• Alcoholic with bad cough?

My friend is an alcoholic who drinks wine consistently with very little other form of fluid into his body. For the past maybe 6 weeks he is getting a chesty cough, particularly in the morning. I the cough is related to alcohol what shall I do to help. He will not stop drinking approximately 4 bottles a day (he drinks throughout the night and day)

2 Answers

  • Internist
  • Waterbury, Connecticut

It is very, very good of you to be concerned. A physical examination is important. The likely cause of cough is not directly related to wine or alcohol, but probably a chronic bronchitis is present. Exam with stethoscope and chest X-ray is essential. A spirometer exam in the office of the practitioner is straight forward and will inform about air flow and bronchitis. Simple inhaler intake daily will help. The X-ray will inform regarding possible pneumonitis. Encourage him to be checked please.

  • Internist
  • Olean, New York

Hello,

It's really nice that you are trying to care about your friend with alcohol problem. Cough definitely is a serious symptom especially in a person with alcohol abuse. Differential diagnosis is quite broad and no reason to list all of them in front of you. Your friend needs work-up for his cough based on not only his bad alcohol habit, but also based on his medical history, whether he is a smoker, etc. Volume of tests could be quite big. But at least chest X-ray may provide valuable information and help to rule out some other tests.

Arkady Peterman

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