6 Major causes of coughing after eating

You must have come here after regular coughing after eating. One side, where it is not so uncommon to cough after you finish eating your food. The other side, it may be the symptoms of some disorders in your body.

To know about coughing after eating in-depth, let’s know why exactly one coughs. The term coughing is the body’s phenomenon that expels the irritants out from the respiratory system of your body.

To know, why you are coughing right after eating, you should take the help of a doctor to find out what’s causing irritation to your respiratory system after you eat your food. Meanwhile, you shouldn’t be much worried as in most of the cases, coughing after eating can be treated by changing eating habits, diets and sometimes medications.

Major causes of coughing after eating

For a quick note, the causes of coughing after eating may include food allergies, dysphagia, acid reflux and sometimes asthma. In the next section, we will be dealing with the causes of coughing after eating in details.

Food allergy

If any food irritates your body’s processes, it is allergic to you. It is true that food allergy generally occurs during childhood. However, it is well evident that these allergies can return at any age.

If you are allergic to a particular food, you get the allergic symptoms after about 2 hours of eating the food. You shouldn’t be surprised to hear that you can also develop an allergy to a food that you have been eating for years.

The symptoms of allergy vary from person to person, but to our concern right now when it affects the respiratory system, it may result to wheezing, shortness of breath and can also cause you coughing after eating.

Respiratory infections

You should keep this in mind that mostly when you cough, the upper respiratory infections are the causes. But these are such infections that clear up after two weeks in general.

Meanwhile, the type of cough that can last for 8 weeks or even more is considered chronic. This is to say that coughing after eating can also occur because of an infection that could never get healed.

There is a way to find out if your cough is caused by an infection or not. If you feel your cough is dry and sounds harsh, it is generally caused by an infection. You should consult a doctor in this case, he shall recommend anti-inflammatories. You can also have a look at the pulmonary toilet.

Acid reflux

Let’s know what acid reflux is, to get an idea of why it may cause you coughing after eating. Acid reflux is something that occurs when the acid present in your stomach moves back to the oesophagus.

The lower oesophageal sphincter is a band of muscles that relaxes whenever you eat or drink something. This movement allows the food or liquid to pass in the stomach. There are instances when the lower oesophageal sphincter doesn’t close properly. This inhibits proper passing of food or liquid to your stomach. Also, the acid present in your stomach may move back to the oesophagus.

This is what actually irritates your oesophagus thus resulting in coughing after eating. You can also know if something like tea pain exists or not.

Asthma

If you have been around an asthmatic patient, you would have seen him or her facing symptoms like chest tightness, wheezing and also coughing.

Since you know that asthma can also be a cause of coughing after eating, you should be sure if your cough is due to asthma or not. To get confirmation, you should consult a doctor. But generally, the cough caused by asthma occurs heavily either early in the morning or late at night.

In the case that you are coughing after eating due to asthma, you should make sure you try your best to avoid asthmatic attacks. These attacks are generally caused by sulphites that are present in dried fruits, wine, beer etc. You should have a look at the best medications for asthma.

Aspiration pneumonia

Sometimes when you are eating or drinking something, the food or liquid may enter the wrong hole and get inhaled to your lungs. If your lung is healthy, it clears out all the bacteria. If your lung is not healthy, these bacteria may cause aspiration pneumonia, which is a serious condition.

If you are also having acid reflux or even dysphagia, the risk of having aspiration pneumonia increases. When having aspiration pneumonia, you may be coughing after as well. In this, the cough is wet sounding and may also contain green or blood coloured mucus.

Dysphagia

Dysphagia is a condition when you feel difficulty in swallowing. In simple words, you will have to put some more effort into pushing the food or liquid into your stomach. This makes you difficult to swallow the food and results in coughing while swallowing.

The major reason behind coughing in dysphagia is the feeling of something stuck in your throat. This results in coughing after eating. There are many causes of dysphagia. Even if you have acid reflux, you may develop dysphagia. You should consult a doctor to find out if you cough due to dysphagia.

When to consult a doctor?

As already mentioned in the beginning section of this article, coughing after eating is not so uncommon. But when you repeatedly cough after eating your food, you should consult a doctor. If you observe the following symptoms, you should consult a doctor.

• If your cough lasts as long as 2 weeks or more

• If you cough frequently throughout the day even after eating

• When you see blood in the mucus

• When an active smoker experiences heavy cough

• If you can’t find the possible cause behind your cough

Conclusion

Coughing after eating is something that many people may experience. It is also not so uncommon. If your cough sometimes after eating your food, that’s okay. But when you start coughing frequently throughout the day and the cough lasts as long as 2 weeks or more, you should consult your doctor.

There are many causes behind coughing after you eat your food. Among these the above mentioned factors are the most common causes of coughing.