Whooping Cough?

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dreedy3

New member
Hey all, new here. Need some help.

My problem looks like this:

The first week resembled a weak cold with dry cough. After about 5 days it turned into a deep dry cough. I would say it started 3/12/09

Then,

If you have to cough do it fast and make it count otherwise your body will take over and the cough will empty out every ounce of breath in your lungs. When your lungs are empty you go into a gag and empty your stomach. By this time you are in need of a good breath of air. But you can not breath in cause your lungs are closed due to the emptying of the stomach. You try to gasp for air but you cant all you can do is swallow air into your stomach. If it is bad you turn blue and black out or seize. Than you let out a huge burp due to all the air you swallow. And this is followed by an awful but short headache. This happens about 15-20 times a day. In between the episodes you feel totally normal. It is just an uneasy feeling to cough. If you can manage not to cough things are all right. Hard to do that though.

Anyone here ever heard of such a thing? I saw a doc who just did chest xray and blood work. The searches I have done online all point to whooping cough. Doc did not know but did rule out bad stuff. The doc gave me prednisone, codeine and antibiotic. I think the prednisone has helped some? I am a 40 year old male and if it is whooping cough they say it can last a hudred days. I could not even imagine doing this for 100 days.

Does anyone have experiance with this and maybe some pointers on how to get well sooner?

Thanks
 
I had Pertussis (Whooping Cough) a couple years ago in my mid 30's. The incidents are on the rise. Those of us who were vaccinated when young, are not protected into adulthood as originally thought.

I have allergies, asthma and reflux that all have coughing as a primary symptom. Because of that, it took quite a while for me to get my diagnosis. I had a blood test that came back "inconclusive". They said that the vaccinations I had when young could have given that result. I then had a special nasal swab type test that came back positive.

My coughing was almost constant for the longest time. I would have periods of time where I would cough so much that I couldn't catch a breath. It was scary at times. I even had some incidents where the coughing was so bad that I vomited. I will say that my ab muscles and ribs really hurt after all that coughing. I'm sure I pulled muscles. Wouldn't surprise me if I had some rib damage at one point.

If it is Pertussis, it's good that you are taking the antibiotics. It is very contagious and you want to take care not to spread it. Although, I think it is more contagious just prior to your symptoms. I was on high dose asthma meds. I'm not sure that it did much for the Pertussis, but for me, the Pertussis flared my asthma. Prednisone typically really helps with severe breathing problems. Although it helps my asthma tremendously, it didn't do anything for me while I had the Pertussis. Actually, nothing I took really helped the Pertussis. I did have a narcotic cough medicine that helped a bit, but I think it was more because it knocked me out long enough to get a bit of rest.

It really is a "100 day" cough. Gradually towards the end, the coughing lessened until one day it just wasn't there.

This course of Pertussis really took a lot out of me. It was really draining on my body. I "never" get sick from bugs. I'd been lucky that way. While I had this one, my body was so worn out that I also picked up a viral infection that gave me laryngitis and the flu (both firsts for me.)

Anyway, I don't think treatments did much more for me than the psychological part, but the Pertussis did finally just run its course.

Hope things work out well for you.
 
You are describing whooping cough exactly, I am sick with it at the moment and have already had one trip to the emergency room after vomiting so much in a coughing episode I nearly passed out, just couldn't breathe or speak.

It is very simple do diagnose, *Please see a dr and just insist they do the blood test, it gives a quicker result,

I had the blood test and the thoat swab, my whole family had been given booster shots and treated with antibiotics, unfortunately my daughter has contracted it also.

I can't work with it and as a self employed person I am watching my business dry up. I'm in week six now, I have good periods where I am convinced I'm getting better then I have period of being really sick, coughing spasms and not being able to talk. I make a shocking whooping sound.

the only treatment that has helped is to take coedine every 4 hours, I take 8-10 mgs most times, but if I am having a bad period I take twice this. It does make it easier to resist the urge to cough.

the other thing that helps to reduce the length of the coughing episode is to try and immediately breathe in only through your nose, it's really hard, but try and resist the urge to gasp air in through your mouth. I find a hot drink helps me and my family are now automatically jumping up and making hot tea as soon as I cough!

I have had to sleep on the couch as when I lie flat it is worse, slept in my own bed only five nights in the last six weeks, in fact I'm online now after waking from another coughing attack, 2 am here..

please get the blood test, and all the best, rest up and take care of yourself :)
 
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