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Dr. Chrysoula I. Liakou MD, PhD
- Treated online: Yes, usually. A cough is assessed by video with a structured history; antibiotics are prescribed only for genuine signs of bacterial infection, and a cough with blood, severe breathlessness or chest pain needs in-person care.
- What it is: a reflex that clears the airways; acute coughs last under 3 weeks and mostly follow a cold or flu, while a cough lasting 3 weeks or more, or 8 weeks or more (chronic), always needs assessment.
- Commonest causes of a long cough: post-nasal drip, asthma, acid reflux, smoking, and blood-pressure tablets whose names end in -pril, which can start a dry cough months or years after the first tablet.
- What helps: for adults, a spoonful of honey eases a cough; evidence that over-the-counter syrups shorten one is weak, and antibiotics do nothing for the viral coughs that make up most cases.
- Warning signs: coughing up blood, breathlessness, chest pain, fever that is not settling, unexplained weight loss or night sweats, or a cough that keeps getting worse.
- Emergency: if you are struggling to breathe, call 112.
If you are coughing up blood, severely breathless, have chest pain, or a high fever that is not settling with paracetamol or ibuprofen, do not book a video appointment. You need in-person care today. If you are struggling to breathe, call 112.
Can an online doctor treat a cough?
Yes, often. On Mobi Doctor, a licensed doctor can assess a cough by video, work out the likely cause, and prescribe when medicine is genuinely the right treatment. A cough with blood, breathlessness or chest pain, or one lasting more than three weeks, needs in-person examination.[1]
Cough suits video care because the diagnosis is driven by the story: how long it has lasted, what triggers it, what comes up, and what else is going on in your body and your medicine cabinet. What video cannot do is listen to your chest, so an honest online service treats escalation as part of the job, not a failure of it. Your doctor tells you plainly which side of that line you are on.
Listen: Cough Treatment Online
The audio version of this topic from the Mobi Doctor podcast. Open the episode.
How an online consultation helps with a cough
- The three-week line: an ordinary cough after a viral infection can drag on for up to three or even four weeks. The doctor places yours on that timeline and takes any cough past three weeks seriously, because a persistent cough always deserves proper assessment.[1]
- A history that finds the cause: dry or chesty, worse at night or on exercise, smoker or not, heartburn, hay fever, blood-pressure tablets. The pattern usually points to the cause, and taking that history is exactly what a video consultation does well.
- Prescriptions after a proper consultation: most coughs are viral, and antibiotics make no difference to them.[2] The doctor assesses you first and prescribes only when medicine is genuinely the right treatment, with the prescription sent to a local pharmacy.
- A safety net and a clear plan: you finish the call knowing what should improve by when, which specific changes mean you need re-review, and when a chest examination or X-ray is the right next step.
What the doctor checks in an online cough consultation
The assessment is a structured history, not a guess from a single cough on camera. In a cough consultation the doctor will typically check:
- How long it has lasted: placing your cough on the timeline, because anything past three weeks needs assessment in its own right.[1]
- Dry or productive, and what comes up: clear, yellow, green, rust-coloured or blood-streaked phlegm each steer the assessment differently.
- The pattern: worse at night, on exercise, in cold air, or after meals, which points towards asthma, reflux or post-nasal drip.
- Fever and how unwell you feel: a fever that returns after you had started to improve raises the possibility of a chest infection.
- Your breathing on camera: the doctor watches your rate and effort as you talk, and hears how the cough sounds when it interrupts you, a genuinely informative sign even through a screen.
- Your regular medicines: blood-pressure tablets whose names usually end in "-pril" (ACE inhibitors) can cause a dry cough starting months or even years after the first tablet.
- Smoking, vaping and your work environment: dust, fumes and cold storage all matter, and a new or changed cough in a smoker over 40 is assessed in person.
- Temperature and oxygen readings if you have them: a thermometer reading, and a pulse-oximeter figure if you happen to own one, both sharpen the assessment, though neither is required.
