People with day to day coughs

[Gemzee]

Just wondering how people who cough every day are getting on at the moment? I mean people with smokers cough or asthma etc. Are you getting dirty looks in the street?
I don't have this problem myself but know some smokers who cough alot and was curious.
I think some people may have forgotten that people can have a day to day cough and that it isn't nessesarily covid!
I'd imagine it is harder going out and about now while coughing.

@Pinkywoo I think you should definitely be theatrical if people don't keep their distance and it's very kind that you tell people who seem worried, but it must be exhausting.

Saying that, whenever I cough in public or even at home- I automatically explain that I've swallowed something or have something in my throat. The people around me also always feel the need to explain why they're coughing. It seems to have become the norm. What a sad life we live now!

My DS1 is ASD and has a stimming throat clearing response. Its a self propagating cycle because he's more anxious when in public which increases his tendency to need to do it. I can hear the difference between the throat clearing and coughing but only because I hear it 1000 times a day. I totally understand why people look twice.

I get that people are scared but its really rubbish when they leap away in fear because he doesn't understand that its their own fear , he feels embarrassed. I can usually see when it's an automatic fear reaction but I admit , totally unfairly i put my hands up, I get internally angry that grown adults flinch making an 8 year old feel horrible.

I get that often its involuntary , its just all a bit rubbish. We have lots of techniques to try to manage it but of course they are not foolproof.

In terms of nasty comments I have had one or two and I deal with them the same as I do when ds1 is doing something "Odd" in public due to his ASD. I either roll my eyes and ignore or I just laugh outright at them.

It really doesn't take a lot to realise you are being an ass in situations like this and they either don't care or their fear is so overwhelming they can't see through it. I'm afraid either case means I genuinely do not care about their opinion. Its either not rational or they are nasty. Neither is relevant to me.

It does take a lot of reassuring for Ds1 though. Poor kid. Because his relationship with people isn't hard enough already.

I have a hayfever/asthmatic cough sometimes and it’s not been an issue as I barely go anywhere.

My son is getting hayfever and his nursery have been pretty good at not sending him home for every cough. He’s been sent home when he woke up from a nap having a coughing fit one day - I think he was congested and too warm. I took him for a Covid test, fortunately it was on a Friday so he was able to go back to nursery on the Monday with his negative result. The nursery followed procedure but were so relaxed I suspect the bug had gone around.

I’ve been making sure he has some hayfever meds before he goes - I’d prefer not to use it routinely with him being two.

I had a cough for over 6 months last year (not Covid related, I had a lot of tests to find the cause).
I was told on here that I should stay at home until my cough had gone because it wasn’t fair to scare people.

I'm sneezing my head off at the moment and have a dry cough due to hayfever. However, I still keep my mask on at work (changing it regularly though as I don't appreciate a damp mask) and do my best to distance still even outside - for this reason I think people are fairly comfortable around me. However, I have had others walk close to me coughing /sneezing and I don't appreciate it - they might think it's an everyday cough /sneeze but could still be asymptonmatic for covid.

I have a loud and horrible, wet sounding gross cough as part of my lung condition. I am as polite as possible (move away from people and wash my hands etc) but I’ve still had dirty looks and this was pre Covid. I think I’ve got used to it so I notice it a bit less.
I’ve had both vaccines and I do LFTs twice weekly. I can’t stay in the house forever. It’s embarrassing and if I’m having a bad day, I’ll avoid going out but I need to walk to keep my lungs healthy and it will make me cough. Nothing I can do.

I do feel for asthmatics.
But it's not surprising that people dont like others coughing near them. Especially because 2 people just on this thread havent followed the rules. One even taking the kid off somewhere and then into school ---- after lateral flow tests!!
They are NOT for symptoms
The lft miss too many positives. That is why they are for asymptomatic people.

I was stood waiting for dc to go into school, and someone elses kid was coughing they were stood so close to others i couldnt even tell who it was. Now if that were my kid, even if people have done a proper pcr test i wouldnt leave them standing next to all the other kids, because they had been waiting for sibling to go in, it wasnt even that kid's year group. Even pcr miss some cases and i dont particularly want a non covid cough either as thats time waiting for tests.

Afaik the law is isolate family until a pcr test is done. So those doing lft instead are breaking the law so liable for a fine.

I have a cough at the moment - not Covid, everyone tested - and it does get some worried looks. I had a coughing fit in a playground yesterday and people definitely kept their distance, and I felt guilty.

It is strange how alarming coughs are now - if I heard one while out I would definitely look up. I wonder how long that reaction will take to go away.

Dh has quite severe seasonal asthma and hay fever and wearing a mask exacerbates it - making him have severe coughing fits now and again.
Obviously not ideal if it happens in public as he gets plenty of dirty looks and tutting etc
Luckily he’s 6’7 so nobody directly says anything to him, although if I’m with him I do often say ‘it’s asthma’ if I catch someone looking disapprovingly, as I am more embarrassed than I should be especially as he can’t control it!

