Constant cough! Help me, I'm desperate.
 

Okay, so I need SOMEONE'S help.

I've had a constant, chronic, awful cough for the past two months. :mad: I will most likely be seeing the doctor as soon as I can for this, but in the meantime, I need your guys' help. It's getting painful to even cough, as my ribs feel like they're cracking in two. :( But I just can't help it- I've taken Benedryl (to see if maybe it's allergies), and cough expectorants (Robetussins [sp?]), but they don't help for more than ten minutes. Tea helps while I'm drinking it, but then the cough comes right back.

Does anyone have some sort of help? PLEASE?

could be acid reflux, I had a constant cough for several years on and off, turns out it was acid reflux, I tilt my bed at a slight angle so the acid no longer entered my lungs and couldn't be happier (except the prostate infection I have now). I just piled a few of my old text books at the head of my bed and now I sleep at a slight incline (10 degrees or so)

As for stopping coughing, even if the urge is great, don’t let your self cough, try to hold out as long as you can, each time you cough, you aggravate your throat. Slow regular breaths; don’t get your heart rate or breathing rate up, i.e. no scary movies, no action flicks, no wanking. If you feel a cough coming, stop breathing for a sec, maybe it will pass.

See your doc ASAP, hopefully it’s nothing major, but I don’t want you to be a typhoid marry

Its late, I’ll try and write more if I think of anything else tomorrow.

~dil

I had a horrid cronic cough for a year or so. I went to a few doctors and had X-rays etc, never found out what it was.

I ended up at a chiropractor for some reason, got my neck and back poped a few times and it went away. Crazy.

Either it healed on its own or something about my bones were causing it.

mine was caused by chronic bronchitis... and my constant marijuana smoking.

see your doctor.

I like to check with Dr. Weil ( http://www.drweil.com/ ) for general medical concerns. He is a pretty big authority on homeopathic and traditional but effective remedies. Of course, his suggestions usually involve a trip to your local organic grocers. While you're out, I'd recommend swinging by your doctor to see what they can do for you :)

vincentt is on the right track!

i had a cough after i got sick. had a chest infection. i recovered well. went back to normal. but the cough stayed. ended up seeing the dr and he said its nothing it would go away. 2 months later i still had it. so i went to this quirky doctor who also happens to be a chiropractor. he cracked my back and neck and by the next day it was gone. no word of a lie. it was almost instantaneous. by that afternoon my coughing had halved.

pretty good for someone who had gone there with total skepticism. apparently he told me that it had something to do with the nervous system or something.. i dunno.. i dont remember now..but i do rememeber that it worked! see a chiro ..what have u got to lose

Could be bronchitis, allergies, lung cancer, anything... Go see your doctor, we can't really help you over a forum :)

I had a chronic cough last week, too. Turned out the couch I got from my sister had multitudes of cat dander on it, and I'm allergic to cats.

Let's be frank. Seeking medical advice on the internet is stupid. Even if you manage to find a qualified MD among us (I think the closest we have is a dentist), it's still not possible to diagnose you from a 3 paragraph post. instead of "most likely" seeing a doctor, go in, today, and find out what's going on. Sitting around waiting for the internet to diagnose you is literally risking your life.

I really like Cepacol sore throat spray. It has a numbing agent, so it works instantly, and it also lubes your throat which helps if it is a dry cough. It's the only thing that allows me to go to sleep when I have a bad cough, including prescription narcotic cough medicines.

And see your doctor.

Amen. Girl, go see a doctor nowish.

Where as I agree with you that she should seek medical treatment, i think she was asking not for a cure or a diagnosis, but a way to cope with the pain and frustration until she makes it to a doctor.

and to la petite moi, I know what you are going through and I know it horrible, my last bout my senior year of high school lasted January 1 till sometime in may, call your general practitioner today, get an appointment ASAP, they may even be able to squeeze you in today. Slow, even breaths and try not to talk so much, just veg on the couch.

Go to doctor... but..

somethings that help me when i get that rib cracking dry hack related to bronchitis...
1. coffee - black.. something about the caffeine helps me breathe easier
2. Eucalptis oil on a tissue and take deep breaths with it - and hold the breaths
3. Try slowing down your breathing and breath thru your nose... keeping the mouth closed avoids the tickle that causes the cough.
4. No talking (after you make the doctor's appointment)
5. Relax

Dilbert, you're right on the money about my intent. I'm seeing the doctor in less than 20 minutes now, and hopefully they'll be able to give me some insight.

Mal, coffee doesn't help longterm (and neither does tea). Aromas don't do much because breathing in deeply causes me to want to cough.

Anyway, thanks for the advice people. I went to bed last night hacking up my lung, but I've been relatively okay today. My ribs and chest hurt like a bitch though.

Try some Musinex with a lot of water. It gets things moving and makes your cough more productive getting out whatever is there.

Of course, that's for while your are waiting to see a Dr.!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

So I went to the doctor, and he told me exactly what I thought he would- it's a cough leftover from my cold I had two months ago.

