Why did my Doctor do this?

[flowerlover1990]

I've had a persistent dry cough for 3 weeks. I'm exhausted with it. I can't finish a sentence without it turning into a coughing fit. My throat is sore too. I finally got a GP appointment today, he listened to my chest and checked my throat and I walked out the appointment with an Omeprazole prescription. What an earth?! He thinks I have acid reflux. I have no other symptoms of acid reflux whatsoever. Why would he not try me on antibiotics first? I was too exhausted to fight, so just walked out feeling very confused. What do I do?!

I'm currently trialling a nasal spray in case my asthmatic cough is post nasal drip but omeprazole is next.

I did start the omeprazole first but I got horrific cramps up and down my digestive system and had to stop. Did you get this side effect?

Croup is the barking sound that denotes swelling of the larynx, vocal cords - it's just a sound.

It can be caused by lots of different things - in children they have a smaller airway so it can be more of a problem.

Adults can have exactly the same thing and have a barking cough with an upper respiratory infection.

They just don't need the steroids to help take down the swelling unless they have underlying issues.

Adults are more likely to lose their voice though

OP I'm asthmatic. You don't get antibiotics for upper resp tract infections. I get about three every year and can be coughing for up to six weeks.

Try the omeprazole, you never know.

Op. Is the omeprazole a long term plan, or are you taking it short term to rule in or out reflux?

If you take them long term you are at risk of nutritional deficiency and stomach infection such as c.diff and h.pylori. That should all be in the insert though of the medication.

There are lifestyle/dietary things you can do long term.

Yes and presumably if your body was fighting a bacterial infection, you would also have fever which you didn't mention.

@Sortumn the GP said to trial it for a week to rule out reflux and then come back if the cough is still persistent. Thank you for this, I'll definitely do some research.

https://www.nhs.uk/medicines/omeprazole/side-effects-of-omeprazole/

"Long-term side effects

If you take omeprazole for more than 3 months, the levels of magnesium in your blood may fall.
Low magnesium can make you feel tired, confused, dizzy and cause muscle twitches, shakiness and an irregular heartbeat.

If you get any of these symptoms, tell your doctor.
Taking omeprazole for more than a year may increase your chances of certain side effects, including:

• bone fractures
• gut infections
• vitamin B12 deficiency – symptoms include feeling very tired, a sore and red tongue, mouth ulcers and pins and needles

If you take omeprazole for longer than 1 year, your doctor will regularly check your health to see if you should carry on taking it.

It's not known if omeprazole works less well the longer you take it."

According to my grandparents I need antibiotics just because I left the house

No it doesn’t.

They think you may have silent reflux so presumably gave you a trial of medication. It may be necessary to exclude this ( among other things) prior to referring you to respiratory. Shane they didn’t explain this to you.

He did this as he thinks it's acid reflux - you have no infection - what ejse did you want him to do. All you have is a cough which has made your throat sore

Antibiotic stewardship - perhaps research this

No infection symptoms - no antibiotics

Not when it sounds like a dry cough and the doctor doesn't suspect a bacterial infection. The NHS website says:

Most coughs are caused by a cold or flu.
Other causes include:

• smoking
• heartburn (acid reflux)
• allergies – for example, hay fever
• infections like bronchitis or COVID-19
• mucus dripping down the throat from the back of the nose

In other words most coughs are not bacterial so antibiotics are pointless and dangerous as the more we use them the more antibiotics resistance will end up occurring.

Because you showed no signs of a bacterial infection.

Acid reflux is more likely.

Hi @flowerlover1990
Actually your GP might well be into something (I didn’t think I’d say that read8 g the title!!).
Silent reflux (which means you aren’t aware of it) can irritate not just the œsophages but also the wind pipe. Leading to this persistent cough.
Its really worth trying it out.

And as he said, if it’s not better than, you can review again.

Why ABs? Probably because your chest was clear. And coughs aren’t just due to a bacterial infection in the lungs.

@Sortumn , on paper I agree with you re the risk of nutritional deficiencies.
Its not just that medication, it’s an PPI.

However, you can only stop PPI if you can actually sort out the cause of the reflux. Otherwise you take the risk of LT complications that arent pretty at all.

So yes, PPI leads to possible issues. But some people actually need them…. I’d be careful to not put anyone off using them if they need to,

OP, your doctor did this because they are a qualified medical practitioner. And you are not.
I don't understand why so many lay people think they know more about medicine than actual doctors!

That’s actually a really rubbish answer.
It’s totally normal to want to understand why you’re given a certain treatment and no one should ever agree on a treatment without understanding what’s it’s supposed to do.

If anything, it’s the doctor here that is at fault. Fur not explaining to the OP why PPI could help with her cough aka why treating her stomach would help with her lungs/wing pipe. It’s not obvious!

No, luckily I haven't had any side effects, that sounds horrible! I have been taking it for about 5 months, I have a 6 month repeat prescription so will be seeing the GP in a month to re-evaluate. I hope both you and OP get relief and find something that works. ❤️

I had a bad cough for about 6 months straight - like not stopping for even a few minutes at a time - while pregnant, it was exhausting for me and anyone near me. Doc put me on Omeprazole and it changed my life, honestly. For full disclosure, I did have really bad acid indigestion too, and it cleared up immediately also. Amazing stuff. Hope it works as well for you.

I had this years ago. The first time I went to the GP I was just told to wait. The cough made others in the office nervous and my manager asked me to go back. I was booked in with someone else who said it was reflux and you don't necessarily get the symptoms you see on the ads. Omeprazole worked. Just took it for 3 months.

Not putting people off. There should be a discussion with the GP of things to be aware of, but I know they don't always have time.
I've shared NHS information. Maybe people should stay in the dark?

We're now dealing with the severe effects of B12 deficiency here and it's not to be taken lightly!

You get a sore throat and cough with reflux because your stomach acid irritates your throat when you lie down and sleep. The capsules should sort it. Elevating the head of your bed so you're not flat helps as well.

It's worth noting that antibiotics can have an anti inflammatory effect, so will act as a 'sticking plaster' in many cases where they weren't needed, seemingly making a difference in the short term.

Day 4 of Omeprazole and the cough hasn't improved even slightly 😭😭 When will I start feeling better. Nearly 4 weeks of this now.