How do you know when to go to your GP with a cough

[tectonicplates]

I've been coughing for three weeks now and my throat feels so sore. I occasionally meet people who say things like "It turned out that I had a chest infection so I was given antibiotics", but at the same time I don't want to be That Person who goes to their GP with a cough. At what point do you decide it isn't just a cough and you actually need to see a doctor?

I went when I’d been coughing for several months and both DH and a couple of colleagues began to nag me. I got a long look and a reminder that if a cough persists for more than three weeks the NHS says book a non-urgent appointment. I was promptly sent for an X-ray (all clear) and given an inhaler to settle it. It did settle after about two more months! Dr Google suggests whooping cough (I was vaccinated a couple of years ago when pregnant) and GP agreed it was possible.

I usually have a rule of seeing my GP if I've had a cold/cough that's gone on for over 14 days with no end in sight. But I'm diabetic and often struggle to fight things off.

Current advice is to seek medical attention if you've had a cough longer than 3 weeks.

www.nhs.uk/conditions/cough/

I asked my friend this (he's a GP) when I had a cough. If you smoke, it's if you've had it for more than 3 weeks. If it's accompanied by a cold (either immediately before or at the beginning) then if you cough blood or have chest pain or its more than 4 weeks and not improving at all. He'd then only prescribe antibiotics if you had crackles when listened too or felt horrendous with it.

Three weeks?! I would have gone after about a week and a half, less if you’re someone who has asthma or any other autoimmune conditions.

I don't have asthma, but last week I was coughing up a loaf of snot (yuck!)

A load of snot, definitely not a loaf!

I had a cold a couple of weeks ago, it lasted ten days with a cough but I didn’t do anything about it because I wasn’t wheezy or crackly so I knew it wasn’t a chest infection.

Three weeks would concern me so I’d be thinking of seeing the GP in the next few days. I’m really bad for saying ‘I’ll give it another couple of days’ and then it’s three months later and I still haven’t had it checked

If it 'just didn't clear up' - say you had a cold and the cold went but the cough remained, and didn't improve. Or if it had no apparent cause - no cold, no allergy etc., and was unusual for you.

Would it be okay to go to one of those drop-in clinics for minor infections, or does it have to be a GP?

Also how do they test for these things?