Uncontrollable cough 14 months in

[Cally62]

Turning to MN as I'm now at a total loss as to what to do.

Started coughing in March of last year...only on a night time. Contacted gp in April who prescribed me a ventolin inhaler. No change. Cough just got progresively worse.

Have been given various inhalers , steroids, antibiotics, ppi's. Still no better.

Have had gastro, lung health appointments, exray's, endoscopy's and a ct.
No diagnosis and all tests satisfactory.

Since Christmas I've been coughing so much that I get very little sleep, waking ever 20 minutes or so. Along with wetting myself regularly due to coughing.

For the last 12 nights and now days I'm coughing that much and vomiting and retching night and day. I'm now just brining up bile.

I'm exhausted to spoke to gp yesterday and she doubled my conditions to 40 mg as I said I couldn't take anymore.

Seriously haven't got a clue. This is impacting my whole life.

Surely the answer must be out there somewhere.

Since the weekend I've tried strepsils, throat spray, nasal spray without any relief.

Please lovely people of MN help me find a diagnosis and Get my life back.

So sorry you are having such a rough time @Cally62 - it sounds really rough. And very debilitating.

These are two things that have helped me - although they are both lightweight off the shelf things I'd ended up having x rays and changed meds for one of my respiratory issues first, so had fairly bad symptoms - and did find these helped.

For nasal drip - saline spray regularly to clear nose

For cough - Triple Action Strepsils (any other type wouldn't touch it but these really helped)

Strepsils Extra Triple Action Blackcurrant Lozenges, 24 Lozenges https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B001PMJ2P6/ref=cmswwrcppapiii_9CRTD3YCFJCMPKZ54GHE

Sterimar Breathe Easy Daily Nasal Spray, 100ml https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B001EJOHUA/ref=cmswwrcppapiii_T3GQAQF2DTJ7TF6D6HKQ

@AWOL66

@CorsicaDreaming

Thank you for your replies.

I have a steroid nasal spray which my Gp prescribed a few days ago.

Also have a throat spray for dry throats.

Am taking everything I can possibly be prescribed or buy over the counter.

Will buy the steroids extra later today.

Still haven't slept well for coughing but bonus was that I was only sick a little yesterday and not at all today so far. So managing to keep meds down.

Had a complete meltdown yesterday morning....I was in the kitchen and heard some noise, went to look outside the front window to see the binman throwing a bag of recycling back on my drive...He was me looking and he just shook his head and put his hands in the air. I opened the front door to him saying can't take that away 'pet' to which I said why, apparently there was a glass bottle on the top. I said I'm not the only one who puts stuff in the recycling...to which he said 'I'm not taking it love'' he said it with such arrogance. All I said was fine. Closed the door and went upstairs and called dp at work...omg I was Fuming. gunman could see me on the phone as I stood at the window in my bedroom, he wasn't happy as he flung every recycling box and bag along the road. What an arsehole. I called the council...lady was lovely.I said I wasn't anyone's let or love and that I felt intimidated, and that my recycling would be last outside on the pavement until someone came to collect it. It was picked up 30 minutes it's a later.
Result...I seem to have developed a certain set of skills. Liam Neeson has nothing on me. Either that our I'm over medicating.

Still feel like white today and off to see Andre Reiu this evening...Have really good seats...Taking a big bag of everything I can think of to contain my cough for a few hours.

All of your lovely replies have made me feel better in the fact that I'm not alone in this.

Thank you each and every one of you..

Oh and if you have any shot you need help with please let me know. Would love to see if my new certain set of skills can be of use to anyone else. 😂😁🤔

The autocorrect...bin man not gunman,
Strepsils not more steroids,
Pet not let...

Think you can guess the rest.

Binmen can be such jobsworths can't they! Good on you for asserting yourself. Being sleep deprived and being agravated by an annoying cough obviously has the benefit of getting things done!!! His colleagues were probably grateful he got put in his place. I'm pleased your family are looking after you.

I'm not sure what else I could add but get tested for food allergies and buy a humidifier.

Have you considered that it might be psychosomatic?
Has anything changed in your life around the time it started?

Do you have psoriasis? My DH had psoriasis and then developed a chronic cough. Had medication for asthma, reflux, allergies etc. He then developed eye issues and now has arthritic joints too. In his case it was the start of psoriatic arthritis developing. You can get psoriatic arthritis without having psoriasis too.

I have had persistent coughs so very much sympathise but not as long as this.

What do you feel is making you cough - lungs or throat or both? This is important.

has anyone taken a look at your tonsils?

Look up Achalasia.
DH had this undiagnosed for years. He had a persistent horrible cough with lots of retching.
Turned out his food wasn't going into his stomach properly and was backing up his oesophagus and then leaking into his lungs instead.
It was only picked up when he finally had a CT scan.

www.fauquierent.net/cough.htm

Hope this is useful, found it when looking how to clear my ears.

@Happydays321
Cheers for that it's a really interesting artical.

Have had a much better weekend. Haven't been sick for 4 days now which is fantastic.

Also cough is not as severe....no idea why but have just finished oral streroids, half way though antibiotics and an using Nasonex before bed.

Still exhausted but feeling really positive that things will get better.

Can't believe this has been going on for so long.

Thank you all of you lovely MNers...you never cease to amaze with help and advice. X

Have you done spirometry?
Have you been swabbed for whooping cough?

Still push for an ENT referral if you can. 3 years ago I had a cough for a year although it went in waves of being mild and more severe. I ended up having sort of physio for my throat, as the referral found there was nothing actually wrong but the muscles were having a spasm/were coughing when they didn’t need to cough. It was gone within 2 months.

I was recommended to try lots of different antihistamines for my rhinosinisitus. Was totally sceptical as the first few didn’t work… then tried the 3 times a day Benadryl and the pain has gone and stayed away! That one doesn’t work on my hayfever as so in summer months I take piriton too!

Op, that does sound truly awful. I had constant cough at night, which turned out to be Asthma and was sorted with steroid inhaler. I do remember a year of struggling to sleep before I went to GP about it. Sleep deprivation has been outlawed by the Geneva convention for a reason. I would definitely push for referral to ENT if that haven’t found a gastric reason for it.