This is reconfirmed if the cough returns with discontinuance of therapy. Medications directed at reducing acid production in the stomach, such as proton pump inhibitors, are used as well. ACE Inhibitors ACE inhibitors can be excluded as the cause of chronic cough by discontinuing their use. The cough typically resolves in 1 to 4 days but can take up to 4 weeks. Therefore, eliminating the drug for a couple of days is not sufficient to exclude an ACE inhibitor as the cause.
Further confirmation is made by the return of cough on resumption of the medication.
Other classes of medication need to be used if the cough is due to an ACE inhibitor. Once this diagnosis is established, the cause should be determined and, if possible, therapy initiated. The diagnosis of chronic bronchitis is obtained from a history of smoking and the production of sputum with the cough most days of the week, for 3 months, in 2 successive years. Chest x-rays are obtained to exclude other pathology. In a smoker, any change in a chronic cough and any new cough warrant further evaluation.