Coughing lady at the movies

[HibiscusAndPineapples]

Went to the cinema to watch a film, and the lady seated behind me spent the better part of the entire runtime coughing. It wasn’t just muffled coughs here and there either, but full on, loud, non-stop coughing.

Any quiet/tense moment in the film was completely ruined by loud coughing.

AIBU to think that anyone with a cough as loud and relentless as this should just stay away from the cinema?

I've had more than one episode of pneumonia in the past. The coughing lasted a year, afterwards, long after the illness and infectious period had subsided and I do now have some scarring on my lungs. This can mean that I cough/have to clear my chest a lot even now years later.

I do try to be considerate and as far as possible sit where I can get to a door if it does ratchet up, which thankfully isn't too often these days.

Should I never go out to the cinema? Thanks for that. There are many, many reasons why people cough. Many of them not at all infectious. I remember us regularly having to explain this at the start of the COVID pandemic when we were practically being accused of being murderers.

My mother has COPD which certainly isn't infectious but can cause hard to control coughing. She's pretty well at the moment. There certainly seem to be some people around though who think that people like her should just remain indoors and fade away.

You have no idea of people's medical issues or what might be going on in their lives so stop judging.

Oh, do get over yourself

Nobody’s saying people who cough constantly should remain indoors and fade away. They should, however, leave the cinema if they can’t stop coughing, because they are ruining the film for everyone else. If someone brought a baby into the cinema and it started to scream, you would expect them to take it out. That doesn’t mean people with babies have to stay in, it just means they should accept that it’s not OK to monopolise a public event by making a loud noise all the way through it.

I know its not quite the same as its often limited and awkward times (like morning or noon) and often not 18+ stuff but most cinemas and theaters hold 'non quiet' screenings for children, autistic and/or other types of disability who might not be able to conform to sitting in silence for 90+ minutes.

I have gone to a few of these with my young kids and honestly they aren't bad, usually pretty empty. I think we have had the whole cinema to ourselves before.

What you mean is Disabled needing a wheelchair two helpers and terminally ill fuck off your a nuisance and should stay home and die because your cough annoys me....not every awful cough is a virus

I hope you never get cancer and after spending years in lockdown...yes years ...decide on your last few months sod it I'm doing my bucket list to be subjected to someone with this attitude

You have no concept of living with a disease like this, people with babies will move on and be people without babies people with disease will get worse. The physical strength to get into the theater in the first place is a major event when you're coughing you are also having a major lack of oxygen adding to the loss of strength. You can't physically move it's not a case of jumping up and running out like coughing with a cold or itchy throat so what you're actually saying is your disability is not allowed in a public place that is discrimination.
Special screenings are for the benefit of these needing things like more lighting and lower noise they are not there to remove an inconvenience for normal screenings or so all the noisy people can stick together like a zoo.

Some illnesses leave lungs becoming more and more congested that's why they are life limiting COPD has that gunge continually building so the feeling you get after a cold on top of Asthma is a good day. You can say oh well next month I maybe better other lung conditions are facing next month I will be worse today maybe my last chance.

I know, my neighbour had COPD. It didn't sound like this woman was in such a case, though - but my neighbour was at the stage of needing breathing equipment with her a lot of the time. Would that only be late-stage?

But honestly I wouldn't go to a cinema if I had such chronic lung illness. Apart from spoiling it for everyone else, I wouldn't enjoy sitting in a crowded cinema coughing my lungs out, not getting anything out of the film, and probably being more tired and stressed at the end of it.

@jannier Thank you. Well put posts.

It is so true that people posting here clearly have no experience of living with these conditions. My mother is a wheelchair user, both because of osteoporosis and because COPD can affect blood oxygen levels.

She doesn't go out that much anymore, just for the occasional pub lunch and to do her shopping when my sister or I are there to help.

People like her should not just be excluded from places though because they cannot simply get up and leg it out for a bit if a coughing fit takes hold. That is discrimination. Maybe thoughtless rather than intentional, but discrimination nonetheless.

