9 Ways to Ease Your Lung Cancer Cough

Constant coughing is a common symptom of NSCLC that can disrupt your sleep, interrupt conversations, and make it hard to relax. You may be coughing because your lung cancer or its treatment is blocking your airways, causing fluid buildup, triggering inflammation, or enhancing your risk of infection or worsening conditions like asthma or COPD. The following tactics can help address your lung cancer cough so you can feel some relief. 

Research shows a link between low water intake and risk of severe cough, so if you're already prone to it, start sipping. Aim to get at least 64 ounces of water in a 24-hour period. Tip: Buy a reusable water bottle you like so you want to reach for it often. 

Cough drops aren’t a cure, but they can sometimes help keep your throat moistened so coughs come less often. If you don’t like cough drops, hard candy can do just as well at soothing throat tickles. 

Dry cough benefits from moist air. A humidifier can be especially helpful at night in the room where you sleep, but you can also use one in your office or other rooms in your house where you spend a lot of time. Make sure to keep your humidifier clean so it doesn’t introduce mold and other irritants to your lungs. 

If you know certain irritants make your cough worse, do your best to avoid them. Smoke, dust, pollen, and pollution are common triggers. Wear a mask outside or while cleaning or moving objects around to help limit your exposure.  

Hot herbal tea mixed with lemon juice and honey can soothe irritated membranes in your throat. If you’re not a tea drinker, try warm broth or warm water with lemon. For a similar outcome without the drink, you can gargle warm salt water.

Your doctor may be able to prescribe certain painkiller tablets such as codeine or morphine to help suppress your cough. Over-the-counter medications with dextromethorphan (DXM) may also help calm your brain’s “cough center” so you feel like coughing less often.

Certain practices like controlled coughing (huffing), pursed-lip breathing, and diaphragmatic breathing (belly breathing) help your airways open better and your lungs work more efficiently. Talk to your doctor before trying breathing exercises. 

Raising your upper body with extra pillows when you lie in bed at night can help with a dry cough. With less gravity working against your chest, breathing is a little easier for your body.

You can either turn on a hot shower and sit in the steamy bathroom, run hot water in the sink and place a towel over your head as you lean over the steam, or even try a nebulizer with saline. All these methods deliver moist air to your respiratory system.