He prescribed me antibiotics and told me to take Dayquil, Nyquil, and Mucinex.

That was the same for me; tea would help when i was drinking it, but get much worse later when I would lie down, because of the acid reflux.

Don’t forget to get plenty of rest, read ALL of the documentation on the medication, and make sure you ask about your BC, some antibiotics interfere with BC. Out of curiosity, which antibiotic are you on?

Well, looks like lpm got her answer. But one other thing that can cause this is pertussis, aka the good old whooping cough. Most of us got shots for it as kids, but I got it a few years ago anyway. We had a mini-epidemic in my area; I coughed for two months, and so did some of my friends. It went away on its own, but what helped was to breath warm air and yes, wear a muffler when going out into the cold. Cold, damp air would bring on a coughing fit in a jiffy.

But I also agree with LPM's doc; one thing that keeps a coughing fit going is, the continual irritation caused by, well, coughin; it can be recursive. If you can stop the coughing for a while, even with OTC remedies, you might break the cycle.

I'm not a doctor, but I liked to play one when I was 7. :suave:

Correct me if I'm wrong, and I frequently am, but aren't antibiotics useless against a cold, which is a virus and not an infection?

Dilbert, I am not on BC so it doesn't matter.

Bill, I think the flu is a virus, and colds are bacterial. I am also taking the antibiotics for the cough, not for a full-blown cold.

Well the common cold is a virus, and the flu (Influenza), is also a virus. However Gastroenteritis is commonly called "stomach flu" or "24 hour flu" but should not be confused with influenza. Even if the original problem was a viral infection, all the coughing may have gotten your throat raw and torn up enough to become infected by bacteria.

My SO and I have been coughing due to recent colds, and the weather in our area isn't that great. (good old Bako in the summer) My mom told me to drink lemonade and juice with vitamin C (generally stay hydrated) to help with the cough, and its been working. Try to avoid fluctuating temperatures and dust. Be careful of smoke from fireworks on the 4th.

Hope you feel better!

LPM, you should check with your doctor as to why he prescribed the antibiotics. If it's a cough from a cold, they won't do anything. If it's something else, he needs to tell you that instead of making up the bit about a cough from the cold.

A lot of doctors like to prescribe antibiotics as a "feel good" medicine so patients think they're getting something out of the doctor's visit. It's not only dishonest, but it costs you extra money, and it adds to the problem of antibiotic-resistant bacteria.

I'd agree -- if it's bronchitis,which is a dry hacking cough, a shot of tetracycline can knock it out- but the regular oral antibiotics - don't do squat except contribute to lovely yeast infections...
(least inmy cast that's what works)

The primary infection may have been viral, but it may have caused a condition -- say, clogging of the sinuses -- that leads to a secondary, bacterial infection in those areas. The doc may suspect something like that in the case of a cough; what if throat/chest rawness from all the coughing supported a bacterial infection?

He said the antibiotics are to break up the mucus in my chest.

thats wierd, thats what guafinessin(the ingredient in Mucinex)is for

<------- is a chronic bronchitis sufferer...have been since I was a kid...AB's have never helped with mucus problems

the mucus may be the result of a bacteriological infection,

My father ended up having the same thing that lasted for nearly two years. After 30-some-odd doctor visits he was sent to an allergist. He then learned that his cough was the result of severe food allergies. All he needed was a change in his diet.

He's been relatively cough-free for nearly 2 months.

The cough could also be from irritations caused by throwing up. I have a friend who was bullemic who had a cough towards the end of her time having an eating disorder.

I'm not bulimic.

i bet its a allergy. i used to cough for a couple years nonstop thanks to allegys. from the sounds of it your doctor is a quack might want to go to a allergist. from my expericance coughing that isnt a dry cough is allergy related or pneumonia and if it was pneumonia most likely even a quack of a doctor would of noticed it. i know about quacks i have been to plenty of them. you said you took benedryl but for how long? thats the sort of thing you need to keep taking a while. even if it stopped your allegys you would need to take some sort of decongestant as well. Cleriton D is what i started taking that finaly worked for me. was perscription back then but its over the counter now.
Whatevers wrong i hope you get it figured out soon.

Well, guys. Thanks for all your advice. I'm going to get my antibiotics tomorrow, probably. The cough has pretty much gone away. I only cough here and there. I'm pretty much just going to take the antibiotics, and it's not like they can hurt my immune system eh?

I had the same problem a couple months ago. I had what I thought was a lingering cough from a cold, but the doc ordered some bloodwork just to be safe. He called back a few days later and it turns out I had mono. Nothing you can do for that except treat the symptoms.

LPM, I wouldn't take the antibiotics unless you KNOW that it's a bacterial infection, and that you would definitely benefit from taking them. The side effects can be worse than the symptoms that you already have, plus there is a growing concern regarding drug-resistant bacteria. Check out this article from webmd:

Linky

Hope you feel better soon! :thumbsup: