Suggest Treatment For Throat Infection And Dry Cough

Posted on Fri, 27 Jun 2014

Medically reviewed by Ask A Doctor - 24x7 Medical Review Team

Fri, 27 Jun 2014 Answered on

Mon, 14 Jul 2014 Last reviewed on

Question : I got throat infection. Throat is paining a lot and having dry cough. It is getting very difficult to sleep in the night. I started taking Erythromycin for the past 3 days. It initially started coming down, but again increased.

Can you please suggest

Answered by Dr. Dr. Prasad J (7 hours later)

Brief Answer:
Starting erythromycin was not the right decision..

Detailed Answer:
Hi,

At the outset please know that not all throat pain is due to infection. And not all throat infection need antibiotics. Therefore in my opinion it was a poor decision to start erythromycin. Repeating such actions can be detrimental in future.

Now if you had no other symptoms besides throat pain and dry cough, I would think of acid reflux disease as the most likely cause. Sometimes undigested acidic contents of stomach regurgitate to the throat irritation it and leading to dry cough and pain. I would treat such symptoms with salt water gargles, throat lozenges and antiulcer drugs. So my treatment to you are:
1. XXXXXXX warm salt water gargles 3-5 times a day.
2. Tus Q chewable tablets or syrup twice daily. Alternatively other throat lozenges such as strepsil can be used.
3. Esomeprazole capsule 20mg once a day for 2 weeks

In addition to those try small and frequent meals; restrict caffeinated beverages, smoking and alcohol; exercise to loose weight and destress yourself.

Should symptoms persist to trouble you for more than 2 weeks, please visit a doctor for reevaulation.

Hope this helps. Let me know if you need clarifications.

Regards

Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Chakravarthy Mazumdar