Acute cough: what is normal and what is not
The usual story
Most coughs follow a cold or other viral infection, and the cough is often the last symptom to leave: it can outlast the runny nose by weeks because the airways stay irritable after the virus has gone. The reassuring pattern is a slow, steady improvement, still coughing but less each week, with no fever and no breathlessness. That pattern needs patience, not medicine.
Signs it may be a chest infection
Be more suspicious if a fever returns after you had started to improve, if you become breathless on mild exertion, get chest pain when breathing in, cough up rust-coloured or blood-streaked phlegm, or simply feel far more unwell than a cold explains. A doctor cannot listen to your chest through a screen, but on video they can assess your breathing, count the clues, and tell you clearly whether you need a same-day chest examination or can safely be treated at home. See our chest infection and bronchitis pages for those pictures in detail.
A cough lasting three weeks or more
Three weeks is the point at which guessing should stop and assessment should start.[1] Most persistent coughs still have a benign explanation, but "benign" is a conclusion reached by checking, not an assumption. The doctor works through a short, well-defined list of usual suspects.
Common causes of a persistent cough
- Post-viral airway sensitivity: a dry cough slowly fading over weeks after a cold, the commonest cause of all.
- Asthma: a dry cough worse at night, on exercise or in cold air, sometimes with wheeze or chest tightness.
- Post-nasal drip: throat-clearing, a mucus-in-the-throat feeling, a blocked nose or sinus pressure.
- Acid reflux: cough worse after meals or on lying down; in many people there is no heartburn at all.
- Smoking or vaping: a morning cough is common in smokers, but any change in its character needs review.
- ACE-inhibitor blood-pressure medicines (names usually ending in "-pril"): a dry, tickly cough that can start months or even years after the first tablet.
Why is my cough worse at night?
A cough is often worse at night because lying flat lets mucus from the nose and sinuses trickle backwards, lets stomach acid rise, and because asthma naturally tightens the airways in the early hours. Dry bedroom air adds to it. A night-dominant cough is a useful diagnostic clue, so tell the doctor.
Practical steps while you wait for review: raise the head of the bed rather than piling up pillows, avoid eating in the two to three hours before sleep, and keep the bedroom aired. If night cough comes with wheeze, or you wake gasping, say so, because that moves asthma up the list.
How doctors decide if a cough needs in-person care
Whether a cough is safe to manage online depends on how long it has lasted and what comes with it. The table below shows how doctors sort coughs into self-care, online assessment and in-person examination.
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| Cough presentation | Likely first step | Suitable for online care? | When referral or in-person care is needed |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cough under three weeks after a cold, no warning signs | Self-care, fluids and a written safety net | Usually yes | If blood, breathlessness or chest pain appears, or it does not settle |
| Cough with fever, breathlessness or chest pain (possible chest infection) | History plus a breathing check to decide if examination is needed | Sometimes, for triage | Chest examination or X-ray in person when signs point to infection |
| Cough lasting three weeks or more | Structured assessment of the usual causes | Initial assessment yes, not a substitute for examination | Chest X-ray or breathing tests in person, sooner in smokers over 40[1] |
| Coughing up blood, or a smoker with a new or changed cough | Prompt in-person assessment | No, needs examination | Urgent in-person review and imaging |
| Severe breathlessness, chest pain at rest, or blue lips | Emergency care | No | Call 112 immediately |
Not sure where your cough fits? A doctor can tell you in one consultation.
See available times →When should I worry about a cough?
See a doctor about a cough that lasts more than three weeks, brings up blood, or comes with breathlessness, chest pain, fever that will not settle, unexplained weight loss, night sweats or a hoarse voice lasting weeks. Smokers and ex-smokers with a new or changed cough should be examined in person.
"Examined" is the operative word: several of these features call for a chest X-ray or breathing tests, which no online service can perform. What the online doctor adds is speed and direction, a prompt review of your story, a clear steer on which test and how urgently, and treatment for anything that can safely be started meanwhile.
