of the offending substances and repair damage to the lungs and air passages from the offending agents are both quite time consuming.

If your cough is caused by GERD, your doctor will treat it by getting the amount of acid reflux reduced from the stomach. Hence the doctor will suggest you some diet changes and medication. However, successful treatment may take multiple therapies which will take time.

• Over-the-counter or prescription drugs are usually suggested by doctors for symptomatic relief of cough.

• If your doctor notices that your cough is the reaction of some certain medication, he will ask you to quit the use of that medication. He will prescribe you an alternate medicine as per your requirement. You may not see a decrease in your cough immediately after quitting the medicines as the effects of those medicines may continue in you for a few weeks.

• Doctors treat an acute cough by treating the underlying cause while first targeting at decreasing the cough.

• For patients with severe coughs, doctors usually suggest narcotic medications with the instruction to avoid operating any heavy machines, alcohol, and driving.