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?

some dreadful advice on here, presumably from people with no medical background or training.

go to A&E, you will have to be patient, but a junior doctor will see you eventually and take you seriously.

"Lol"? Really?

OP's GP is obviously concerned enough to refer her for an x-ray and further investigation. They need to find out what it is before they can treat it and A&E can't do more than that.

Yes. I would go if I was suffering like this. You will likely get bloods and xray done. I'm surprised (not) that your gp didn't send you for an urgent xray.
Go

it's not an A&E issue, i would think you would be sent away.

You need an x-ray or a ct scan on your lungs really if you are getting breathless and to see ENT for you're throat.

It's sounds awful, but no I wouldn't go to A&E.

Yes really. Derisive laughter.

If you feel it is an emergency and you need to be seen then go.

Absolutely this OP. So many posters saying no and even suggesting you pay for private treatment is appalling. You have a health service and have every right to access it. If you are having difficulty breathing for whatever reason and it is causing you such distress then go to A&E.

Yes, coughing can be breathing difficulties so I would in some scenarios.

Sorry, not read everything.
Sadly, unless having trouble breathing or coughing up blood, it's not an A&E situation. I mean you can try but no promises they will help.

All you can do in the mean time is find ways to try and stop coughing because sadly, the more you cough, the more you want to cough, it's a nasty circle which can indeed leave you coughing all day long.

Have you tried anything for asthma, any antihistamines (in case it's allergies?), anything for acid reflux? You can buy esomeprazole from your local pharmacy, to try for a week or two see if makes a difference. Sleep with your head propped up and keep hydrated. If possible, when you feel the need to cough, really really try not to, suck a lozenge, sweet, sip of a drink. Was there anything that triggered it off? End of a cold or flu for example?

Good luck, sounds miserable.

This sounds like me- have now had the cough and rasping on exhaling for 20 months, often feel fluey and feverish. Only got a diagnosis March this year after a third ct scan with thermal imaging showed pneumonia which the consultant said was 'organising pneumonia'- the previous scan showed little ground glass bits in one lung (why I wasn't told about that at the time I don't know) but the scan this February showed the same ground glass bits but in the other lung- he called it 'migratory organising pneumonia'.

This all started after I had covid for a third time in October 2024. I'm now on prednisolone for 6 months which hasn't made a significant difference yet 4 months in, apart from my severe backache has gone (felt like wearing a heavy rucksack all the time) Initially he put me up from 50mg preventative inhaler to 250 thinking it was allergy driven (I have cat, dog and dust mite allergy) but it didn't make a difference, and I take fexafenadine for allergies daily anyway.

Re the low grade fever and aches the consultant just says to take paracetomol, but I worry about sepsis as above.

I think a lot of the comments here are based on how A&E and our referral system is meant to work, versus how it sometimes functions in practice. As an example - my mum was in a similar position, GP, referral waiting lists etc. It took turning up to A&E and refusing to move until she was seen, to diagnose advanced stage cancer. So GPs are absolutely capable of not identifying serious issues

I’m think it all depends on what basis the GP referred you? Is it the two week pathway as that will be rushed through and should come quite quickly?

Otherwise, if it’s a long wait then you either go to A&E and accept a painful wait but hopefully you get a Xray and diagnosis there and then. Or back to the GP and push for a quicker referral due to the impact it’s having on your life.

It could be many things but fatigue and a cough for 7 month needs pretty urgent investigation - (and you should have had an x-ray months ago!) so already pretty poor by the GP but you also need to push harder and advocate for yourself. Of course it’s not ok to have a cough like this for 7 months.

That's simply not true. If there is something serious going on, it's very possible that A&E will do something or at least provide some relief

Once I waited A YEAR for a referral to come through. I went private in the meantime! You need to find out OP.

This unfortunately is very common and why I would push for an x-ray and a diagnosis asap whatever means it takes!

Has he given you omeprozal in the meantime? I had dry coughing fits that turned out to be silent reflux aggravating it.

Do you know how long the GP's referral will take?

I think chasing your referral and getting an expedite letter from your GP would be a better course of action.

I’ve just spent 36 hrs in A and E with my partner before he was admitted. People stood calmly queuing out the door to be triaged. I wondered what they were there for. He was brought in by ambulance, with no time to even think to get his shoes on or anything. I followed behind later with a bag. His problems are acute and 100% could not be safely managed at home. Services are massively stretched.

Absolutely not. It is called ‘accident and emergency’ for a reason. I wohkd try to get an appointment with your GP and ask them if there is anything else you could try while you wait for your tests. Maybe a telephone appointment?

My mother's cancer was diagnosed via A&E, in almost exactly the same circumstances running up to it as the OP has described (I mean in terms of GP appointments, referrals etc, not the specific symptoms)

This is the second post of the same kind.

To anyone else who says if it was important enough the GP would have done something, I might have said the same if a GP had not almost killed my husband by delaying sending him to hospital 2 years ago.

@LeopardPrint21 if you can't breathe to go A&E. At the least you will either get, or not get, clean x rays.

That sounds dreadful OP, you may have polyps if you have a feeling of something being constantly ‘stuck’ in your throat. You sound run down in general. Have you lost weight at all? If you’re having breathing difficulties or coughing so much that you can’t get your breath then you need to go to A&E as that is an actual emergency. It doesn’t matter about referrals etc but do tell them you’ve been referred.

This might sound really daft but have you taken any antihistamines?

My hay fever always flares up a chronic cough to the point I can continuous coughing fits.

I’d recommend trying Fexofenadine to see if it gives you some temporarily relief.

Yes. Really!