Attacks of Severe Choking Cough ?

If you know someone suffering from a SEVERE choking coughing fit several times a day and its been going on for several weeks and still going on but they feel fine in between the fits…you probably want to read this, because it is commonly misdiagnosed.

When Mrs. Beans started really having some hard severe coughing attacks we thought it was allergies, then a cold, then maybe bronchitis, eventually thoughts of pneumonia began to seem validated…finally when we came to the doctor he could hear nothing asthmatic or abnormal thru the stethoscope, nor in the breathing machine, nor did anything show up in a chest x-ray, and the blood test seemed fine.

We had to figure up how long its been going on, and realized probably close to 2 months now with seemingly increasing severity. With the medicine she took that supressed the immune system (part of the treatment for R.A. ) the doctor supposed maybe it was a bronchitis that kept reinfecting…since even a run of the mill bronchial infection wouldn’t have lasted that long. So a course of antibiotics was run to no avail, and a bit of cough syrup to help with the cough…and a trip to a pulmonary specialist was set up.

After an involved visit with the specialist wherein he listened thru a stethoscope..nothing, ran a new chest xray..nothing, had her breathe in a bit more sophisticated machine…nothing. He started her on a treatment for whooping cough (which he said he did any patient that had an unexplained cough lasting over a few weeks). And prescribed some inhalers for asthma just in case, and some allergy/asthma medicine (singulair).

If we had researched this we probably would have immediately suspected whooping cough. But there was no “whooping” sound…turns out in at least half the cases there is no such sound. But here is what we did learn and if you happen to have a new unexplained severe cough that fits this, you might save yourself alot of grief and just get the treatment for whooping cough, because it may be ancient history..but its going around again big time these days…and that shot you had when you were a kid is only good for 5-10 years…its not a lifetime like thing like many believe.

First 2 weeks…may start with a sore throat, mild fever, feeling tired/unwell, may even be a runny nose like a cold…and a dry , ordinary cough every now and then…over the next 7-10 days the fever (mild if any) goes away but the cough gets a little more persistent and may even produce small amounts of clear sticky phlegm…and occasional INTENSE bouts of choking coughing start to happen.

Next 2 weeks onward…(it is said to be the 100day cough in China)…these choking cough attacks get SEVERE (people have been known to actually turn blue)..lasting 1-2 minutes, can even cause vomiting and the feeling of suffocation…THEN, till the next episode its likely you won’t cough at all and will feel fine…till the next episode hits. May be twice in one day, maybe 50 x but the crucial point for clinical diagnosis is attacks of severe choking cough separated by long intervals of NO COUGHING AT ALL.

Towards the end of what ranges from 3 weeks to 3 months…the time between episodes increases as fewer and fewer attacks come on. The slow down can continue for the last few weeks, or all of the last couple months.

The bacteria can’t live in the air long so it does not pass so easily between adults, who tend to cough away from people rather than directly over them. (be sure to cover your mouth when you cough as mom always said). It is most infectious in the first 2 weeks when it seems no different from an ordinary cough and cold. Generally after 3 weeks it is very unlikely to spread. So by the time you really realize something has a lasting hold on you, you’re getting nearly out of the infectious stage.

Once you’ve got it..just hang on for the ride usually around 6weeks but severe cases can run closer to 12. Good old cough medicine? Won’t really help. Antibiotics? If during the incubation stage (before you know you’ve got it , it might kill it out), during the infectious stage it will shorten the length of time you’re infectious, but after that? At best might help prevent against secondary infections which don’t usually happen anyway. Steroid inhalers? Might ease the burden abit but not of any real germ fighting value. Not really much you can do about it treatment wise after you realize you’ve got it. Cough medicine with codeine seems to help the rest period, which is helpful since its pretty exhausting, but it won’t “stop” the cough.

For more information and even sound files that you can hear what its like, visit this link or type in www.whoopingcough.net .