Whooping cough

[princesstiasmum]

Is it possible to get whooping cough as an adult? i have had a terrible cough sounds very dry and barking like, but bringing a lot of mucus up, after coughing, but it makes me catch my breath, and suddenly reminds me of when my children had whooping cough as children
Went to the Drs as i thought it might be a chest infection,she said it wasnt,and said she though it was from my sinuses
It is still bad 3 weeks later,i sound like a seal or a barking dog,

Yes, it is possible. There was a thread about this a few months ago. The childhood vaccination is only effective for a limited time (about 5-10 years).

I had the Whooping Cough Racine as a child. I also vaccinated my DC. DSis didn't vaccinate DN. I caught Whooping Cough from her, it was awful.

yes you can catch it

were your children not vaccinated?

I am in my 70s, my sons had it as 2 and 3 year old, no one vaccinated then as they do now, and i am afraid i listened to my mother and grandmother who didnt believe in it, my sons are now in their 50s
Would there be chest infection with whooping cough though, Dr said my chest was clear as a bell, but if so where is all this mucus coming from, it chokes me until i am almost sick

Forgot to say,i also had whooping cough as a 2 year old, with pneumonia, no NHS then either

Being sick or almost being sick is a symptom
However there is very little they can do beyond antibiotics in the initial stages so it's just a case of enduring the 90 days of coughing

I had it about 8 years ago .
Was not aware until then that I hadn't been vaccinated as a child
I daughter from my step sister who was not vaccinated as a child due to a sibling with convulsions (theory at the time).
I then passed it on to a friend and my sister before we knew what it was.

Cough for several weeks. After a few trips to GP was treated for chest infection.
Then started with the characteristic 'whoop ' sound after each bout of coughing.

The cough was different from a normal cough in that I would cough continually until lungs empty with no in breath in between

Lots any lots of excess respiratory fluid produces.

At it's worst I was off work for 2 months and coughed everyday from October to May.

Testing for it us tricky.
If they do the blood test too early there are not enough antibodies to detect it for sure, if they do the throat swab too late, it will also be missed.
So I never got a definitive diagnosis confirmed but my step sister, sister and friend did and I was the only contact between them.

It is extremely contagious.
If given at the right stage, 5 dsys if the right antibiotics stop it being contagious.

My sister's gp was useless till I gave her some info from the health protection agency website.
It is a noticeable disease.

It is not a life long vaccine and a bit random as to how long individuals are protected for.

This explains it well
www.whoopingcough.net/Dr-J-biography.htm

I read this and lots of other info in the 2 months I was off work

Is your 'mucus' like thick stringy saliva?
That's what I mean by excess respiratory fluid.

Either way, a cough for more than 3 weeks is worthy of another gp visit.

Oh and my chest always sounded clear...

Thanks all for replies,she didnt give me antibiotics
Yes mucus is stringy, but sometimes yellowish too, i was actually sick once, as i couldnt get the mucus up, or back down, not felt ill, but tired with coughing so much
Would it be worth going back? especially if its contagious,
When i mentioned whooping cough to someone they said dont be silly no one gets that these days,but it was the whooping sound that reminded me of when my sons had it
It is very embarassing when im out and people look at me as if i shouldnt be

The reason i went to the Drs,initially is that i have had 2 lots of Haemophilus influenza[sp] which apparently is a babies type of meningitis, and it started like this,but with very bad headaches.
I didnt want it again. so though maybe if caught early with ABs, would stop it getting any worse
Dr then thought i had pneumonia, but took a sputum sample and gave me ABs, he rang me at 9pm that night to say he had given me the wrong ABs and it wasnt pneuminia, it was HI,so to go in first thing in the morning for correct ones
I am rarely ill, so this is getting me down now
Have read the link, sounds about right ,

High dose vit c. Take every hour. Look ip whooping cough vit c protocol on google ... can almost stop coughing fits

shewolfmum thank you will try that

My DD age 11 then had it last year. She had been vaccinated. We saw 8 Drs & a paediatrician before being diagnosed. She had a nasal aspiration rest where they suck the mucus from right in the back of the nose & throat. The test showed his her body had reacted to the virus. It was a positive result & he said that she had a genetically modified version.
She started with a cough with turned more chesty. She has asthma & we got prednisolone steroid. She was using her puffers & she was just getting worse. The Drs just kept saying it was her asthma. After 2 week she would cough & struggle to breathe then vomit. She had loads of stringy mucus that was just pouring out.
I kept on saying that I thought it was whopping cough. She was sick for over 3 months. The paediatrician said it was a 100 day cough. We also found out that my DD was coeliac from her blood tests. We never would have known otherwise. She was not absorbing any iron & it had affected her immune system.
The paediatrician also said that if she caught another virus after she seemed well it would reignite. It did. She had 9 colds last year.

Just for information - not to contradict anything in your account of your daughter's illness, Diamond25 - whooping cough is caused by a bacterium (Bordetella pertussis), not by a virus.

Yes I had the jab yesterday (pregnant) nurse said it would give me protection but mostly the baby

When my sons had whooping cough , over 50 years ago,we had 3 Drs too, who didnt know what it was
I suggested whooping cough and then they realised what it was when i described the sound they were making,