Infections such as bronchitis or whooping cough can cause intense coughing fits that can lead to vomiting. In the case of infection, a dry cough leading to vomiting is often paroxysmal and exhausting. Coughing to the point of vomiting can also result from irritation of the throat and esophagus. A dry cough that causes vomiting is most often a symptom of tracheitis and bronchitis. They may be caused by infection with the pertussis bacterium, which causes an infectious disease.
Whooping cough was formerly called pertussis and is characterized by a strong, paroxysmal, chronic cough, accompanied by shortness of breath, inspiratory whistling referred to as “foamy” and vomiting at the end of the coughing attack.
Vomiting may also accompany coughing when it is associated with inflammation of the gastric mucosa and the regurgitation of stomach contents into the esophagus (reflux). In such cases, drugs that lower stomach pH and inhibit the production of hydrochloric acid (proton pump inhibitors) should be included in the treatment. In respiratory tract infections, in which the cough is productive with expectoration of a large amount of sputum, patients may vomit previously swallowed secretions.
