It's a cough that comes on unexpectedly, and just won't go away. This persistent cough can wake you up in the middle of the night and interrupt your meals with repeated hacking. Cough medicines and over-the-counter cough remedies bring little relief, and even anti-bacterial prescription cough medicines seem useless. A doctor looking for an infection will see a normal throat that shows no redness nor inflammation. People who have never smoked can suffer from this cough, although it sounds like the kind of cough many long-time smokers exhibit.

What is this mystery cough?

Well, if the cough fits the description above, it could be a side effect of blood pressure medication.

The so called ACE inhibitors, or common blood pressure drugs such as captopril (Capoten), enalapril (Vasotec), lisinopril (Zestril or Prinivil), may cause a chronic, dry, hacking cough. Some people taking these medications also report that their throat feels slightly raw and sensitive to touch. It can be especially noticeable when there's some pressure on the throat, such as someone might experience when their throat is propped against a pillow at night.

Blood pressure medications may cause other side effects too: a skin rash, loss of taste, and in rare instances, even kidney damage.

Anyone suffering from these symptoms should immediately talk to their doctor about the possibility of changing their blood pressure medication to get relief from the cough. Doctors say, however, anyone taking blood pressure medications should not abruptly stop taking them to reduce the coughing. The cough may be annoying, but it is probably not as dangerous as elevated blood pressure.

Additional information is available at the website mentioned below, including causes and remedies for a cough, articles on cough medications and medicines, and resources for anyone experiencing whooping cough, coughing from allergies or asthma, smoker's cough and many other cough-related topics.