When coughing, one should not always think only of a bronchial infection. A so-called “heart cough” can also be behind the symptom. Various causes can be behind the bronchial irritation.
Typically, chronic cardiac insufficiency or acute heart failure is accompanied by symptoms of the respiratory organs. The heart failure is often noticed by a shortness of breath, but a slight irritable cough may also be present. The cough itself is not a great danger, but it is a symptom of a life-threatening disease.
Causes
Behind coughing is an acute or chronic cardiac insufficiency, which can have various consequences. The pumping ability of the heart muscles is limited due to various underlying diseases, which limits the blood supply to the body. The blood in the heart cannot be pumped sufficiently forward, which causes it to partially back up into the right heart and venous system.
Diagnosis
A suspected diagnosis can often be made on the basis of a medical history by questioning the patient’s condition and symptoms and a subsequent physical examination. Typically, those affected describe a general weakness and limited performance. With advanced stages, further serious symptoms of heart failure can occur, indicating that the body cannot sufficiently compensate for the lack of heart performance.
With the help of physical examination, typical signs of heart failure can be examined and quantified. In order to be able to measure the extent of the disease accurately, cardiac echo or cardiac catheterization is used. Here, the heart movements and ejection rates can be precisely measured. Blood congestion can often be the first thing that becomes apparent in an X-ray of the chest.
Associated symptoms
The symptoms of heart failure can vary and be manifold. Its severity depends on the stage of the disease and the reaction of the body. In heart failure, the heart does not pump enough blood through the body, which can reduce the supply of cells and organs in the body and cause venous blood to back up in front of the heart.
Frequently affected people report weakness, feeling ill, chest pain, shortness of breath, rattling respiration, leg edema, abdominal fluid and coughing. These symptoms can occur in different combinations and forms depending on the severity of the heart failure. In very advanced cases, the most severe shortness of breath and weakness may predominate and loss of consciousness due to the shock situation may occur.
Numerous other diseases also frequently occur in combination with heart failure. For example, coronary heart disease, diabetes mellitus or COPD are typical concomitant diseases, which in turn are accompanied by severe symptoms. A so-called “cough with sputum” can occur as a symptom in various diseases.
The sputum is usually mucus, which can be caused by infectious agents in the mucosa, but also in the course of heart failure. In cardiac insufficiency, the blood accumulates back into the pulmonary circulation, which is why fluid passes into the lungs and can cause oedema and irritation of the bronchi. The mucous membranes can produce a mucilaginous secretion which leads to a severe irritation of the throat and can be coughed up when coughing.
Sometimes large quantities of mucus can be coughed up. This mucus can also be examined for potential infectious agents in order to rule out an underlying infection. Blood in the cough can be harmless and temporary or a warning symptom of a dangerous disease.
Temporary irritation of the bronchial mucosa is often behind the blood in the cough. Thus, heart failure can also trigger the symptom. The congestion of blood in the pulmonary circulation irritates the bronchial tubes, which can cause small bleedings of the mucous membranes. Larger amounts of blood in the cough may need to be examined more closely, as tumor diseases or severe lung infections may also be behind the symptom.
