Please help - coughing so much I am sick

[scratchmyback]

I am feeling very sorry for myself! had a horrible cold about 5 weeks ago. That went away but then 2 weeks ago started with sore chest/cough.

It is now so bad that I am coughing what seems like every second of the day. I cough and cough so much that I am sick and that has been happening for at least a week. I can't drive for anymore than ten minutes because I have to pull over and cough/be sick, I keep running away from my desk at work to be sick, I am getting up in the night coughing and being sick. I've had hardly any sleep for days now and everything I eat ends up coming back up.

I have tried everything - cough medicines, honey and lemon, nasal spray, prop myself up in bed on loads of pillows etc.

Today i am going to the doctors, but I just know that they wont give me any anti bi's or anything because a cold/cough is a virus that they wont fix. I think I have a chest infection (coughing up gunk) but they have booked me in with nurse instead of doctor based on me ringing for appointment and telling them I think I may have a chest infection.

What can I do to stop this bloody coughing?

If it's chest infection ( and it sounds like bronchitis) then you need AB's. 2 weeks of violent coughing is too long for just a regular cold. Do you have a runny nose? If yes, it could be just a rhinopharingitis but it sounds like bronchitis to me.

sounds horrid. I had similar a few years back and although the ab's made me feel worse so I stopped them (so go then decide it was viral ) I was also given antacid type pills which calmed the nausea and an inhaler which relieved the coughing quite quickly. Hope you get referred straight ot gp.

they might give you some kind of anti-reflex medicine- if it exists- the cough reflex sometimes needs stopping.

I've had coughs like this and its truly horrible. Someone else posted similarly recently, so I'll recap what helped me (plus one bit I forgot). Some of it may be what you've already tried but persist with ALL strategies together - there's no one magic bullet..

Keep the atmosphere humid.
Don't lie flat
Nirolex lozenges
When not sucking nirolex, suck a glycerine pastille continuously.
Benadryl nasal spray (is that the one you've tried? it did seem to help but not instantly, it needs to build up, use it consistently)

Thank you. Yes I have a runny nose sometimes, but it isn't really anything iykwim, nothing like when I have a proper cold.

had that a month and a half ago, and just wanted to DIE. it lasted for several weeks, and just wouldn't go away. abx won't help you either, nor will seeing the doctor, I'm afraid. I took all the cough meds in the universe!

Have you tried breathing in steam?
If you don't have a humidifier at home, bring a pot of water to a boil, put some lemon wedges in it, cover your head in a towel, and bend over pot, breathing in the steam slowly, mouth open- you probably "scratched" your throat by coughing too much, and it irritates your throat- causing you to cough more, etc. etc.

Only time, TLC, and old wives' meds, I'm afraid.

(((hug)))
get better soon.

Thanks Grimma - the nasal spray I tried was Beconaise (sp). I haven't tried the Nrolex lozenges yet so will try and get some today.

Well, ABs will help her if it's bacterial. I had that a couple of times and ABs sorted it in a few days. Up to the doctor to decide.

Just thought I would update, went to the doctors and have been given anti bi's. i have bronchitus and sinusitus.

I have taken 2 days worth so far - am coughing a bit less during the day, but still cant sleep - as soon as I go to bed I cough all night. I was up and on the sofa by 3.30am this morning and am so tired.

Hopefully they will stop me coughing soon.

ask doc if its ok for some codeine linctus. Doc gave me some 2 weeks ago when i couldnt stop coughing due to pneumonia and pericarditis. It really helped and i haev almost stopped coughing

Hi,
glad you got the medication needed.
I find hot showers help with sinuses - or putting something like rosemary oil, or olbas oil on a tissue to sniff - for helping breathe. But antibiotics most helpful - just recovered from 3 weeks on sinusitus.

Hope coughing reducing so you can rest.

i had the same 6 weeks ago and it made my chest hurt so much around my heart i ended up at the hospital thinking my heart was packing up. As it happened the chest virus had inflammmed the membrane round my heart and given me pericardiatis. After lots of anti inflamms and CODEINE linctus from the doc the coughing has subsided. The codeine was the only thing that stopped me coughing as like you i was coughing 24/7. Hope you get better soon

I had this for weeks on end, after bad cold, and needed inhalers with a spacer. Ventolin and Clenil Modulite. Turns out I have viral induced asthma. Like you I was up literally all night coughing and strained all the muscles in my ribs. It fixed me, and even though I have been sick with a cold since, the coughing has not returned, and I continue to use my inhalers when sick. HTH, GP's have very little sympathy I find for this sort of thing, even though it is debilitating

I had h pylori and was coughing and sick the doc gave me two sets of antibiotics and it was gone in a week

I feel for you OP. Had a similar ongoing cough earlier his year. Not to the extent of throwing up thank goodness. Got some comments about it at work but pretty sure it wasn't contagious so I could hardlstay off work for a month because I was coughing! ( I did take a fes days offo try and get rid of it though.)

Like a PP I ended up with a ventolin inhaler. It really made a difference and next time I have a cold I'll be using it to try and stave off the cough. The rest of the time I'm fine apart from being super sensitive to smoke and cigarettes.

Hope you feel better soon.