Cough literally making me sick

[GaaaaarlicBread]

Hi,

So I spoke to a Dr today and was told the reason for my cough is it’s ‘post viral’ , which I guess explains why it’s come on worse since finishing the anti biotics for tonsillitis etc . I was told because I’m pregnant I’m limited to what I can take , and was told to suck on Menthol cough sweets like Jakemans , drink plenty of water and if it carries on for more than 3 bloody weeks! go back to the dr .
It’s making me physically sick I’m coughing so much. I’m so depressed , I’m not sleeping, it’s giving me awful stomach cramps , I have hardly any voice , my tonsils are hurting from coughing , I don’t know what to do to ease it ? I can’t cope with this much longer it’s making me miserable . I’ve counted today I’ve coughed 182 times , excluding coughing fits where I’ve coughed excessively.
Please has anyone got any advise on how to sleep when you have a cough? I can eventually drift off and then I’m awoken suddenly by a tickle and then it starts all over .
There’s no phlegm, it’s just very dry and tickly . I’m not unwell With it, DH checked my temp again today and it’s normal , 36.7 , no headache or anything .
Please , any drs out there with a bit more sympathy ??

[makingmiracles]

Don’t know if you can take it during pregnancy/with epileptic meds but piriton (antihistamine) is fab for coughs, I give to my kids and it stops them coughing

[GaaaaarlicBread]

@makingmiracles thank you that’s sadly something I’m not allowed with my epileptic meds :(

[EnidBlyton]

And cut out cheese as well op, see if that helps

[GaaaaarlicBread]

@enid thank you , I’ll give that a go

[YesItsMeIDontCare]

@itsemily How do I sleep? Badly tbh, I nap when I can! Can you get any Cherry Drops? Might sound daft, but they helped a bit (maybe because they're just nice sweets though!). Also try and avoid dairy as much as possible, tea & coffee too.

If it's not miserable enough - I NEED CHEESE!!! 😂.

[GaaaaarlicBread]

@YesItsMeIDontCare cutting out tea and coffee before I got pregnant was hard enough , and I so desperately need a strong cuppa now !! And cheese I bloody love it !! A good cheese sandwich ! I’ll try and get out to the shops today if I can, but I’m so exhausted I don’t know if I can ! I do love cheery drops though. I bought some fruit mentos yesterday as they are nice to chew /suck on when coughing

[chocolatesaltyballs22]

I totally sympathise - I had this for about two months before Christmas and it was horrendous. Unfortunately you just need to wait for it to pass but that doesn't help when you can't sleep for coughing. Have you tried something like Covonia night time which has a sleep aid in it? Don't know if you're allowed it when pregnant. Or Night Nurse?

[ErrolTheDragon]

While the symptoms might be similar to whooping cough I'm pretty sure that's not what I had - I'd had whooping cough as a child and while reinfection may be possible I wouldn't have thought it'd happen a few years on the trot. No one caught it from me - DD had been vacc'd of course, DH afaik hadn't had the illness or the vacc. I suppose the management of the symptoms are the same anyway.

[GaaaaarlicBread]

@chocolatesaltyballs22 unfortunately the pharmacist told me all I can have is Glycerin And then Jakemans . which I bought and omg the taste of Glycerin is awful and it still doesn’t seem to help ! Not allowed anything else other than vicks .
@ErrolTheDragon
100% it’s not Whooping cough , I have no additional symptoms that you’d get with whooping cough .

[VanGoghsDog]

You could change to a plant based "milk" for your cereal, short term. Oat is nice.

Dairy is a known contestant. Ginger is a decongestant. So try ginger tea. It also settles your stomach.

[rogueantimatter]

Poor you. How horrible and tedious. I had very a very similar thing a few years ago. Flu type symptoms followed by a dry, tickly cough that would come from nowhere and make me feel like I couldn't catch my breath. Was a struggle not to be sick. I think I cracked a rib or pulled chest muscles with the incessant coughing. My friend who's a GP thought it was probably a thing Walking Pneumonia. The chest often sounds clear with it apparently. It gradually got better. Antibiotics are prescribed by some gps for this but I managed without. I think the evidence for antibiotic treatment for it is mixed.

The only thing I found helped slightly was to have a tiny amount of honey frequently and try not to swallow it too quickly but to let it coat your throat for as long as possible.

[ErrolTheDragon]

From my experience, decongestants and mucus suppression may be beside the point - a lot of the problem seemed to be that there wasn't any mucus or congestion, yet once the cough had started from a tickle, it would be unstoppable until something had come up. Which with no mucus was vomit.

[Seeline]

The only time I have coughed that badly for so long was when I had whooping cough at 5 months pg. I would just cough and cough until I threw up (I'd only stopped with the HG throwing up a few weeks before!!).

THe Dr told me to get Simple Linctus (it's an actual thing - not just a basic cough syrup), and put a dose in hot black tea with a spoonful of honey. I wasn't allowed any other cough remedies because of being pg. I think it did help a bit.

