Colleague constant coughing

[Ahem2022]

Hi there, I realise this sounds trivial but I wonder if anyone had the same?

i wfh 2 days a week and in the office for 3. I have a female colleague who constantly coughs and I seem to be the only one (out of a team of 10)who is affected by it! I’ve worked with her for a good 2 years now and it’s not a result of a condition or illness. It tends to be more when the room is silent and we are all working or even when 2 people are having a conversation and she coughs over them ! It does seem like an attention seeking thing but no one else seems to notice. She is always talking about mundane stuff to anyone who listen and admits she is a “people person” and loves talking but seems to fill any silence with coughing fits. It’s literally every day I work there! Thankfully as I wfh I get a bit of a break but as I’ve noticed it I often come home with a headache generally from the noise of the office.

if it’s relevant, she is quite overweight and seems to be constantly snacking so half the time it appears as if she’s choking on the latest snack! People do check she’s okay but I’ve stopped now as she’s always fine and like I say it does seem like an attention seeking thing. Argh! Any advice?

Wear AirPods so you don’t have to talk to her.

Blood pressure medication can cause a recurring cough.

I have one and it’s embarrassing to be honest.

Leave the woman alone, she is probably more annoyed by it than you are.

I wear loop ear plugs when I'm in the office as I can't bear the noise of other people existing 🤣 it is not relevant that she's overweight, anyone can have a nervous involuntary cough or maybe it is attention seeking, either way the way to manage it is to change how it affects you.

I had a constant cough for 5 years. Turned out to be asthma.

Leave her be. Or show some interest and say that you’ve noticed she has a persistent cough and is she ok. If she gets is checked out, the problem might go away.

I have checked she’s okay in the past and she just admits she coughs a lot but there’s no issue. I work closely with her for my job so I can’t put EarPods in easily, she talks to me a lot so I’d have to take them out everytime. I didn’t realise I was being so unreasonable though so maybe I’ll just wind my neck in about i!

I get long term persistent coughs after illness. I'm fine but there's not much I can do about it. Water etc have negligible effect, it's just there. If non one else is bothered by it then it can't be ridiculous. It's human noise.

Maybe it’s asthma or a tic. You can’t do anything about it. Sadly the more you think about it the more annoying it will get so try not to focus on it. I do sympathise, I’m noise intolerant.

I don't think yabu, she sounds fucking annoying.

Thanks to those who understand! I’m not usually that sensitive or noise intolerant, I get people make noise! It’s just it seems excessive and unnecessary. There’s no attempt to try and be quiet or get it over with / walk out the room for a bit, it’s proper full on sharp intake of breath and choking / can’t hear anything over it!

I can see why it's annoying but it's unlikely she's deliberately doing it for attention. More likely it's tic, she may struggle with silence and unconsciously fill the gap with noise. If that's the case then some counselling could help but you can't really suggest it. As others said it could be medical/medication.

Would bug tf out of me, I have a woman that sniffs constantly, asked her loads what wrong cold etc, no it's nothing, yet sniff sniff, it's really annoying once I zone in on it, but yes realise it's my problem not hers, still doesn't stop it being irritating af x

No it isn’t relevant that she is overweight, why would it be?

Nobody coughs for the joy of it. Get some earplugs and stop being so nasty about your overweight colleague who snacks.

Blood pressure medication can cause a recurring cough. <—

or asthma can present as a cough.

it could be a form of tic.

Something lasting 2 years is chronic.

And she’s not unaware of it.

I Have a GP who coughs a lots. I’m not going to ask her why. We just get on with the appointment. If she wanted me to know why, she’d tell me.

My son, who has asthma that can present in the form of a repetitive cough would irritate you by the sound of it. We’re all used to it.

What she eats, how much she weighs is none of your concern.

As another OP said, wear some AirPods.

Poor woman.

Judged for being overweight.
Judged because she coughs.
Judged for talking to people.

You say you're the only one bothered by it? So you've asked the others? Wonder what they say about you when you're not there?

I worked with someone who belched, hiccupped and sneezed loudly throughout the day. They would also talk to themselves all the time. It is annoying and stressful. I never said anything but it definitely affected me. YANBU.