When a cough is something else
Whooping cough
Violent coughing fits that end in a gasping breath, vomiting or exhaustion, often with you feeling fine between fits, suggest whooping cough, which circulates among adults more than most people expect and can grind on for two to three months. It matters because early antibiotic treatment, where clinically appropriate, reduces spread to others, including unvaccinated babies, for whom whooping cough is dangerous.[2]
Heart-related cough in older adults
A chronic cough with breathlessness when lying flat, swollen ankles, or waking at night hungry for air is not an airway problem until proven otherwise: that combination can signal fluid on the lungs from a struggling heart. It needs prompt in-person assessment, not cough syrup.
Reflux and habit cough
A dry cough with morning hoarseness, frequent throat-clearing and a sour taste points to reflux irritating the voice box, which is treated very differently from an infection. Separately, some coughs outlive their original cause and persist as an irritation loop, real and treatable, but a diagnosis the doctor reaches only after the checklist above has been cleared.
Special situations
If you smoke or vape
A stable smoker's cough is never fully "normal", but the red line is change: a different sound, new breathlessness, blood, or a cough that outstays an infection. Smokers and ex-smokers over 40 with a new persistent cough should have an in-person examination, usually with an X-ray. The doctor can also talk honestly about quitting support, the one intervention that changes the long-term trajectory.
Cough in pregnancy
Most cough remedies are untested in pregnancy, so the safe default is honey, fluids and paracetamol, with anything further checked first: ibuprofen and decongestants are among the things to run past a doctor rather than assume. Whooping-cough vaccination during pregnancy is recommended in many European countries to protect the newborn, and the doctor can advise on arrangements where you live.
Travelling with a cough
Dry cabin and hotel air aggravates an irritable airway, and judging a symptom is harder inside an unfamiliar health system. A video consultation works wherever in Europe you are: an English-speaking assessment, any prescription routed to a nearby pharmacy, and a clear instruction on when local urgent care is the right call instead.
Treatment options for a cough
What you can do yourself
For adults, a spoonful of honey genuinely eases cough for a while, and warm drinks do more than most products sold for the purpose: the evidence that over-the-counter cough syrups shorten a cough is weak, though they are safe for most adults if you find one soothing.[5] Take paracetamol or ibuprofen for fever and aches, drink enough fluids, avoid smoke (including other people's), and raise your head and shoulders at night if the cough is worse lying flat.
Prescription treatment
A prescription is never issued without a consultation. The assessment above comes first, and medicine follows only when it is the right treatment. Antibiotics are only prescribed when there are genuine signs of bacterial infection: they do not work against the viruses that cause most coughs, and using them anyway adds side effects now and antibiotic resistance later.[3][4] Where the pattern suggests asthma-like airway irritation, the doctor may consider an inhaler and arrange follow-up. Persistent coughs are treated by treating the cause: a steroid nasal spray for post-nasal drip, acid-suppressing treatment for reflux, or discussing a medication switch with your prescriber if an ACE inhibitor is the culprit. One honest limit: codeine-based cough suppressants are opioid medicines and are not prescribed through Mobi Doctor.
Protecting the people around you
While you are feverish, stay home; cough into your elbow, wash your hands often, and air shared rooms. Looking further ahead: annual flu vaccination is sensible background protection if you are in a risk group for chest complications, and properly treating hay fever and reflux lowers the odds of the next lingering cough.
When a cough is treated online, and when you need in-person care
Treated online: an acute cough after a cold or viral infection; a cough with a treatable cause such as asthma-like airway irritation, post-nasal drip or reflux; a medication-related cough where a prescriber review is the fix; and the first assessment of a persistent cough, to decide which test you actually need.
