A chronic cough can occur with other signs and symptoms, which may include:

• A runny or stuffy nose
• A feeling of liquid running down the back of your throat (postnasal drip)
• Frequent throat clearing and sore throat
• Hoarseness
• Wheezing and shortness of breath
• Heartburn or a sour taste in your mouth
• In rare cases, coughing up blood

An occasional cough is normal — it helps clear irritants and secretions from your lungs and prevents infection.

However, a cough that persists for weeks is usually the result of a medical problem. In many cases, more than one cause is involved.

The following causes, alone or in combination, are responsible for the majority of cases of chronic cough:

• Postnasal drip. When your nose or sinuses produce extra mucus, it can drip down the back of your throat and trigger your cough reflex. This condition is also called upper airway cough syndrome (UACS).
• Asthma. An asthma-related cough may come and go with the seasons, appear after an upper respiratory tract infection, or become worse when you're exposed to cold air or certain chemicals or fragrances. In one type of asthma (cough-variant asthma), a cough is the main symptom.
• Gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD). In this common condition, stomach acid flows back into the tube that connects your stomach and throat (esophagus). The constant irritation can lead to chronic coughing. The coughing, in turn, worsens GERD — a vicious cycle.
• Infections. A cough can linger long after other symptoms of pneumonia, flu, a cold or other infection of the upper respiratory tract have gone away. A common but under-recognized cause of a chronic cough in adults is pertussis, also known as whooping cough.
• Blood pressure drugs. Angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitors, which are commonly prescribed for high blood pressure and heart failure, are known to cause chronic cough in some people.
• Chronic bronchitis. This long-standing inflammation of your major airways (bronchial tubes) can cause a cough that brings up colored sputum. Most people with chronic bronchitis are current or former smokers. Chronic bronchitis is usually part of the spectrum of smoking-related lung disease called chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). Emphysema is also incorporated under this term, and chronic bronchitis and emphysema often coexist in current or former smokers with COPD.

Less commonly, chronic cough may be caused by:

• Aspiration (food in adults; foreign bodies in children)
• Bronchiectasis (damaged airways)
• Bronchiolitis
• Cystic fibrosis
• Laryngopharyngeal reflux (stomach acid flows up into the throat)
• Lung cancer
• Nonasthmatic eosinophilic bronchitis (airway inflammation not caused by asthma)
• Sarcoidosis (collections of inflammatory cells in different parts of your body, most commonly the lungs)

Being a current or former smoker is one of the leading risk factors for chronic cough. Frequent exposure to secondhand smoke also can lead to coughing and lung damage.

Women tend to have more-sensitive cough reflexes, so they're more likely to develop a chronic cough than are men.

Having a persistent cough can be exhausting. Coughing can disrupt your sleep and cause a variety of other problems, including:

• Headache
• Dizziness
• Excessive sweating
• Loss of bladder control (urinary incontinence)
• Fractured ribs
• Passing out (syncope)