To just live with this cough?

[PattyCakePattyCake]

Had a cough for four months now. Wheezing etc. I’ve been to the GPs and they said ‘here’s some antibiotics’. Got worse, had chest pains and shortness of breath. Went to local hospital )not A&E before anyone scolds me). Got checked out (including stay) and they said ‘Chest infection and inflammation of the lung, here’s some antibiotics and an inhaler’.

A month later and it’s still here, still the same. No chest pains (presume that was pulled muscle) but shortness of breath remains. DH wants me to go back to the doctors but what’s the point? I’m just wasting their time. Antibiotics isn’t going to fix it, they looked at my lungs and they’re healthy as was the breathing test I did. This just a really drawn out cough right and I’ve just got to keep waiting for it to go away, right?

And before people say ‘why ask on MN we’re not qualified’ I want perspective because I struggle to know what to go to the doctors for these days to be honest.

TB would show up on an xray

My sister had a lingering cough like you describe, but when she moved flat it cleared up. Was probably due to mold. Any signs of that where you live?

Not necessarily.

I have had a cough since mid-October! Horrible trying to catch my breath in between bouts of coughing. Am thinking it’s whooping aka 100-day cough. Bloody annoying! No one has caught it from me but apparently there’s lots of it about.

My dd1 is only 15 and was last vaccinated against whooping cough before she started school, so aged 4. I think I read online that the vaccine only lasts 10 years!

See this crossed my mind because we live in a 18th century thatched cottage but I’ve searched everywhere for mould - under the bath, behind the radiators, in the attic, everywhere I can think of - and no sign of anything. I know you can get people to come out and detect but money is really tight and I couldn’t afford it and I wouldn’t know where else they could even look?

I’m frightened about heart issues. Before the cough started I had dizzy spells, so this plus the breathlessness has made me consider heart disease. They did an ECG and then said all looked fine so dropped that line of enquiry and eventually decided it was a chest infection and lung inflammation. But I’m wary.

I initially had ECG done at Dr's, then just before Christmas I got a call from Cardiology who wanted to do another scan, on 18th I have to go back and have Cardiac monitor fitted for a couple of days.

It is very scary, I don't want it to be my heart, but at same time if it is I wanna get it dealt with as soon as possible.

Another thing for me is possibly COPD, my dad had it, my brother has it and although I don't smoke I was raised in a home full of smokers, so it's a small chance. To be honest I'm grasping at straws.

Dr went down the infection route first, then said asthma, then they were just stumped.

Initially I had to almost fight to get Dr to look beyond my weight, because that's what they wanted to put it down to. I know I'm overweight, but these symptoms were new and I been big for a few years.

Keep on at your Dr, they'll probably make you jump through hoops, but keep going until you feel satisfied that they've done all they can, at which point they may refer you to respiratory specialist at hospital.

Fingers crossed for you, I hope it doesn’t turn out to be anything serious. I don’t trust the infection diagnosis because I feel like it would have gone by now, plus not a single other person has had this cough, not even DC, which makes me feel like it’s just not right.

It’s so hard and confusing and I do feel dismissed which is why I wanted opinions, I just don’t know what’s what anymore with medical stuff!

Thank you. I do hope you get some answers as it obviously very worrying for you.

I don't suppose you've thought maybe allergies, sorry I can't remember if it's already been suggested. It was one of the things my Dr suggested.

Good luck with your dr.

My dd hasn't had it either and neither has dp.

Dd is on therapeutic chemo so has a significantly lower immunity sp I agree with you that if it was bacterial then she would have got it too.

Weirdly I have also had bouts of diziness with it. But I think they are mostly when I have had a lot of coughing fits and my oxygen levels drop.

I have certainly struggled to fight things off since I had covid. Was always fairly healthy before it!

You have long covid. Join the online Facebook groups. There are tens of thousands of people there. Many have exactly this, and worse. Chest pains are a standard long covid symptom.
The fact that you aren’t being told this, that there is no public health campaign, that our Drs are utterly useless is so depressing. Four years into this pandemic and we have learnt nothing.

The dizziness is called POTs most people with long covid have this.

I'm in similar position. Now waiting for spirometry test. You do need to keep going back.

Whooping cough is a notifiable disease (https://www.gov.uk/guidance/pertussis-clinical-and-public-health-management#:~:text=Whooping%20cough%20is%20a%20notifiable,the%20need%20for%20laboratory%20confirmation.) - if anyone is diagnosed with it then Public Health England have to be notified. A "100 day cough" isn't notifiable...cynical minds may suggest this is why no one is being diagnosed with whooping cough, but funnily enough lots of people have the 100 day cough 🤷🏻‍♀️

The cynic in me agrees with you!!