I think hot drinks do help - have you tried something like hot Ribena?

[Branleuse]

also if you cant take most cold remedies because of pregnancy, you may find 2 paracetamol and a piriton helps you get some relief enough to sleep, and hot orange juice with a spoon of high strength manuka honey in it and a tot of brandy in it. Works wonders

[GaaaaarlicBread]

Some really great remedies thank you ladies. It just makes it complicated being pregnant and having epilepsy because if I can take something when pregnant it’s usually not safe with my medications ! I’ve been drinking hot water all morning /afternoon and not been sick yet and also resting my voice . I think I talk too much which doesn’t help !

[GenuineKlatchianPottery]

Grate about an inch of fresh ginger and allow it to steep in freshly boiled water, add the juice of a lemon and honey to sweeten it.
If you make up a big jug it will keep in the fridge for about a week. I then fill a cup half way and just top up with more hot water. Keep sipping through the day. It really does help.

[toddlerisfunbutbusyan]

I have horrendous cough that triggered my asthma. 2 x chest infections since Christmas. My asthma is out of control and the cough makes me sick. As a last resort I went into natural remedy the onion juice. It actually makes the coughs more manageable. To prepare the juice cut the onion place it in the jar (make sure you boil the jar first) and between layers of onion add sugar (onion, sugar, onion, sugar...). Leave it in the fridge and after a few hours you notice juice collection at the bottom of the jar. I take 1 spoonfull x 3 daily.

[Graphista]

I’m an ex nurse but my area was elderly care not obstetrics or ent or pulmonary or neurology. But I’ve suffered a great deal myself over the years with lung and throat issues. Many many bouts of tonsillitis (which is NOT just a bad sore throat as non sufferers seem to often think), I’ve been unfortunate enough also to have asthma, I’ve had tuberculosis (caught before I was immunised as my generation weren’t immunised until teens), pneumonia twice including a bilateral pleural antibiotic resistant form at one point (that was fun - not!), laryngitis more times than I care to remember and pharyngitis twice. Yes also at times when I was doing jobs involving a LOT of talking. Constantly having to repeat oneself to elderly deaf patients who refuse to wear their hearing aids didn’t help.

The most frightening incident I thought I was over 1st bout of pharyngitis and driving dd and I on dual carriage way, got hit with a really bad bout of coughing while driving! Couldn’t pull over safely ended up vomiting all over the glove box/passenger foot well in an attempt to avoid decorating windscreen and dash board and obscuring my view! Terrifying! Pulled over as soon as I could to recover before finishing journey, trying not to vomit again at the smell! Murder to clean! Took weeks before the smell was really gone.

Well documented on here the many issues I’ve had with gp’s but they include the tuberculosis almost going undx because that gp refused to accept it was still around in the Uk in the 80’s. Both bouts of pneumonia should have been picked up far earlier than they were too. The consultant I was under for the second bout wrote strongly worded letters to the relevant people regarding that GP. Not sure what happened but I changed surgeries because of that. That gp refused to accept that an otherwise fit and healthy teen girl BUT with a history of asthma could possibly get pneumonia. Similar story when I had whooping cough too. That wasn’t my regular gp at first she was on annual leave. I contacted her as soon as she was back, she knows my history and also knows my trust issues with gps and gets why. She was sceptical herself but agreed to do a swab and she was surprised when it was confirmed and admitted it was the first case she’d seen in her career of over 30 years! It is much more rare these days thanks to vaccination etc but she then saw a few more cases since and has learned about the resurgence and the theories as to why it’s happening.

I really hope you’re right and that you’re feeling much better soon but please don’t ignore symptoms not improving or worsening.

I also suffer badly with sinus issues and I do cut out dairy when that’s the case and it does help. But it’s hard because I LOVE my cheese!

Gum is a good call as a way to stimulate saliva production in a not unpleasant way.

Generally for upper respiratory infections I recommend hot toddy’s but the alcohol is out due to pregnancy and possibly epilepsy too but the hot lemon, honey and ginger could still be helpful.

[justasking111]

Make up honey, lemon and water mix in hot water. Even when it goes cold I found it helped the tickle. I made up a pint even took it to bed to slurp on when the cough woke me up.

[VanGoghsDog]

Even when it goes cold I found it helped the tickle.

Put it in a flask or insulated cup.

[GaaaaarlicBread]

I’m contemplating asking If I can have my tonsils removed when baby is here as they’re really affecting my life , they’re constantly swollen and sore and so red

[GaaaaarlicBread]

Just wanted to pop by and say I went to urgent care after work today as things got worse and I’ve been told I’ve got bacterial tonsillitis AGAIN 🥺😩 on more amoxicillin. Sigh .

[Branleuse]

Oh you poor thing. I hope the antibiotics kick in soon