Persistent Cough

Your cough may be from smoking. Smoking commonly results in a morning cough.

During the day, cigarette smoke deposits particles into the airway mucus. At the same time, toxins in the smoke prevent your airways from moving mucus out of the lung efficiently. So the mucus stays down in the lungs. At night, most smokers take a break from cigarettes because they are asleep. The airways have some time to recover their ability to move the mucus, triggering the cough.

Smoking can also cause extra mucus production, resulting in a chronic cough. This is called chronic bronchitis. It is an important part of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), the name for chronic lung damage in smokers. COPD can include chronic bronchitis (airway damage), emphysema (air sac damage), or both problems. The best way to treat chronic bronchitis is to quit smoking. Inhalers and other treatments may also help.

Lung cancer occasionally causes a cough as its first symptom.

Contact your doctor.

As a smoker, your doctor will likely order a chest x-ray if your cough continues to persist or if you are producing dark yellow or green phlegm. Your doctor will want the x-ray right away if you are coughing up any blood.

Since your doctor is going to advise you to quit if you haven't already, take this opportunity to set your quit date now.

Please continue with this decision guide to learn about other reasons that may be contributing to your cough.

Click here to continue with the guide.