In-person care: a cough that brings up blood; a cough with breathlessness or chest pain suggesting a chest infection that needs listening to; any cough lasting more than three weeks that needs a chest X-ray or breathing tests;[1] a new or changed cough in a smoker or ex-smoker over 40; and the heart-failure and whooping-cough patterns described above. In those cases the consultation buys you the right test at the right speed, not a guess. Cough is one of several cold and flu symptoms the doctors assess online.
When to get in-person care
Get same-day in-person care if you cough up blood, become breathless at rest, have chest pain when breathing, or have a high fever with shaking chills that painkillers do not touch. If you are struggling to breathe, your lips or face turn blue or grey, or you cough up more than streaks of blood, call 112 immediately.
Treating a cough at home: what helps and what does not
For most coughs, home care is the honest first-line treatment: fluids, rest, and honey, which in adults performs surprisingly well against ordinary cough. An uncomplicated viral cough can take three to four weeks to fade, which is normal rather than a sign of failure.
What home care cannot do: it cannot listen to your chest or separate a lingering virus from a chest infection, asthma or reflux cough. A cough beyond three weeks, coughing up blood, breathlessness, chest pain or a fever that returns after improving all mean the guessing phase is over.
The strongest at-home treatment is still a doctor. A video consultation brings one to your sofa: an honest assessment, and a prescription to a local pharmacy when treatment is right. You can see a doctor over video, usually within 15 minutes. Book a video consultation: the exact price is shown before you pay.
How do you get rid of a cough fast?
Mostly, you do not, and anyone promising otherwise is selling. An ordinary viral cough fades on its own timetable, commonly up to three weeks, and honey, fluids and rest are the treatments that genuinely help it along.
Where speed is real: coughs with a treatable cause, a bacterial chest infection, asthma, reflux, do improve quickly once the cause is treated, and that is a diagnosis question. A cough beyond three weeks, or with breathlessness, blood or chest pain, has earned one.
How Mobi Doctor works
- Book a time that suits you: open daily 7am–11pm CET. You can see a doctor over video, usually within 15 minutes. No subscription, exact price up front.
- Speak to a licensed doctor about a cough: a private video call: you describe what you feel, the doctor asks what matters, and you agree the right plan together.
- Leave with your plan: everything agreed before you hang up: your plan, and a prescription to use at a pharmacy near you where medication is clinically right for you. If your doctor decides you need to be seen in person, you get a full refund.
No sign-up needed
A cough can have more than one cause. Tick every symptom you have to see each condition page that mentions it. It finds the right page, not a diagnosis: a doctor gives you that on a video call.
Tap the body — an area or a point — to browse symptoms anywhere
Similar symptoms, different condition? Bronchitis can start the same way. Compare them, or look up any other symptom in the full symptom checker.
Frequently asked questions about a cough
What causes a cough?
Most coughs are caused by a cold, flu or another viral infection and clear within three weeks. Other common causes of a cough are post-nasal drip from sinusitis or hay fever, asthma, acid reflux, smoking, chest infections, COPD, and blood-pressure tablets whose names end in -pril. Less often a cough points to whooping cough, tuberculosis, heart failure or a lung tumour, which is why a cough beyond three weeks is checked.
What does a dry cough versus a chesty cough mean?
A dry cough brings up nothing and is typical of viral infections, post-nasal drip, asthma, reflux and -pril tablets; a chesty cough brings up phlegm and is typical of chest infections, bronchitis and COPD. Either kind of cough can follow a cold, and neither on its own tells you whether antibiotics are needed; how unwell you are and how long it has lasted matter more.
How long does a cough last?
A cough after a cold or flu usually lasts one to three weeks, and about a quarter of people are still coughing at three weeks. A cough that lasts three weeks or more needs assessment, and one lasting eight weeks or more counts as chronic and usually has a cause such as asthma, reflux or post-nasal drip that can be treated.
When should I worry about a cough that will not go away?
A cough lasting three weeks or more needs assessment even if you feel well. Assessment usually means an in-person examination, sometimes with a chest X-ray or breathing tests, and sooner if you cough up blood, are breathless, have chest pain, fever, night sweats or weight loss, or smoke. An online doctor can start the process, treat the likely cause, and direct the right tests.
