What Causes Cough And Chest Pain While Coughing?

Posted on Sat, 12 Apr 2014

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

Sat, 12 Apr 2014 Answered on

Fri, 2 May 2014 Last reviewed on

Question : My husband had a bad cold that lasted a long time. He doesn't have a cold now but still had a bad cough and his chest has been hurting when he coughs. This morning he blew his nose and blood came out of the left nostril. After a few hours some blood came out again but did not blow nose this time. What is wrong? Should he go to the emergency room for this?

Answered by Dr. Satvinder Bakshi (22 minutes later)

Brief Answer: please meet your doctor Detailed Answer: hello! first thing is that i would like to re assure you that it is not very serious and you dont have to panic! There can be two reasons for the bleeding the first and most likely cause is infection of the nose and sinuses which accompanied the cold has caused the blood vessels to become swollen and this has caused the bleeding the second and rarer cause will be due to cough, causing raised pressure in the blood vessels causing the bleeding. the chest pain is due to the cough and will come down when the cough stops. You will have to meet your ent doctor to confirm this , he will do an endoscopy of your nose and find out the cause for bleeding. It is even better to go to the emergency room now. You can ask him to instil oxymetazoline nasal drops in his nose , 2 drops , 3-4 times a day , this will control the bleeding. You can also ask him to take linctus codeine 2 teaspoon twice a day for the cough , this will give him relief , He may need antibiotics if there is an infection in his nose and i would like you to meet your doctor for the prescription. You can also ask him to take steam inhalation 3-4 times a day , this will reduce the est and sinus infections. Take care!

Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Shanthi.E