Constant cough

Great topic. I'm a 59 year-old woman and have been been a daytime as well as nighttime cougher through most of my adulthood, and on top of it I've always had a raspy voice. (The medical/surgical history is outlined below, if you're interested.) But what's interesting to me is that I dry-cough frequently throughout the day. Just one cough, which I consider a soothing action. What prompts it is a constant irritation in the hollow of my throat (the jugular notch); when I touch it I immediately have to cough. If I'm sitting and look up at someone standing, it does something to that part of my throat and I cough. It seems physiological, yet surgeons did not figure it out. My PCP chalks it up to my anatomy. I imagine by now this day-cough response is partly habitual. Maybe even mostly. At night I believe my cough is reflux related, as changing position helps.

History: I asked about my cough/raspy voice at my allergist's office a little over ten years ago, and they sent me to an SLP/voice specialist, who led me to an ENT who found a cyst on my vocal cord. She removed it, and while my raspiness was reduced somewhat, the cough remained. From there I saw a bariatric specialist who did an upper GI and found non-acid reflux as well as a hiatal hernia (for which I chose not to have surgery.) I accept that there could be some reflux issues, though not severe, because my sleeping position can improve things. I recently stopped with allergy shots after 20 years because I thought the best benefit would have certainly been seen by now, but I do notice more coughing at night now. I use an inhaler for asthma twice daily.

It could be that the muscles in your vocal cords are atrophied which can cause a chronic cough. If this is the case can be remedied by collagen injections into your vocal cords. Ask your ENT about this.

Thanks for this information. I've been getting vagus nerve injections but I think my injections are a lidocaine mix. It's meant to calm the nerves for chronic cough. I will research collagen injections and discuss with my ENT.

@rdschicago I'm not sure if you were responding to me, but I'm so glad you suggested this possibility. I will definitely look into it with the ENT. I just hate being "the cougher".

My ENT also suggested injections in my neck/throat for my chronic cough, so I am considering having this done. Have the injections helped eliminate or reduce your cough?

The injection is somewhat helpful for me but doesn't totally eliminate my cough. These injections are not painful...the needle is like a botox needle. My ENT has other patients with chonic cough. Some have had good results with the injections some no result. The goal I set with my ENT is 80% improvement over no drugs or injections. I am also taking amitriptylene 35 mg at night.