Can an online doctor prescribe antibiotics for a cough in Europe?
Yes, an online doctor can prescribe antibiotics for a cough in Europe where there are genuine signs of a bacterial infection. Most coughs are viral, and antibiotics do nothing for viruses, so the doctor only prescribes them when the assessment points to a bacterial chest infection, pneumonia or whooping cough, or when your risk profile justifies early treatment.
Can the doctor tell if I have a chest infection without listening to my chest?
Not with certainty, and that is an honest limit of video care for a cough. The doctor judges the probability from your story, your temperature, and your breathing on camera, and treats where the picture is clear. Where it is not, they send you for an in-person examination rather than guessing, and tell you what to watch for meanwhile.
How do you get rid of a cough fast?
There is no proven way to stop a cough fast, but you can ease it: a spoonful of honey, warm drinks, steam or a humid room, sleeping propped up, saline for a drippy nose, and not smoking. Treat the cause where there is one (an antihistamine or steroid nasal spray for post-nasal drip, an inhaler for asthma, acid suppression for reflux). Antibiotics do not speed up a viral cough.
Do cough syrups actually work?
The evidence that cough syrups shorten a cough is weak. Their main value is feeling soothing, and honey and warm drinks do that comparably well for adults. If you use one, ask the pharmacist to check it against your other medicines, and avoid suppressants for a chesty cough that is clearing phlegm.
What helps a dry cough at night?
A spoonful of honey before bed, a warm drink, and sleeping with your head and chest slightly raised all help some people with a night cough. Keep the bedroom air humid and free of smoke. If a night cough keeps returning, tell the doctor, because it can point to asthma, reflux or post-nasal drip, each of which has its own treatment.
Do I need a chest X-ray for my cough?
Not for most short-lived coughs after a cold. An X-ray becomes worth discussing when a cough passes three weeks, when there is blood in what you cough up, when you smoke or are over 40 with weight loss or breathlessness, or when a chest infection is not clearing. The doctor will say honestly whether yours needs one and where to have it done.
Is my cough contagious?
The infections behind most coughs spread mainly in the first days of illness, while you have a fever or feel unwell, so stay home during that phase, cough into your elbow and wash hands often. A lingering post-viral cough weeks later is irritation, not infection, and is not contagious; a cough from asthma, reflux or medicines never was.
How can I prevent coughs?
Prevent coughs by not smoking and avoiding smoke, washing hands often during cold season, having the yearly flu vaccine and the COVID-19 and pneumococcal vaccines if eligible, treating hay fever, sinusitis, asthma and reflux properly, and keeping indoor air clean and humid in winter. If a -pril blood-pressure tablet causes your cough, the doctor can switch it rather than leave you coughing.
Is a cough different in pregnancy, with asthma, or in older people?
In pregnancy, a cough is treated with honey, steam and paracetamol, and medicines are chosen with pregnancy in mind; whooping cough vaccination in pregnancy protects the baby. With asthma, a cough is often a sign of poor control and needs the inhaler plan reviewed. In people over 65, a new cough with fever, confusion or going off food can mean pneumonia with little warning, so the threshold for in-person assessment is lower.
- Cough (acute): antimicrobial prescribing (NG120), NICE, National Institute for Health and Care Excellence, 2019.
- Antibiotic prescribing: respiratory tract infections, HSE, Health Service Executive (Ireland), reviewed 2024.
- Antimicrobial resistance, ECDC, European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control, 2023.
- Antimicrobial resistance fact sheet, WHO, World Health Organization, 2023.
- Cough: types, causes and treatments, HSE, Health Service Executive Ireland, accessed August 2026.
- Cough, NHS, National Health Service (UK), accessed October 2026.
This page is for information only and is not a substitute for a medical consultation. Guideline links are provided for transparency; treatment decisions are made with your doctor.
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