Coughing

No matter where you go, it seems like everyone is coughing these day.

This cough, even though it seems like it will last forever, will eventually go away and it will usually go away on its own.

Whether you call it bronchitis or just a cough that goes on and one, it turns out that after we get sick with the usual wintertime upper respiratory infection, even though the infection goes away the cough can last much longer. But just because it lasts a long time doesn't mean that it needs antibiotics. As a matter of fact, a new study found that even though most of us expect the cough we get after an illness to last only 8 days or so, it can last an average of 18 days.

And since most of these infections that start this cough off are viral ones, antibiotics won't work against them either. So, your best bet for these types of coughs, lasting a few weeks after you've gotten sick, are the usual over-the-counter cough medicines or prescription strength ones. That and time should help get rid of that persistent cough we all seem to have this time of the year.