Whooping cough

[Pinkyandthebrain96]

Like the title has anyone been struck down by whooping cough, can't believe I am in my 50's and got whooping cough .Driving me stir crazy , signed off work ,cannot cough without being sick and am now coming into week six .I am also asthmatic which does not help and my peak flow is in the yellow zone .Just wondering if anyone has found anything that relieves the cough and the feeling that you literally cannot get air , literally air starvation .

Whooping cough has to be diagnosed early for antibiotics to work. It is also notifiable disease, another reason for testing early
Did they give you antibiotics? There is a pandemic of whooping cough. Still I see they didn't bother to warn us or educate the public about prevention. https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/whooping-cough/diagnosis-treatment/drc-20378978
https://www.cdc.gov/pertussis/about/diagnosis-treatment.html#:~:text=Doctors%20generally%20treat%20whooping%20cough,early%2C%20before%20coughing%20fits%20begin.&text=Starting%20treatment%20after%20three%20weeks,people%20will%20still%20have%20symptoms.

Yes all of us have had in our house over the last few months, been been brutal and still not completely better.

I had antibiotics luckily in the first week as they thought it was a chest infection , I was sat at the doctor's when I coughed in week 3 and they heard the whoop , at this point I was starting to suspect it .Thankfully no body at work caught it off me but my one DC got it off me . I had no idea , whooping cough never entered my head .I live in a rural area , I had been to a City a week before I became ill , apart from that no idea where I caught it from.

I feel for you and hope you are starting to feel better ,it absolutely is brutal .I would rather an asthma attack as at least my ventolin and steroids help .The coughing is something else , being sick with it and the horrific gasping for air .I can fully see how it was a killer in the 1920's and 30's .I can only imagine if a poor baby catches it .

@Ratbag7 how long has it lasted for? Thank you

My best wishes for you to get well soon

I think one of the best advice is to stay calm in 45c degrees incline and trying to always stay in a well aired space

Am truly sorry you are feeling that way
I know how difficult it is

Try to drink plenty of warm fluids
Honey and ginger to avoid the cough being persistent

I really feel for you OP - there has been a massive surge in our area, I’m not normally anxious health wise at all but to be honest I’m absolutely terrified that DD or I will get it. It sounds awful and so scary - the gasping for air is my worst nightmare

@goldenretrievermum5 its happening to my 7 year old mildly and it’s affecting my 7 month old daughter more I have had no sleep for 5 weeks thank Goodness I am on maternity leave or else I would have not coped 😭

Probably 6 weeks for each of us but none fully better really

Daughter (13) was the worse, lips going blue in the middle of the night, hooping cough sound couldn't really breathe, retching up flem, pretty terrifying

Bit late to the party but I had whooping cough 20 years ago, aged 40. I thought I was going to die, it was terrifying. Doctor eventually diagnosed it after it caused a chest infection. I was vacinated as a baby. No idea where I got it from. The cough took 6 months to fully go but I learnt to sort of manage it. Panicking makes it much worse, you sort of have to relax when you feel a cough coming on. I can remember it all so clearly.

Our whole family have had it here in the last few weeks. Luckily no very little ones

I am 95% sure that I have this but no staff at my GP surgery (which is massive) are taking me seriously or even admitting that WC is a problem at the moment. I have a nasty autoimmune disease and really need a correct diagnosis because of this but they are being so rude and unhelpful about it. I’m so bloody ill. I’ve had a lot of nasty coughs in the past but nothing like this. I’ve never thrown up from a cough before but have done several times from this, I’ve been blacking out because I can’t breathe and weird noises I’ve never made have been coming out of me during the coughing fits/spasms. I wouldn’t wish this on my worst enemy.

We've had the same problem trying to get the GP to take my son's symptoms seriously. He has every symptom of whooping cough and it's terrifying watching him cough and choke. We haven't slept for more than 3 hours each night, for the last 2 weeks. The lack of sleep is horrendous.
Why are the GPs so reluctant to diagnose??

