Chronic refractory cough (CRC) increasingly is recognised as a distinct clinical entity; cough that persists despite addressing potential aggravating factors (eg, asthma, acid reflux, angiotensin-converting enzyme medication).1 CRC is associated with considerable physical and psychosocial morbidity, and its underlying mechanisms remain enigmatic.1,2 Peripheral hypersensitivity of airway nerves is very likely of key importance, but the failure of central-located mechanisms, which normally act to regulate the cough reflex, may also have an important role in CRC.3,4