Do you think it's worth me making another Drs appointment - or is this cough just a "normal" cough...(long and waffling with potentially upsetting info)..

[alwayslookingforanswers]

as the Dr suggest it was over a week ago?

For those that don't know, just over 3 weeks ago my DH had a psychotic episode and strangled me to unconsciousness (he's now back home after 3 weeks in a psych unit and things are going fine between us).

I know for certain I've had this cough for getting on for 2 weeks. Last Tuesday I took myself and DS1 to the doctors as we were both unwell (I thought he had a chest infection (again) - but turned out he and I both had a viral thing).

Up until the last week I've not been eating much (effects of the event mentioned above) but in the last few days I've been eating again at least in the evenings and i've noticed my cough seems to be particularly bad in the evenings/night.

The last 3 nights it's been so bad that I've ended up being sick. And sometimes during the day when it's been a while since I've eaten I'm wretching like I'm going to be sick, but of course aren't as there's nothing there. It feels a like a "tickle" in my throat, but when I cough to get rid of it the coughing is prolonged and horrendous (well it feels it)

Now I'm not sure whether this is just a horrid viral thing that's making it keep on, or whether there's something else going on inside my throat following on from the events of 3 weeks ago,

I did go to the GP's on the evening of the event, he checked the outside of my neck, looked at my eyes and basically sent me packing telling me to make myself safe (already had) and that the bruising would get worse before it got better (very true - 3 days later I looked bloody awful).

When I went last week because I was feeling so rough and DS1 was showing signs of his "normal" chest infections I assumed it was that and Dr only listened to my chest - didn't look at my throat.

I don't want to go back to the GP's and say "oh btw I think this coughing might be linked to something that happened 3 and a bit weeks ago" only for them to turn round tell me I'm being stupid, it's a continuation of the "viral thing" and send me home again.

But on the other hand this coughing is getting ridiculous - I've spent 2 of the last 3 nights that DH has been back home on the sofa as I've had coughing fits so bad I've had to come downstairs.

Well I started coughing on August 18th and it's only just about gone now! Tickly then hacking then more hacking. If I had known it would last this long I would have gone to the GP after a fortnight but it was drying up and I thought it would go - which it has done, it's just been very,very slow. So ime coughs can hang around if you ignore them like I do! I don't think it's your throast, I think it's a virus worsened by you being run down.

Sorry about stuff re dh.

Are you coughing up any greeny/yellowy phlegm,do you have a temp?If so could be bacterial,therefore maybe antibiotics needed.otherwise prob viral.Unlikely to be due to incident.

Hope things going ok with dh.

poor you - it sounds awful. I expect you can explain, and say to Dr. you just need them to check it out - or just ask for a phone consultation where you explain the situation and ask if there is anything they should check?

I have had a bad cough for 3 weeks now. My job involves a lot of talking so I think that's partly what's prolonged it, but it has been horrendous in the way you describe - bad coughing fits in the night and so on. It's definitely going round at the moment, which might well explain your feelings.

However, if it is making you so anxious, I would still say go and see a doctor to put your mind at rest. How well do you get on with your GP? Are they really likely to tell you you're 'being stupid' (hope not!) or is that your own fear coming out? If you don't get on that well with the GP, then maybe you could go to a local walk-in centre? There you will probably see a nurse initially who is likely to be a woman - that might be more confortable if you don't want to traipse back to the same doctor.

No connection between eating in the evening and coughing, I'd say - you just do cough more at night because of lying down, I think. The other thing that comes to mind from what you;ve described is that I become anaemic easily and one sign of that, for me (not necessarily everyone) is feeling dry-mouthed and retching if I have not eaten or drunk for a while; it's really odd but I have come to recognise it now. Could you be anaemic / low in iron? If so you could get some tablets.

I suppose - it's just it's not even "hacking" when I start coughing, it's just 10-15 minutes (DH assures me it was almost 1/2hr last night when he suggested I went and got some water........which I had and then promptly threw up with coughing ) of coughing.

