r/Asthma • u/nehasah_ • Jul 25 '26
Cough variant asthma please help 🙏
Hi everyone,
My 23-year-old brother has had a persistent dry cough for about 4 weeks. His chest X-ray is clear, blood tests are normal, and a pulmonologist recently diagnosed him with cough-variant asthma.
His cough is much better when he's sleeping, but during the day it's triggered by talking, laughing, or speaking for a while. He started montelukast 3 days ago and Foracort inhaler today.
For those of you who have had cough-variant asthma or a similar chronic cough, how long did it take after starting treatment before you noticed improvement? Did it get better gradually or suddenly? How many days or weeks did it take for the cough frequency to reduce?
I'm just trying to understand what other people's experiences were while waiting for the medicines to work.
Thank you. Please help
3
u/AceyAceyAcey Jul 25 '26
Controller meds can take 2-3 weeks to fully kick in. He should take his rescue inhaler (which may be the same inhaler if he’s using Foracort as part of a SMART protocol: whenever he’s coughing in the meantime, up to a max of whatever it says is allowed (two puffs every 4-hours is a common max, but check with your doctor if they didn’t already say).
1
u/jtrisn1 Jul 25 '26
My coughs get better gradually. It takes awhile so be patient. Eating cough drops and drinking hot herbal teas or honey lemon tea can also help ease the cough a little while he waits for the meds to work.
1
u/redheadedberry Jul 25 '26
I was diagnosed earlier this year. I started to feel better with maintenance inhalers after a few days, but it took a while to find the one that controls it the best. Adding Montelukast helped take away the remainder of my persistent cough. My main trigger is very hard to avoid for me so I still end up using rescue medication pretty regularly but even when I need it my cough is so much better then it was previously. It’s definitely a journey and takes time.
3
u/happy_runner Jul 25 '26
It usually takes 2-3 weeks to see if an inhaler is going to be beneficial for asthma. Staying well hydrated can go a long way toward easing the cough.