Would you go to A&E for a cough?

[LeopardPrint21]

Had a cough for 7 months. Have had some tests done for gastro as the GP initially thought acid reflux, have literally today been referred for chest x-ray and lung tests.

It has gotten to the point where I cannot stop coughing. Literally having fits of coughing every few minutes and this lasts from the minute I wake up until the minute I go to sleep and sometimes throughout the night too. I also feel unwell with it and I’ve felt unwell since the cough started at the beginning of the year. I feel like I can’t cough up whatever is there but I also can’t swallow it back down so it just feels stuck in my throat and all the constant coughing is leaving me feeling like I can’t breathe properly.

I have been in tears all day because I genuinely can’t go on like this, I dread every second of the day because of how bad it is. I am at my breaking point with it.

Would you go to the hospital for a cough that is constantly there and you’re never getting a let up from it along with everything else I’ve written?

It does need to be better but it already misses very serious things and we need to be careful not to make it worse in an attempt to make it better.

Absolutely not.

A&E = accident and emergency.

Don't be that dick. You have a horrible health issue but you just need to either wait it out through the correct channels (GP, referrals, tests etc) or go private.

Don't clog up A&E. It is absolutely not meant for people who can't get a GP appointment, are a long way down a waiting list, have a long-standing issue etc. It is for people who are suffering something in the moment, that is a serious issue, and needs immediate medical attention.

You can wait. Horrible to be waiting, yes, but that's life.

The fact you're even considering A&E is crazy and a reflection on how people have zero idea how to use the resources we have.

A&E - accident and emergency. I think it’s not unreasonable to say that troubles breathing might quite possibly fall under emergency. It is up to the OP to recognize how much they are struggling. I do hope they manage to get it under control and recover well

"Crazy, don't be that dick", except the full thread has numerous posts about people going to A&E with a worsening cough that the GP will not act on, and being diagnosed with lung cancer, so everyone needs to make their own decision.

Have you even read the thread?

Lots of real life experiences that show youre very wrong.

You presumably haven’t RTFT. No one who had would be as crashingly insensitive and stupid as to call someone suffering from what sounds like lung cancer symptoms a “dick”.

Either read the thread or have the decency to keep your ignorance to yourself.

OP has already said that she has had this, and it cam back clear.

There's always some dick who posts this on MN threads. It regularly turns out that they are wrong - memorably, on more than occasion it turned out that the OP had something life threatening that would have killed her if she had followed this sort of advice. It's not OP who is being a dick here.

OP, if you're able, please let us know how you get on. Don't let some of the horribly insensitive comments on here put you off updating if you have gone to A&E. Sending positive thoughts and genuinely hoping that you're alright x

I think we can definitely all agree someone's being a dick on this thread.

There was a thread here a few weeks ago from an OP who thought her son had DKA - a life threatening condition due to undiagnosed diabetes. Quite a few posts intimating she was a ‘dick’ for considering A&E - the advice was wait for a GP appointment. Turns out her son would likely have died if she’d followed that advice.

OP’s symptoms indicate something serious and worsening because her GP has arsed about for seven months instead of doing the right thing and putting her on a two week referral for possible cancer symptoms. Something very similar happened to my DH. He ended up in A&E - blue lighted after he collapsed. Lung cancer. Advanced and inoperable. He died a few days later. GP’s are shite at recognising cancer symptoms and if OP is suffering and concerned, she absolutely is entitled to turn to A&E for help.

Triage missed my DH’s lung cancer twice. Once in A&E and once in a walk in centre. Coughing, short of breath, but because he had shoulder pain (a recognised symptom of certain lung tumours) they told him he had a trapped nerve. No X-ray, no tests, just painkillers and a referral for physio. He did have a trapped nerve. Caused by the tumour they’d have seen on an xray.

It unfortunately almost always seems to be the same way with cancer. and it's absolutely an emergency too when time is essential and not spotting cancer can cause all sorts of serious complications without even considering disease progression.

With my son, A&E very briefly considered a bowel obstruction (coffee ground vomit which is a classic symptom) but quickly moved to appendicitis until it was dismissed by the surgical registrar and then decided that it had to be gastroenteritis. I knew it wasn't that and was repeatedly dismissed and it almost became like an obsession that it was gastroenteritis. He was also triaged incorrectly despite having a heart rate of 160.

It got to the point that a NG tube was inserted because he was vomiting so much despite anti sickness meds and even when nurses raised their concerns about a possible bowel obstruction, the surgical registrar dismissed them too and stuck to gastroenteritis despite the fact that he was obviously vomiting fecal matter at this point.

It was then finally accepted that he did have a bowel obstruction and needed a transfer to a hospital who could do the surgery but by that time, he had septic shock, declined rapidly and had a cardiac arrest. He just made it to the hospital he went on to stay for 10 months at, they call him a miracle. That hospital was fantastic.

Obviously the cancer causing the bowel obstruction couldn't have been avoided but if they had listened to me, he wouldn't have developed septic shock which delayed his cancer treatment and caused so many other issues. They did a scan too late, if they had done it before dismissing a bowel obstruction then it would've been a whole different story.

God, that's terrible. I'm sorry.

Are you okay @LeopardPrint21 ?

Order a pulse oximeter for delivery tomorrow on Amazon prime. If your oxygen levels go low you will need to either go to a&e or phone 111.
If you can tolerate it, wear a mask. There's infectious people who go to a&e and the last thing you need is to catch something like covid or rsv or even just a cold on top of this
Really hope you feel better soon

Bloody hell, I’m so sorry, that must have been terrifying for everyone involved. I’m a firm believer in a mother’s gut instinct being first on the list of symptoms.

Bit strange the op hasn't returned.

Hope she is ok. And that the post was genuine.