When I was younger, I had a particularly bad case of pertussis, and spent many nights sitting clutching a bucket emptying my various tubes of phlegm. When I reached about 14 years old though, it seemed like it was going away, and it no longer kept me awake. My cough was still resounding when I had a cold, but that can also be contributed to the fact that I have a 58 inch chest.
Recently, I’ve been having allergic reactions which I have never had in my 18 years of existence. Im sneezing and coughing like crazy after mowing the lawn or playing soccer or football in a field, and the coughing fits dont stop, even after I’ve taken allergy medicine.
Is it the pertussis that is causing this terrible cough again, or should I be tested for allergies? I havent taken my puffers for several years; should I renew the perscription? Or should I just rely on allergy meds to get me through the day?
Your coughing could be a form of asthma, I’d talk to a doctor about it.
Most of my asthma attacks are coughing attacks like the kind you get when you have bronchitis. It’s due to the muscle spasms in the bronchial tubes, I believe. My doctor has me use Magnesium Sulfate drops (It’s used in IV fluid) under my tongue. I have to use 8 drops and hold them under my tongue for a minute then swallow. Tastes absolutely HORRIBLE, but works to stop the coughing.
Magnesium Sulfate works to calm the smooth muscles. It’s what they give women who are going through pre-term labor to stop it. It also helps my migraines!
I rarely need an inhaler, so I only keep a Primatene Mist inhaler around for emergencies.
When I went to my doctor he told me my coughing was NOT asthma specifically. Also, I would never have “attacks” brought on by dust or running or anything. But every night, when it got dry and I was trying to sleep, my airways would become obstructed and I would start coughing uncontrollably, especially in the winter.
The puffers he gave me weren’t re-active ones, they were to be used regularly, like doses of medicine would be used to treat a patient with a serious illness. These worked. I’ve never been given things that help WHEN I start coughing, only things to take BEFORE I start coughing.
Mine fits the “Intrinsic Asthma” description, except the fact that I’ve has this issue since I was a child. I always had this odd cough around cigarette smoke. I never knew it was asthma, though I would liken it to asthma for a lack of a better way to describe it. When I saw an ENT, he told me what I experienced when I coughed and choked was asthma.
As I got older, I had increasing problems with smoke, perfumes, chemicals, etc. and have been diagnosed with Multiple Chemical Sensitivities. On the occasions that I need to use my inhaler, it only takes care of the wheezing, it does not take care of that choking sensation that causes me to cough and cough and cough.
A few years ago I had a bad coughing fit and went to the Dr so he could see what the issue was. That was when I was first given the Magnesium. I was stunned how fast it worked. It was (is) great! It’s only the normal Magnesium, just in a specific form, so it’s totally safe. You cannot exceed a certain amount a day, but, in my case, I have to remove myself from the trigger, take my drops once and I’ll be fine. On those rare occasions when the drops alone don’t work, I know I have to use the inhaler to stop the attack.
I popped in to say that pertussis wasn’t something you’d get more than once, but this site actually says you could.
However, the duration is usually a couple of months - your OP seems to suggest you had it for a much more extended period of time (I’m guessing, anyway). Also, from what I understand, the coughing is usually not productive (so no phlegm buckets would be needed).
Who actually said you had pertussis? Was this diagnosed by a doctor? I don’t know where you live but in the US / Canada, it’s not all that common due to early vaccination. And really what you describe as a child (and now) sounds more like asthma, especially the “went away at about age 14” bit (that’s about the age where I outgrew my childhood asthma).
And asthma can flare up again later on… it did for me, when I was about 30.
I would definitely suggest seeing a doctor to get a handle on whatever this is. If it’s asthmatic in nature that’s usually easily managed with inhalers and occasionally oral medications (Singulair etc.); if it’s not well controlled, you risk it worsening to the point of hospitalizing and even killing you. If it’s not asthmatic in nature, well, obviously you want them to figure it out and come up with an appropriate treatment.
I am not diagnosing you and would discourage you taking anything specific to you from a message board too seriously but you may want to read up on cough variant asthma.