I don't want it to be applied to me either, as my own lungs, whilst mostly adequate, are not tip top because of my history.

I would also never go to the cinema like that but in my case the really gungy heavy cough IS asthma. For some of us the asthma causes chronic irritation and inflammation and, well, the results are pretty disgusting.

I have an inhaler for sudden coughing fits (which are rare) and would be using it in that instance, but I’m a bit shocked at all of the confidently incorrect posters here who believe they can diagnose asthma simply by listening. There are many forms of asthma. And frankly mine is absolutely shit.

Sorry to hear yours is that bad - I should've said "it's nothing like my asthmatic wheezing" rather than generalising.

Yes, if you gonna cough up a lung , leave . Be more considerate of patrons who obviously can’t hear the sound over your constant coughing. So annoying.

Thanks for that. As you probably realised, this is a bit of a sore point for me. 💐

Understandably!

If your in a crowd you just need to deal.
2 weeks in a row at gigs I had a dog owner stood next to me. It was stinking.

With respect, your saying you wouldn't go somewhere with this condition but don't you think when you are facing the end of your life you might prefer to try and go out and enjoy as much life as you can rather than sit in your chair waiting to die? Because quiet frankly what would be the pleasure in living like that....you have to remember back to lockdown when you were allowed at least to go for a walk and out to buy food....most struggled with that limit on freedom but people with chronic illness went into lockdown earlier and came out later during that time they didn't go shopping or walking and lost all contact with people why would they want to go back into that just to avoid coughing in public?
The policy of oxygen at home is much more complicated now than it used to be as our nebulisers so you can't say because someone doesn't have O2 they are not as ill. My sister has COPD and thoracic cancer (non smoker) where the biopsy had to be done while she was awake and damaged her oesophagus, needs a heart bypass and also has 3 types of arthritis and is wheelchair bound and under Palliative care she's been out for shopping (the supermarket) twice since end of lockdown and found it an amazing treat to actually choose her own food from a shelf. We've managed a meal around 10 times (yes coughing badly) if I can get her out I will if people don't like it shame on them.

Thank you ...treatments have come on my mum disabled all my life had COPD alongside spinal injuries, my sister and brother now have it and I know one day I will contract it my lungs are already deteriorating were all non smokers and will be treated like we brought it on ourselves this lock them up like Lepers attitude is appalling.

So nice I guess you ignored every post and don't give a shit about disability as long as you're not inconvenienced

I've had a cough since December, they think asthma but my cough is so bad I can't do the test.

Anyway, I still have to live my life, go to work, see friends, not just going to stay inside am I? People look down their noses at me on the train, in meetings, etc - can't do anything about it. Honestly, 1 woman's dog licked my leg on a train and she didn't give a shot kept letting him do it. I cough and she moved away...

It's a public space at the end of the day.

No disrespect but cinema costs money. Should other people's health issues impact the enjoyment of a trip out that cost me part of my weekly wage? Should we all make financial sacrificed for other people?

@Notmyfirstusername it could be pulmonary fibrosis. My relative has this and although she can walk around and seem fine she has a persistent hacking cough that comes on seemingly out of nowhere and causes great pain and discomfort. She can still eat popcorn.
As her life is limited (there is no cure, it will progressively worsen the next few years) we ensure she experiences the things she enjoys while she still can.
I am not for one minute saying it's what the woman in this scenario has, we have no way of knowing and she may well be just an arse, but yes there are chronic lung conditions that would allow this all to happen.

If people are so bothered about noises, wait until you can watch it at home. Simple.

Could have easily have been someone rustling a crisp packet or chatting to their mate, the cause of the noise is irrelevant.

It's public space, people make noises and disturb others for all sort of reasons. Honestly, get over yourself.

@jannier I have appreciated every single thing you've said on here and I'm sorry to hear you and your family are experiencing this. You're right too that there's an assumption that COPD is a smoker's illness, I can imagine that must be another blow to deal with when you haven't smoked a day in your life.
Sending you love and to your sister too.

👏👏👏👏👏👏👏