I think I have whooping cough

[Mustardfan]

I’ve seen several doctors in the last week about the cough. I’m slightly ashamed at my persistence. (But it’s a REALLY bad cough, with no fever, day and all night) None of them suggested whooping cough. I’ve just looked at the symptoms and I match them, I find it hard to get a breath after coughing. And sometimes make a weird sound after coughing as I try to breathe in. Is my GP going to be interested - will they test me for it? I work for the NHS (mental health). I’m on antibiotics, is amoxicillin the right antibiotic for it? It started 10 days ago.

@Mepop sorry you are suffering so much :-( What you describe sounds similar to my daughter, she was getting better but then the cough worsened and that's when she started throwing up with it. She was off school last week but school said she was fine to come back in even less than 48 hrs after vomiting. She went back in on the Thursday but got sent home after lunch as she was sick. She doesn't want to go back tomorrow as she worried she'll be sick again. I spoke to the surgery on Friday afternon but the results of her sample have not come back yet. Can I ask whether you have had it before or been vaccinated? My daughter was fully vaccinated but I'm convinced it's WC.

@SuperSue77 i feel like a whopping cough obsessive, had a thread on her in June in aibu about my teenage sons experience with it. Both were vaccinated. We didn't realise what it was until younger son started whooping after two weeks. His older brother had ended up in a and e the week before due to choking on phlegm but they thought it was asthma due to chest infection. Doctors weren't bothered about testing and both mine were at school when infectious as we didn't know what they had.

I have a son and daughter with to it. My sons was much worse but he has asthma. They tested him and took 2 weeks to come back and confirm. My daughter's test hasn't come back yet. My son is 5/6 weeks in and still having horrible coughing fits. Lots of additional medication but they gave him different antibiotics to the recommended wc ones. His chest sounded like he had a chest infection so was treated as that in the beginning. My daughter had clarithromycin and after a week it has really helped. She does still cough but not badly. It was caught at the right time and she started it day 9 of coughing as started as a cold and progressed.

The hospital said that it can take 3 months for the cough to go. Both my children were vaccinated and with it lasting 10 years should have lasted and been covered.

There are different strains and having one strain doesn't give immunity to another....if I ever get this again I will be so pissed off... awful. My daughter and I have had it since November. Now just feels like phlegm in back of throat so nothing compared to what it was. My poor for was so sick with it. Awful awful slime like mucus. She seemed to be only kid with it in her school...maybe a other boy. Can't believe I caught it! Just goes on forever....

So I am still whooping now at some point every day. Not just the night now. But it is the nights that I am struggling most with. Anyone got any tips on how to cope?

Some nights I only wake up coughing a couple times but last night it was every hour or so.

I also seem to have a stuffy nose. Wondering if I have a second illness? Anyone had this. At night I cannot breathe through my nose which I think is making the coughing worse.

I was vaccinated as a child, so I guess when I was 4? I never offered vaccinations for whooping cough when I was pregnant. So my vaccination has probably warn off entirely.

My OH is coughing now after a week of having a mild cold. It will be interesting to see if he gets stereotypical whooping coughs in the next week or so. His coughing is definitely becoming more fit like.

They put me on the same antibiotics a couple weeks ago. I don’t think it is the correct one for whooping cough. I would definitely tell your GP you work for the NHS, if you are contagious that could be really bad for vulnerable patients you see.

It’s really awful that doctors don’t test for it. What sort of state is this country in ?

My daughter had a sputum sample taken and came back a few days later as normal flora whatever that means! But I do wonder whether there was enough time to grow the baddies as it was a tiny sample and it was 3 or 4 weeks after it started and she’d had a course of antibiotics.

She is currently at home missing a school trip as she is not strong enough to cope with a day of walking outside in the cold ☹️ She’s has about 20 days of school so far and would probably been more had we not had half term when she wasn’t due to be in.

My son had the stuffy nose and they gave him a steroid nasal spray which helped. This has cleared up now. He's 8 and a half weeks into whooping cough now. No more sickness. Still coughing but less so and not at night.