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Original poster

cough...cough...cough...anyone have a vile cough they can't get rid of ?

18 replies

koolkat · 08/04/2006 16:39

I have had a bad to moderate cough for the past 4 months or so.

It started off with flu...then got better...then a cold...then another flu...etc...

I cough up green-coloured phlegm (sorry to be disgusting !) and can hear myself wheeze at night. I don't have asthma or anything of the kind.

I just got antibiotics for the first time yesterday (chest x ray was fine).

Just wondering if anyone has had the same problem this winter and will it ever go away ?

Thankfully DS is much healthier than his mum and has fought off all my horrid virus things flying about Smile

OP posts:
collision · 08/04/2006 16:40

both my boys have it and it is very depressing

Original poster
koolkat · 08/04/2006 16:44

are your boys on medication ?

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expatinscotland · 08/04/2006 16:48

we've had one on and off all winter. started in december when dd1 got a cold. she was starting to recover, then got another which became a chest infection.

now we've all had horrid sinusitis, including the baby and phlegmy coughs for the past week.

my mom had a cough that she couldn't shake. it intrigued her doctor back in the US. he said he'd been seeing lots of health, fit older adults like this and wanted to chase it up so he ran loads of tests, including for TB.

he found 9 of them had that new strain of pertussis out! Shock b/c they'd all had another strain of pertussis as kids - no vaccine back then - instead of falling ill, they had a persistent cough.

lucykate · 08/04/2006 16:51

my ds, 10mths, has had a bad cough since xmas that he just can't seem to shift and now he has a streaming cold again Sad. doctor wouldn't give him anything for it so we're just relying on a vapouriser to help him at night and the odd dose of medised when he's really bad. hope you get better soon,x.

Pinotmum · 08/04/2006 16:53

Dd's had flu all week and in the past couple of days a cough has appeared. Doc just said keep giving paracetamol based syrup as it upper respiratory tract. It's annoying the hell out of her though as she wants to sleep and it keeps waking her up - poor love.

expatinscotland · 08/04/2006 16:57

dd1 had one of those tickly, post nasal drip ones. i had it, too. the glycerine, lemon and honey syrup from holland & barratt sorted that out.

the phlegmy one, however, would need something to thin all that mucus, probably.

some of them are, however, pertussis. a nurse friend of mine's kids had a cough like htis and she insisted they be tested for pertussis (yes, they were both fully vaccinated). apparently there's a strain out the vaccine doesn't protect against.

Original poster
koolkat · 08/04/2006 17:04

expat - gosh - thanks for that ! I must have the damned thing too ! I will ask my mum whether I had it when younger. I am horrified !

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expatinscotland · 08/04/2006 17:07

my mom was very shocked! i mean, she was afraid she had TB. when he said, 'i'm going to test you for whopping cough,' she blurted, 'but i already had whooping cough in 1953!'

my dad had it in 1945, but he never got the new strain. he says his smoking protected him Shock.

expatinscotland · 08/04/2006 17:08

apparently, w/the new strain, if you've had whooping cough or been vaccinated, it manifests itself most often as a persistent cough that won't go away.

Original poster
koolkat · 08/04/2006 19:04

expat - Is your mum ok now ? Hope so !

I will check with my mum when I see her tomorrow -no idea if I had it when I was small Shock

OP posts:
expatinscotland · 08/04/2006 19:06

Yep, she's fine. Got treatment and is now cough-free.

Original poster
koolkat · 08/04/2006 20:41

Sorry expat - one other question - what medication was she given ? Just in case I have to take it too.

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expatinscotland · 08/04/2006 20:43

She was given anti-b's in the US. Don't know what they were, though. This was just last year. She gets pnuemonia a lot b/c her lungs were damaged by flu when she was young, so at first she thought it was that. Then they thought maybe TB. Took 'em a while to twig she had pertussis.

nutcracker · 08/04/2006 20:46

My Ds has had a cough and temp on and off since xmas. It starts off as a croupy type thing, then gets quite raspy and wheezy at which point he tends to be sick alot too, and then it goes chesty.

We get about 4/5 clear days and then it comes back.

I am going to take him to the g.p I think.

Original poster
koolkat · 08/04/2006 20:47

Thanks expat. I am on antibiotics now, will finish the course and if it doesn't sort it out I will be at the GP again next week. God I hate going to the doctor !

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elastamum · 08/04/2006 20:47

Poor you. If you are coughing up green Phlegm then chances are you have a chest infection. the antibiotics should clear it up. If they dont the GP should take a swab of the phlegm and send it to the lab to find out what it is. I had a penicillin resistant chest infection earlier this year and it took three diferent doses of antibiotics to get rid of it.
Hope you feel better soon

Original poster
koolkat · 08/04/2006 20:48

nutcracker - yes I am old goat (38 !!) so not too worried, but with small children you have to be more careful. Take him to the GP soon and best of luck !

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Original poster
koolkat · 08/04/2006 20:49

elastamum- thanks - I hope this course will sort it - I hate antibiotics !

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