Cough... cough... cough..

beyond the blue

beyond the blue

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Neil
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Going off the fact that there's always someone worse off than yourself I'm wondering if anyone else is struggling? I'm up to 7 week's now, had two courses of antibiotics and more bottles of jollop than you can shake a stick at. After 3 visits to the Doc I think he's getting a bit fed up with me although to give him his due he has checked me over the best that an ordinary GP can. I'll give it another couple of weeks and then I'll have to insist on further investigation. I'm off back to bed now to see if I can get another couple of hours kip.
 
I've had a lingering cough off the back of a cold since the start of the year.

Trouble is it gets topped up regularly by idiots on public transport who don't keep their germs to themselves.
 
beyond the blue said:
I'll give it another couple of weeks and then I'll have to insist on further investigation.
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TBH I would have though that 7 weeks was long enough for a 'trial & error' solution and if it's affecting you as badly as it appears I would be seeking further investigation now.
GP's can be notorious at hanging about on things, sometimes you need to take them by surprise and insist on further action.
 
gramps said:
GP's can be notorious at hanging about on things, sometimes you need to take them by surprise and insist on further action.
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I hear what you're saying. A friend of mine went to her GP having had a dry cough for a couple of weeks, the doctor asked her what she thought might have brought it on, Jean answered him saying it seemed to start after she had been on a long flight and she thought it might have been the dry air on the plane, the doctor agreed that that is probably what it was. It was finally diagnosed as lung cancer, she died not long after.
 
Neil if your own last post doesn't persuade you to not hang around, I don't know what will.
 
Forget the GP...go to A&E and tell them you're having bad coughing and breathing problems....yes, you hear all this about not going unless it's an emergency but until the day GP's get their act together and inspire their "customers" with confidence then A&E will continue to attract people with lesser ailments.
Had a cough/cold for a week...it's years since I had anything, seems to be a few nasties going around.
 
Martyn D said:
Forget the GP...go to A&E and tell them you're having bad coughing and breathing problems....yes, you hear all this about not going unless it's an emergency but until the day GP's get their act together and inspire their "customers" with confidence then A&E will continue to attract people with lesser ailments.
Had a cough/cold for a week...it's years since I had anything, seems to be a few nasties going around.
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Can't do that, l'm not that kind of person. At this stage it's neither an accident or emergency.
 
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Good man.

But 7 weeks is long enough if it's showing no sign of clearing. Are there other issues too: unreasonable tiredenss, fuzzy spells, loss of appetite, headaches, an inability to concentrate, weight loss? There are several things it might be, but it could also just be a cough that's slow to leave, and another couple of weeks will see it gone.
 
Internet diagnosis = rubbish. See health care professionals and if not satisfyied then seek more health care professionals and if still not satisfied seek more and more health care professionals until the problem is bottomed. 7 weeks coughing needs a proper explanation.
 
arclight said:
Internet diagnosis = rubbish. Seek health care professionals and if not satisfyied then seek more health care professionals and if still not satisfied seek more and more health care professionals until the problem is bottomed. 7 weeks coughing needs a proper explanation.
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I thought it was just me, but another one here been coughing for a few weeks now, making my asthma bad, on a course of steroid at the moment hoping they will clear it up :(
 
arclight said:
Internet diagnosis = rubbish. See health care professionals and if not satisfyied then seek more health care professionals and if still not satisfied seek more and more health care professionals until the problem is bottomed. 7 weeks coughing needs a proper explanation.
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Internet diagnosis??? What you going on about? If you read my post properly you will see I've been to the doc's 3 times :rolleyes:
 
I think he's talking about 'asking' here.
 
Doctors see hundreds of patients with coughs and Like flue, very few respond to antibiotics because they are caused by a virus.
However chronic bad chests need investigating. So remind him how many times you have seen him, and what you have been given and that it is now a problem to you.
To him you probably seem much like a single tree in a wood, with nothing remarkable to make your problem stand out.
Some time doctors need a gentle push.
 
Well in our surgery there is a poster on the wall for months. It say`s that if you have had a cough for longer than three weeks ( from memory ) to consult your GP straight away.
 
It's common for viral infections to last up to 2-3 weeks and you can have a post infective cough that can last 6 weeks. However a cough lasting more than six weeks merits a chest x-Ray and a peak flow to check lung function in my book. Chronic rhinitis and acid reflux can also lead to persistent coughs, as can certain medications.

If you came to A&E with a cough, I'd tell you to go see your GP.
 
i had this last summer ,the quack said he could here something on my lung and sent me for x-rays ,waiting for the results was the worst week of my life ,but thankfully it came back all clear .just a bad bronchitis doing the rounds last year in the north west .this could still be the same bug !!!
 