Wow sounds awful! Is this in people that are vaccinated as well? 😬

It's been in the news today that there's been a big rise in whooping cough Lsck of vaccination take up being an issue. Health Scotland says pregnant women should get vaccinated. No vaccinated child should get it but vaccinations need good take up to work. Parents shun vaccinations and this is the result. 5 child deaths so far.

I had it once, around 25 years ago and agree, once you've heard it, there's no mistaking the noise. I went to the doctor and they said it was just a cough, and that adults don't get whooping cough. A midwife friend said no, it is whooping cough, but the doctor says it isn't because they don't want the hassle of the notifiable disease paperwork.

We are all vaccinated but been told vaccines last 6-10 years

I’m pretty sure it’s because they have to complete paperwork for every case diagnosed because it’s a notifiable disease and it is currently sweeping the nation so they can’t keep up. And I understand this but people are not getting the treatment they need and the antibiotics are not being given to stop it transmitting to others.

I went back again today (well yesterday - I am exhausted but awake at 2am because sleeping with this thing is impossible for more than about half an hour at a time) and was well and truly fobbed off again despite presenting as a classic case and actually having a coughing fit with the whoop whilst there (which I was pleased about as the inability to breathe whilst coughing has been presenting differently in me most of the time with all manner of weird and frightening sounds coming out of me), but the doctor would not have it and ignored me completely every time I asked her about whooping cough. I’m sure they’ve been told not to diagnose adults.

So here I am feeling like death could actually be coming for me. I’m sure it won’t, but that is how you feel with this horrible virus. I’m on all fours trying to open up my airways enough to get more than a tiny breath in. I’ve coughed to the point of vomiting a few times per day, and I am someone who never vomits usually - I’ve even got through norovirus without vomiting in the past (quite a feat). I’ve full on wet myself a few times now, I’ve seen stars and I’ve passed out once. It is like no cough I have ever had before despite having bad coughs with Covid, flu and pneumonia. I cannot function at all and have spent the last week mainly in bed but unable to lie down. Emptying the dishwasher yesterday brought on a puke. I feel completely helpless and like nobody is believing me.

Myridiculousstomach, I'm sorry to hear what you're going through, and completely sympathise as we are going through the same. We had less than two hours sleep night before last because the coughing fits were coming every 45 minutes. Only thing that has helped with the coughing and choking is warm drinks (honey and lemon, ribena etc ) plus a cold mist humidifier from Amazon.
Whooping cough really is grim and I'm angry with the lack of interest from gps, plus our negligent government seems to not want this to be public knowledge..

I'm 95% sure we have it. Our doctor was on the ball enough to swab for it, but the lab lost the swab and as we have been on antibiotics for 48 hours, we cant be re-swabbed.. the antibiotics just make you less infectious and dont always work to reduce symptoms and im not sure much does reduce the symptoms.
But a friend with the exact same symptoms was told it was probably viral by a different gp in the same practice which seems odd.

I honestly think they dont want to reportt the scale of it, i think it flags up the vaccine wears off too clearly..

Interested to know - does is come with coughing up loads of disgusting thick green phlegm at some stage? As cannot seem to shake… seems to go and then comes back

No, my DS has thick, sticky white or clear phlegm. It's really hard to cough up and causes severe choking which is terrifying.

I had it 23 years ago when I was 6 months pregnant with my DS. I couldn't be vaccinated as a baby for health reasons. Caught it off someone at work who had been vaccinated, but it had obviously become less effective.
Coughing like that, with a 6 month bump was no fun at all. I was still coughing slightly when I gave birth.
I have to say that ever since, each time I get a cough they last much longer than they did before.

DD has certainly just had it, as above gp's pretty dismissive even though it's well publicised as a local issue: in DD's case she has had it before so I know what it sounds like - unmistakable. Now nearly 10 weeks down the line they agree she probably has had it but too late to do anything now 🤷🏼‍♀️