Medical Jadedness and Treatment of Sensory Neuropathic Cough

People with sensory neuropathic cough often spend years searching in vain for a correct diagnosis and effective treatment. In a group of 110 consecutive patients diagnosed with sensory neuropathic cough by the author in 2005, the median duration of cough prior to diagnosis was 10 years, ranging from a few weeks to 62 years.

The Use of Capsaicin for Sensory Neuropathic Cough

By Robert W. Bastian, MD

In recent years, a neurogenic form of chronic cough has been described in the literature, referred to variously as “sensory neuropathy presenting as chronic cough”¹, “sensory neuropathic cough”^2,3, “laryngeal sensory neuropathy”⁴, or simply “refractory chronic cough”⁵. It has been shown that sensory neuropathic cough (SNC) can be treated with certain neuralgia medications^1,4,5,6,7,8. What has not yet been described, however, is the use of capsaicin spray as a possible treatment for SNC patients—an approach that may seem counter-intuitive, given that capsaicin is known in the pulmonary medicine literature as a means for provoking coughing for diagnostic or research reasons.

Sensory Neuropathic Cough (SNC)

Sensory Neuropathic Cough (SNC) When coughing doesn’t stop. Alternate Languages           Sensory Neuropathic Cough (SNC) is a chronic cough disorder that is thought to have a neurogenic cause. Sensory neuropathic cough (SNC) 1 is also sometimes referred to as a cough caused by “laryngeal sensory neuropathy,” or is sometimes grouped within the […]