I left a job once because of a constant noise maker. Tapping, humming, rocking on the chair making it squeak, clicking the pen, drumming fingers, if it made a noise, he did it. Constantly. For the entire day. And I had to sit near him. So I left.

It's awful. And of course her weight has something to do with it, if she lost weight the pressure on her chest might not be so bad or she have issues breathing.

You don’t necessarily know for sure that she doesn’t have a condition, she may have one but feel uncomfortable disclosing it, or as of yet is undiagnosed. Alternatively when she says it is nothing and that she’s okay, she perhaps means that it has a benign cause and therefore nothing for anyone to worry about.

Reasons for chronic cough could be anything from post nasal drip, asthma, acid reflux, tic, infection, medications, lung diseases, and early stages of dysphasia (swallowing problems) that may be a part of an underlying neurological disease.

90% of chronic coughs are caused by post nasal drip, asthma and acid reflux.

I feel the likelihood of it being a desperate attempt for attention wide off the mark and unfair, as her only crimes are liking to talk and snacking.

I also have empathy for those sensitive to noises or struggle with attention and focus through no fault of their own either. It’s a tough one, but i would have to side with the person who can’t help this and/or do anything to minimise it. The only thing that can be done, is try minimising the effect on you. Which could be lessened by ear plugs, air pods, ask to be moved furthest away from her.

I am pretty sure she can’t help it, and as someone already said it may well bother her far more than those around her and also cause her great embarrassment.

I have acid reflux and a chronic cough as a result. I take as much medication as my doctor allows me - any more and my digestive system will stop working properly. But still I cough, usually when my stomach is empty, so there’s more acid to irritate.

It’s not attention seeking or a way to fill a silence. It’s a medical issue.

I hope you never develop a chronic condition which results in a symptom which annoys your colleagues. I can’t imagine any of my lovely workmates being anything other than concerned I’m all right, though. I think you’re probably unusually judgy, especially combined with your comments about her body.

Wow. “Of course her weight has something to do with it”

As said up thread I cough all day. It drives me nuts. It’s a side effect of medication for a condition that nobody but my very nearest and dearest know I have.

Obviously I have never met you so there is a very small chance I might be wrong, but I bet my weight, BMI and body fat are lower than yours! Even if they aren’t I guarantee that if you met me you wouldn’t say I needed to loose wait.

In fact chances are that the sort of person who comments on someone’s cough or says it die to their weight are the same people who tell me I could do with a good steak.

LOL at the posters calling me judgemental! I am actually 3 stone overweight myself so no point making out I’m that when I’m not!

The coughing is loud, drawn out and slow. There’s definately an element of “deliberateness” in it because it’s never “urgent” . Im not sure how to explain it better! She then sometimes follows it up with a “deary me, aren’t I noisy” big grin 😒i’m obviously in the minority though so I will have to put up with it, and no I haven’t discussed with with other colleagues, they just haven’t mentioned it and I couldn’t care less what they thought about me!

That would drive me mad, I hated working in an open plan office because im sensitive to noise. In the last place I worked there was a guy who sat behind me and do that coughing/throat clearing all the time, one day I got really irritated by it and asked if he’d got a cold! He said he had and luckily thought I was being nice but I think it was actually a tic. It’s a form of torture to listen to other people, it really is OP!
get some good EarPods

So why did you non her weight and snacking if you weren’t being judgy? It has nothing to do with coughing.

Same. Although I do think I suffer from mysophonia (sp?). I lasted approx 5 days before being transferred. I couldn’t stand it so no amount of ear plugs or air pods resolved it. It reduced me to a nervous wreck in a few short days. No one else seemed bothered by it. 🤷‍♀️

Surely you can wear ear pods for part of the time?

I assume your job isn't to talk to colleague all day so can't you just say "right I need to blast through this big liar of data /project /proof read this report, I'll plug in for an hour"

Yes, I do think I might have to consider doing that, as it’s really starting to affect my concentration, I seem to work much better at home. Thanks to all who have sympathised 🙂