Asthma has several symptoms – nighttime coughing, wheezing, shortness of breath, tightening of the chest and many others. Not everyone suffers from all the symptoms. For some asthma patients, the only symptoms they experience is chronic coughing. This is a nonproductive cough, that it, this cough does not clear up any mucus or blockages in the airways of the lungs, which is usually what coughs are supposed to do. This kind of asthma is known as cough variant asthma.

Cough-variant asthma is also known as chronic cough, because it lasts longer than six to eight weeks. The coughing goes on all the time, during the day and at night. In the night, the coughing can interrupt sleep. Sufferers of cough-variant asthma have observed that coughing increases with exercise, called exercise-induced asthma. Allergy-causing substances like dust or strong fragrances can trigger the coughing. Cold air can also start up the cough.

Treatment of cough variant asthma is the same as for any other type of asthma. Patients must take regular doses of controller medicine is key, and also doses of reliever medicine when the coughing gets too unmanageable. As long as the patient follows the asthma management plan, they should experience minimum coughing.