Whooping cough - not just a 1940s disease

[margerybruce]

Can I just take this opportunity to ask everyone to go and get a booster for whooping cough?

I have just recovered from this shitty horrible disease and it's really knocked me for six. I had to have a month off work and I was ill for at least two months before that, trying to work through it before I knew that's what I had.

I have asthma so it was made worse by that.

vk.ovg.ox.ac.uk/pertussis-whooping-cough

From the CDC - In the first year after getting vaccinated, whooping cough vaccines for adolescents and adults (called Tdap) protect about 7 out of 10 people who receive them. There is a decrease in effectiveness in each following year. About 3 or 4 out of 10 people are fully protected 4 years after getting Tdap.

Babies literally go blue/purple. Almost like they are choking and it's not so much a cough but a wheezing or gasping for breath. Utterly terrifying.

Symptoms of whooping cough

The first symptoms of whooping cough are similar to those of a cold, such as a runny nose, red and watery eyes, a sore throat, and a slightly raised temperature.
Intense coughing bouts start about a week later.
The bouts usually last a few minutes at a time and tend to be more common at night.
Coughing usually brings up thick mucus and may be followed by vomiting.
Between coughs, you or your child may gasp for breath – this may cause a "whoop" sound, although not everyone has this.
The strain of coughing can cause the face to become very red, and there may be some slight bleeding under the skin or in the eyes.
Young children can sometimes briefly turn blue (cyanosis) if they have trouble breathing – this often looks worse than it is and their breathing should start again quickly.
In very young babies, the cough may not be particularly noticeable, but there may be brief periods where they stop breathing.
The bouts will eventually start to become less severe and less frequent over time, but it may be a few months before they stop completely.
Who's at risk of whooping cough

Whooping cough can affect people of any age, including:
babies and young children – young babies under six months of age are at a particularly increased risk of complications of whooping cough
older children and adults – it tends to be less serious in these cases, but can still be unpleasant and frustrating
people who've had whooping cough before – you're not immune to whooping cough if you've had it before, although it tends to be less severe the second time around
people vaccinated against whooping cough as a child – protection from the whooping cough vaccine tends to wear off after a few years
You can get whooping cough if you come into close contact with someone with the infection.
A person with whooping cough is infectious from about six days after they were infected – when they just have cold-like symptoms – until three weeks after the coughing bouts start.
Antibiotic treatment can reduce the length of time someone is infectious.
When to get medical advice

See your GP or call NHS 111 if you or your child:
have symptoms of whooping cough
have had a cough for more than three weeks
have a cough that is particularly severe or is getting worse
Call 999 or go to your nearest accident and emergency (A&E) department if you or your child:
have significant breathing difficulties, such as long periods of breathlessness or choking, shallow breathing, periods where breathing stops, or dusky, blue skin
develop signs of serious complications of whooping cough, such as fits (seizures) or pneumonia

My most disgusting symptom was the foul green mucus which just poured from my nose and chest. That's what sets it apart from a normal cough.

Because I have asthma I am used to getting a chest infection every year but this was something else entirely.

Four months down the line I am still waking in the night feeling as though I am suffocating.

Barbarian the antibiotics are given in first 3 weeks only and really are to prevent spread of infection. The reason you don't give after 3 weeks is because the person is no longer infectious. Doesn't do much to reduce the cough

Have seen a lot of whooping cough in the last 4-5 months. It is grim

No, margerybruce

The comment about expectant mothers was in response to the post by SanitysSake

Ah OK

The my midwife told me I didn't need it because I was having a summer bf baby

To be fair, I wouldn't mind who responded - but to particularly draw from any expectant mothers out there right now, like myself, who had been given any information/differing information to the frankly scant facts I've only just been given (at 29 weeks) with which to make a decision.

No snub to the wider audience - if that's what you were concerned about?

Well Sanity it's up to you but I have no idea how tiny babies survive this disease and I would strongly recommend you take them up on it.

I've had a cough for 3 weeks. Productive and yet tickly, have coughed until vomiting on a few occasions and have whooped a couple of times. Thanks for this thread OP - I'm going to phone my GP tomorrow.

I had it as a child despite being vaccinated. A child I was playing with had not been vaccinated. Got whooping cough and passed it on to me.
I had a milder case because I'd been vaccinated but it was horrible. Made worse by the fact that Drs couldn't identify what it was.

Never had a cough like this before.

Does anyone know if the vaccination is available for adults and older children (age 12+)?
Will the doctor do it or can it be paid for privately?

I had it last summer. Didn't have the mucous so much but my god the cough! 6 months to go. Also have asthma which didn't help.

Didn't have any time off work as I'm a GP and felt guilty. Rubbish rubbish disease.

I had whooping cough when I was 9 - as vaxxed as I could be by that point, but I was one of the unlucky ones. It was absolutely horrible. So I now have lifelong immunity, but my kids are also vaxxed to the max. It's an awful disease and I wouldn't wish it on anyone.

I had it a few years ago and dh some years before that. It's really, really under diagnosed IMO. I recognised it in myself due to seeing dh with it. I saw a GP who was kind but clearly wasn't convinced since I wasn't coughing at all when I saw her, which is typical of WC. She had to do a blood test to confirm it and was really surprised it came up positive.

I was absolutely pressured to take the antibiotics which was annoying as the blood test took another three weeks to come back so by the time it was confirmed I was almost over it. The antibiotics. Then made me feel pretty ill. It's still a notifiable disease and as I worked with pregnant women they all had to be traced and offered treatment.

GPS need more education on how common it is and how the symptoms present and there needs to be a better diagnostic test to avoid such long delays in getting a firm diagnosis.

i've had the booster during pregnancy - no side effects whatsoever. my mother's first memory is her little sister having whooping cough and almost dying, then she got it herself (2 years old). not a great first memory to have....

I had whooping cough 2 years ago, it was horrible, I literally felt like I was choking to death.
It took 6 months to get over the cough and I also damaged my diaphragm as I was coughing so much and I'm still being treated for that. I have been left with GORD that I can't seem to shift.

I was (eventually) diagnosed by my PiL's neighbour who is a retired GP (now in her 70s) after she witnessed a coughing fit (I was clutching onto the car for support and couldn't even get into the house for several minutes). Came straight over and said "Do you know what that is?" She says she saw a lot of it back in the day.

Thank you for this thread. I am pg with dc1 but have not been able to have the booster, much to my horror due to a previous severe allergic reaction to the tetanus jab. You can't have the whooping cough jab without tetanus. I am planning to pretty much hibernate in the house until the first jabs and limit visits, but this thread has given me the idea to get dh and my mum to get the jab.

I had whooping cough, I think I was around eight or nine.
Long bouts of solid coughing, couldn't catch my breath, usually followed by vomiting. I'd had the vaccination as a child, I had no idea this meant I could still catch a 'mild' dose of it. Nobody really believed I was all that ill, despite it dragging on for weeks and me vomiting regularly.
I hope I didn't pass it on to anyone vulnerable.

BarbarianMum - thank god for the old guard, hey?

Yura - thats good to hear and provides some comfort.

FurbysMakeSexNoises - I thought as GP's you'd all be immunised up to eyeballs to avoid getting infected? Sounds awful.

@Rarotonga yes good idea. I believe the idea is to provide a 'ring' of immunity that is as strong as possible around the baby which will protect him until he is old enough for his own vaccine (and you).