Coughing just sucks. It has no redeeming qualities: it's not endearing in any way; there is nobody on Earth that will find you more sexually attractive due to a cough (cue the coughing fetishists--we know you're out there, Internet). But dangerous? Oh yes. On those long, seemingly endless hacking fits, there's always the chance you will suffocate on your own body's so-called protective mechanism--which responds to choking threats by shutting off your airways. Good call on that, body; that's like responding to objects moving rapidly at your face by shutting down your eyeballs.



Pictured: Your body and you.

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There are also cough induced rib fractures, rupturing of the diaphragm and even abdominal herniation. That's a broken rib, a ripped diaphragm and part of your torso leaking out a little, all because you coughed. It's not even rare; it's mentioned that "each individual injury is well documented in the literature," meaning these kinds of things happen all the goddamn time. The rib fracturing and hernias happen often enough that the Wikipedia pages for each affliction list coughing as "a common cause." The page actually describes a man who had all these things happen at once. Yep! You're basically one coughing fit away from beating the shit out of your insides.