What happens if you go to Drs with a 7 week long cough?

[naturemumma]

I know that coughs become chronic at 8 weeks and I’m wondering if I should wait another week.

I started with a cold about 9 weeks ago and then it turned into a cough after a week or so - fits of coughing and a little bit of phlegm. Could feel it on my chest a little bit, but mainly just feeling irritated and sometimes incredibly tickled. Apart from the coughing after a week or so I felt fine in myself, just a bit off before and for the first few days with cold-type symptoms. Work in a school and there was an awful cough doing the rounds so assumed it was the same as had similar symptoms.

Fast forward a few weeks and saw GP at around 3.5 weeks and they just said they thought it was bronchitis and would go off soon. But it hasn’t. They were so convinced it would go that there was no follow up plan. It isn’t too bad, but it’s still trundling on - complicated by starting with another cold (sore throat, sinus, ears, tonnes of mucus) about 2 weeks ago. Have finally come out of the other side of that, but cough still seems to be there and now a big ball of phlegm seems to be permanently lodged in my throat 😔 I guess I cough around 20 times a day maybe, but usually I don’t cough at all, so it feels noticeable.

I just wondered if anyone knows if they’ll just say, wait until 8 weeks and come back if it’s still there? Or does anyone have any magic tips to help get rid of it? I’m currently trialling a few days of cold and flu medicine to see if I can get rid of the excess mucus bit from the last cold.

Overall it’s not as bad as it was and I would say there’s a general, but very slow, improvement.

I’m just so sick of feeling poorly.

DC was coughing a lot more than 20 times a day. Given steroid inhaler to take 8 x puffs a day. Took back to GP a couple of weeks later and was given steroid tablets on top. A couple of weeks after that, it started to ease - don't know whether it was time or steroids. Lasted about seven/ eight weeks in all. Has been advised to stay on inhaler as a precaution for now due to high volume of bugs around.

If you're a smoker you might get referred for a chest Xray.

For me after 10 weeks, it was a referral for a blood test and chest X-ray. All clear thankfully, but they wanted to rule out any more serious causes.

It’s worth going, to be on the safe side if nothing else.

Edited to add: Non-smoker, generally healthy.

You will likely get a chest X-ray referral even asa non smoker , my husband did and he’s never smoked

Okay, thanks all.

@WhiteDigestives did it go in the end? What did they think it was?

I’m a non-smoker now, but did smoke as a teen (20-odd years ago)

I have a similar post and story...cough since November on and off. I think we had whooping cough which I took after the initial bit had this phlegm in my throat and upper throat that just quite literally drove me mad. I would be trying to hawk it up and down at the same time...awful...then we got something else...snotty coldy cough...then something else....I have been to hospital as I felt so rough with this last illness and no x-ray, lungs were clear. I am recommending allicin max and ginger to try and clear the mucus. Sympathies to you it's awful 😞

Bless you! Are you recovered now? I had wondered about whooping cough too. There was at least one case in school (which of course means there were more). Did they do an x ray at the hospital? Or did you mean lungs were clear when they listened? Hope you’re feeling much better. Will definitely try that allicin and ginger

@naturemumma For me, it was shortly after I’d had COVID, but the cough had gone away!
I thought it must be related to that, but the Dr. said the more likely scenario is that the COVID had gone and I’d immediately caught something else.

X-ray showed nothing on my lungs or chest and it went away by itself a couple of weeks later.

Thanks. I do wonder if having something else - another infection - makes it more likely that these things hang around. I'm glad it went in the end :)