I've had "lengthy" coughs before now but never anything like this. And it's really not helping that now I'm at least managing to eat one proper meal a day I'm later then throwing it up when coughing .

Other than that (and a lack of sleep from coughing) I'm actually ok now, certainly don't feel as run down as I did last year.

oh - sorry x posts with everyone else - last post was replying only to NL.

Mavis - I'm not really coughing up anything. Things going well with DH, or at least as well as can be expected given the circumstances, and that he has pretty bad depression and the AD's are only just starting to kick in properly.

Dominique - I'm not good on the phone so would have to go and see them.

Eighties - it's not when I'm lying down particularly, just in the evenings/night when I'm still upright and awake (usually at the computer )

i've only ever seen my GP once - that was when I was pg with DS2 (who is now 5) we tend to get whoever we're given, if we want a specific GP it's not unusual to wait up to 2 weeks to get an appointment with them.

I probably wouldn't get one tomorrow (only got one last week on the day because I was making one for DS1 - who has a history of chest infections and was showing most of the symptoms........still not convinced the nurse practitioner I saw with him last week was right as I continued giving him his inhaler which he uses only during chest infections and it made a marked difference) would be some time next week probably before I'm seen.

No dry mouth, and the wretching is only during the coughing fits.

ahh, I guess it's just viral, but mind is going walk about again now I'm on my own (as 3 weeks in a psych unit where everyone else went to bed at 10pm has turned DH into an early sleeper). Think it'll be another night on the sofa for me though as just starting 3rd coughing fit of the last 1/2hr,

Take care chuck. It's a lot to deal with. I'm off to bed myself but try and get some sleep even if it is while propped upright

ahh well that's me definitel on the sofa tonight - DS3 just woke up and DH has whisked him off to our bed.

It could be whooping cough, from your description. Or it could be parapertussis which is similar but not quite so bad. The trouble is that the only way of definitely diagnosing whooping cough is to take swabs and culture them and there's nothing specific that can be done for it anyway.

The bad news is that if it is whooping cough you're likely to be coughing like this for another 2-3 weeks and then have "a bit of a cough" for another couple of months (it used to be called "hundred day cough" as well).

you need an antacid I reckon something like Zantac. (Or you can try something like omeprazole over the counter (you can get 10mg of it over the counter now) which suppresses the acid).

Sounds like you are bringing up some of your stomach contents, that's acid, irritates your throat and makes you cough more. I would try and see if you can keep the stomach contents down a bit more (using the antacid/omeprazole) and see if it makes a different short term.

tbh, I also wonder whether your larynx was damaged (when you were attacked) which is making it worse. I had a hideous throat infection months ago which led to really bad laryngitis. A few weeks after this had cleared up, I was getting coughing fits like you describe (even getting spasms of my larynx which made me feel like i was dying!) and it turned out my throat had become so sensitive that even moderate reflux was making the cough continue.

Might not make any difference at all, but if you've ruled everything else out, it's worth a try!

Is it worth finding out if the cough could be asthma? I was diagnosed with asthma at 35 after a couple of months of coughing. Mostly in the evenings, as if there's a bit of dust in the throat.

just to add a different perspective, I had a persistent cough that sounded very similar. Several lots of antibiotics didn;t clear it up and it was so persistent and sounded so bad that I was sent for a chest Xray which showed nothing. Eventually saw a very elderly doctor at the practice who said he thought that I had irritated my throat and coughing was making it worse and it was becoming a vicious cycle. He suggested I suck sweets or sipped water ALL THE TIME to keep my voice lubricated until it cleared up (not cough sweets just ordinary boiled sweets) and I thought he was barking mad. And it worked.

Now everytime I get a cold my cough persists afterward and I try the "sweet" treatment and it normally works.

I have also had a cough caused by excess stomach acid which went when th eacid was treated but took a few weeks.

Both coughs sounded very "chesty" but neither were.

Good luck