Forbiddenbiker said:
Little surprised here. 7 weeks is a heck of a time for any cough in my book, I've never been ill more than a week ,or maybe two, I can't remember them much .
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I think you can count yourself lucky Adam, because in my teens through to my twenties, I had bronchitis every year (parents smoked) which meant at least two weeks off school/work. The symptoms included choking fits, coughing up blood, blackouts after mild exercise. One particularly bad episode (when I was supposedly very fit), resulted in pneumonia and a collapsed lung.
One spring, about a month after the usual bout of bronchitis, I entered an early season cycling time trial, started off OK, then felt awful, had a coughing/choking fit, and blacked out at the side of the road for a minute (I think!!).
Unfortunately, based on personal experience, I tend to be very pushy where doctors are concerned.
 
I'd agree with Andy about being lucky, Adam. I tend to get at least one bad cold every year, resulting in a bacterial lung infection and deep cough that takes 7-8 weeks to shift and often requires antibiotics. My natural inclination is to just ignore & push through, but one year this also resulted in pneumonia and a couple of weeks where I could do nothing more than lay around shivering. Lungs seem scarred now, and I struggle for breath when exercising hard (circuit training, mountainbiking etc).
 
I had a 'bad' cough about 7 years ago it it was hanging around for a long time. I eventually went to the doctors and was told I'd been suffering from a mild case of pneumonia and immediately started medication and got over it. In all it lasted over 5 months but it was about 6 weeks before I went to the doctors. The following year I started feeling similar symptoms and went straight to the doctors again and was diagnosed with it again. I got over it within a couple of months that time but only because I went to the docs as soon as I felt bad.

I was lucky with the doctors at the time, one was a back specialist that decided to become a gp so he helped me out with my spine injury problems and another was a pulmonologist that had converted to a gp and helped me with the pneumonia. I've not had a chest problem since, apart from the odd cough and cold, but the back problem is with me for life.
 
I do have a few other less obvious disabilities that mess me up bad, :D Is not all easy street honest!

But yeah I am lucky for sure is seems, general health wise I do see everyone else having colds and stuff all year and yet I haven't been ill for more than a day or three in twenty years or more.

andy700 said:
Unfortunately, based on personal experience, I tend to be very pushy where doctors are concerned.
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ancient_mariner said:
. Lungs seem scarred now, and I struggle for breath when exercising hard (circuit training, mountainbiking etc).
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Its upseting to hear all this guys, bit speachless to be honest.

I wrote some more stuff, then whipped it out, gotta go to work now.
 
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If it is a cough that brings up gunk then lying down will make it worse. Keep moving and keep the rubbish coming out. If you keep lying down it just pools around in your lungs. Get it out.

If it is a persistent dry cough it's more likely to be irritation due to low humidity or dust or even a new allergy.
 
Forbiddenbiker said:
Its upseting to hear all this guys, bit speachless to be honest. I wrote some more stuff, then whipped it out, gotta go to work now.
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Hey, don't worry about it - I'm 52 so most of my silly sporting activities are in the past. Still cycle a bit and do the circuits to contain the girth expansion, but I just know I'm never going to be a 'hero' any more.
 
Problem for me is that I can get the same infection over and over again as I have the primary immunodeficiency (PID) condition Common Variable Immunodeficiency so I don't naturally produce antibodies due to a genetic defect somewhere = no immunological memory aside from me being more likely to get an infection anyway. I've got a cough at the moment which I saw the GP about and was given 10 days antibiotics for (for PID conditions the procedure is to prescribe a lengthened course pre-emptively upon suspecting an acute infection, and then switch over to another antibiotic/viral/fungal if something cultures etc from samples as the body cannot be relied on to clear the infection itself - and infections have a nasty habit of getting worst suddenly) which worked great... slight problem, now I've of course managed to get exposed to the same infection again which = the same bloody cough AGAIN and another trip to the GP and another 10 day course probably.
 
I'm a pro at coughing. Broke my ribs in 2012 coughing following six months of mild chest infections and finally pneumonia! You'd know if you had that, you feel and look like a corpse!

For my asthmatic coughs that don't respond to drugs I use a humidifier to get the air as moist as possible, gargle (and spit) aspirin (to help with post nasal drip) and sleep well propped up! Coughs can become a habit, popping a rib out is an instant cure as it's too lost painful to cough.

If all else fails demand an x ray! At least it'll put your mind at ease!
 
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