#13 - Wandering Around Vagus (WAV) - February 2024

Coughing and The Vagus Nerve

Welcome to Month 13 of Wandering Around Vagus, a paid monthly subscription series exploring the Vagus Nerve + Polyvagal Theory.

I’m Tina Foster of Foster & Flourish, the creator and guide of Wandering Around Vagus.

A few quick notes to help you orient within our pages:

• If you’re new, or need a review, here’s the link to the START page.

• You can find last month’s post (our twelfth) on the flow and relationships between the three states here.

• Monthly & Supplementary Posts + Recordings can be accessed by topic from the navigation bar atop the Wandering Around Vagus Homepage.

• All past posts live on the archive page.​

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Before we begin: The end of this post might appear clipped by your email carrier. If so, just view it online on the archive page.

Also, today, WAV turns 2 years old!

And, in 2023, the first year of WAV, we focused solidly on the emotions and feeling tones associated with the three experiential states generated by the vagus nerve. This month, we shift focus to a physical and seasonal topic, and will return to feelings next month.

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THIS MONTH’S WORK

This month’s post highlights the relevant seasonal topic of coughing, a physical function of the vagus nerve. For those of us buttoned up for winter in the Northern Hemisphere, coughing seems to be more prevalent than ever.

I’m willing to bet you’ve experienced coughing—whether your own or someone else’s—dozens, if not hundreds of times this winter. Post-Covid, people seem to be coughing more frequently, making many of us more aware of coughing within our environment than in the “beforetimes”.

In a recent New York Magazine article, Rachel Sklar asked Dr. Thomas Carroll, author of the book “Chronic Cough” if long Covid has made coughing more prevalent. His response was “Yes and no…” because chronic cough can be a “post-viral problem” if a nerve becomes hyperstimulated and won’t relax after a virus. ¹

If you get a cold or Covid, you can get neuropathy of the tenth cranial nerve, which is the vagus nerve,” he said. “And when the vagus nerve doesn’t work, we get everything from tickles in our throat to stomach-emptying issues and reflux. So, when I think about a post-viral cough, I’m thinking, “How has it affected this vagus nerve, and what are the downstream effects of that?” ²

We'll delve into the anatomy and physiology of coughing and how vagal neuropathy leads to chronic cough. In practice, we’ll begin to embody our understanding of coughing and its effects. Brace yourself for a potential shift in your perception of coughing!

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By the end of this 15 minute audio you’ll have a better sense of:

• all that actually happens in your body when you cough

• the role of the vagus nerve in coughing and how dysfunction of the vagus nerve can cause chronic cough

• what vagal neuropathy is

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