I don’t even notice other people coughing. It’s a normal, every day sound. Certainly wouldn’t jump out of someone’s way if they coughed. That way madness lies.

@TheOneWithTheBigNose

I had a cough for over 6 months last year (not Covid related, I had a lot of tests to find the cause). I was told on here that I should stay at home until my cough had gone because it wasn’t fair to scare people.

I cough with hayfever (which is off the scale this year) and I was told the same thing on here last year. I shouldn't go out until I've stopped coughing apparently!

It's also interesting to read that masks make coughs worse. I've definitely noticed that but was also told on here that if I wore a mask it would help but it really doesn't.

I'm just getting on with it, taking antihistamines (which don't seem to be doing anything) and saying it's hayfever if anyone looks at me!

I've had a cough for 20 years. Asthma and post nasal drip plus allergies.
At least masks help a bit with hay fever!

My 16yr old with an asthma cough has just been sent home from school again. I think its a combination of his embarrassment at coughing and everyone else avoiding him. To complicate matters we have a huge issue with covid swabs up his nose (he has nasal passages like paper apparently) so I'm waiting for doctor to call back to see how we carry out a covid test

Yes! I wish you could wear a badge saying ‘I’ve had a test, it’s not covid’ 😂 I’ve got two DD’s, one has asthma and coughs all bloody winter (it’s been reallllly fun 🥴) & my youngest has just started nursery so she’s had a constant cold & cough since March.. we’ve had repeated tests, all negative. I’ve sat in the GP’s with both kids coughing away more than once this winter and felt so embarrassed! But I did tell the GP on the phone & they said it was fine to go down

I also have really bad heyfever so I’m coughing on & off through the day now too as it’s ramping up!

Yay!

Afaik the law is isolate family until a pcr test is done. So those doing lft instead are breaking the law so liable for a fine

You legally have to isolate after a positive PCR. You don’t legally have to isolate with symptoms... it would be entirely unenforceable. Who would be the one to decide whether the cough was ‘new and continuous’, and therefore required isolation?

I’ve not really noticed too many dodgy looks. I may have used it to my advantage once or twice when people get too close.

after lateral flow tests!!
They are NOT for symptoms
The lft miss too many positives. That is why they are for asymptomatic people.

If I did one of the PCR tests each time I had symptoms I'd have done one just about every day for a year now.

I went for a long run the other day and then went straight to town with DH afterwards - no sitting down, drink or anything.

For some reason, doing a long, strenuous run triggers a cough for me, so I kept coughing as we walked round town. I did feel a little awkward actually and kept trying to swallow it down.

I had a coughing fit in public the other day. On our small town public square/high street during business hours. The coughing fit started in a shop, I hastened outside for the hacking (5 minutes?) then returned to finish buying things.

Nobody paid any attention!!

Very different last summer when I accidentally swallowed a fly & coughed for maybe 3 minutes badly.

Maybe there are benefits to wearing masks...

Wearing a mask makes me cough, which is unfortunate because I have to wear one 12 hours straight at work unless I'm eating or drinking...... I get 1x PCR and 2xLFT a week and have had both vaccines, I'm safer risk wise than a lot of people who eyeball me when I cough on the bus.
Usually too tired to care tbh, I did snarl at one guy though who asked if I'd enjoyed my trip out to another town for shopping when I shouldn't be leaving the house (getting on the bus) I snapped not nearly as much as the 12 hour nightshift looking after palliative care patients that preceded my shopping 'trip'.

I am the parent that up thread sent their dc into school today after LFTs. Let me be very clear.

My ds is in secondary school and so uses LFTs at least twice weekly, as per current guidance. My ds is not Covid symptomatic. He has a cough, his regular cough. Not a "new and contnous cough" which would prompt a PCR. The LFTs were the test we do 2-3 times a week anyway.

The thread title clearly asks for experiences regarding people with regular, day to day coughs. Like my son. Cough when it is cold out, cough when hay-fever season strikes, cough when he gets a runny nose.

So, LFTs used correctly. No laws broken. At ease. Oh, and school didn't call us. Because he wasn't coughing.

The one time I went out last summer, my friend was eating the lime slice out of her drink and started choking.

Never been so glared at in all of our lives.

I wanted to hold up a big sign saying NOT FUCKING COVID
I always used to always see a lady in an electric wheelchair near us who had a sign on the front saying "it is my legs that don't work".

On the back of her wheelchair she had another sign saying "not my ears talk to me not at me"

It was quite clever really because you had to get quite close to read the rear sign and then she used to love a chat.

I’ve had old people tell me I shouldn’t be out for daring to sneeze. I have hayfever. Kindly fuck off 🤧🤧