Individuals with chronic or recurrent night time cough may indeed have a low level of chronic airway inflammation and bronchospasm. It is often much worse during childhood. And can be exacerbated with activity and allergen exposures. Long term use of a preventative anti-inflammatory inhaler can be quite effective and potentially even lifesaving. Sometimes it is diagnosed by the history alone and sometimes Pumunary Function Tests are used to prove it.
Again, not diagnosing you, but reading up on it and discussing it with your doctor in person again may be worthwhile is all.
It still sounds asthma-like in nature. Especially the night-time, trying to sleep thing (if you’ve got any allergies to, say, dust mites, bedtime can be a bad time of day).
Mind if I ask what inhalers specifically you’ve been given? I expect it’s either an inhaled steroid (Flovent, Pulmicort or whatever), or a longer-acting bronchodilator such as Serevent, or even a combination of the two. They can also give you a shorter-acting bronchodilator inhaler such as albuterol (Ventolin, Proventil, and generics; I think the generic is called salbutamol outside the US) for when you’re actually having trouble with the coughing despite the preventive inhalers.
I don’t understand the OP. Pertussis is an acute illness, not a long term (chronic) health condition. If you caught it as a child, you’d have had a week long incubation period when you probably thought it was just a cold, then two to eight weeks of the characteristic coughing fit (with a “whoop”) which is often accompanied by vomiting. The convalescent (recovering, but with progressively less severe symptoms) lasts another week or two.
Then that’s it. While it can be life threatening in young infants, there are rarely any long term effects from the disease. And unless you’re very unusual (that is, unless you have an immune disorder that prohibits you making antibodies or memory cells), you would then be immune to getting it ever again.
So I’m not sure what exactly you had as a kid, but if it lasted for years and kept coming back, it was probably not pertussis each time.
It does sound like your current problem could be due to allergies. There are lots of different allergy medications that work in different ways; keep after your doctor to try a new one if the one you’re on now isn’t working.
Im not sure of the names of them specifically, as it was about 5 years ago that I stopped using them, but one was a steroid inhaler I would take twice a day, and the other a bronchodilator I would take before football practice, and any other events with a lot of movement.
I suspect now after doing a bit of reading that asthma may be the case. Allergies dont seem to be the answer, mainly because my cough is at its worst when its just really dry outside, like in the winter, without any sort of dust or pollen to stir up trouble.
It would only really come on in the winter, but it was EVERY winter it would come on, for about 7 years. Also, in the fall during football season. My parents attributed it to the dry air, and the doctor originally passed it off as pertussis, but maybe I should have gone back after it appeared a second time later on. I will go to the clinic tonight and ask some questions and give em a few swabs, I’ll make sure I let you guys know exactly what it was.
Just to be clear, what something is named is really less important than how something is treated. For some reason some docs are afraid to label something as “asthma” - maybe its just that they fear how much explaining that it isn’t “that” kind of asthma they’ll have to do, and I can’t say I blame 'em - but a steroid inhaler twice daily and the bronchodilator pre-emptively before sports is a good standard approach for mild to moderate chronic asthma with exercise triggers. Many experts would want someone like that having a home peak flow meter and checking it somewhat regularly and with symptoms along with a written care plan that says what to do with what result. Again, not saying that is what is right for you, or not. Just in general.
Almost certainly Flovent (fluticasone) which I gather is the default steroid these days (I use it, so it MUST be good :D), and albuterol to use before exertion, that’s the default bronchodilator. Your description (every winter for 7 years) certainly rules out pertussis, and the treatment you describe is very appropriate for asthma. So whatever it was labeled, it sounds like you got appropriate meds for it.
Don’t rule out allergies as a contributor - there are allergens all year round, and air being circulated by a furnace might perhaps allow more dust to be stirred up. I’m presuming that an allergy workup would be a part of getting this thing nailed down, cause-wise. Since you mention wintertime, does cold air by itself act as a trigger? I used to have trouble walking any distance outdoors in the winter, as a child.
We’ll be interested to hear what the doc says. Good for you for taking the initiative!