I start to cough when my chest is exposed to cold air

Some background on my coughing... In 2009 I got pregnant with my first child. 2 months into the pregnancy I started coughing. The coughing got so bad I would end up vomiting. Soon after I had trouble breathing. After seeing my doctor several times and having several breathing tests done all my test results were normal, so my doctor sent me to a Pulmonologist. His conclusion was that I had developed asthma and put me on several different medications assuring me they were all safe for the baby. After a month of not getting any better, he wanted to up all my meds and prescribed me several more. Being at my wits end, I went to see a Gastroenterologist thinking it could be a silent reflux and then to an ENT all to no avail - they both said they couldn't find anything wrong. So I went back to my original doctor who immediately had me stop everything the Pulmonologist gave me and told me I was going to have to try and deal with the cough. Long story short it ended up being my prenatal vitamin. I was allergic to the high dose of folic acid. After coughing and not being able to breathe for almost 6 months, as soon as I stopped taking the vitamins I stopped coughing. But I think I have lingering after effects from that episode, as every time my chest is exposed to cold air I start coughing. In the summer I have to keep my chest bundled up from the AC. In winter, I can go out in the cold and breathe in the cold air with no problem, but if my chest is exposed just a little bit I will start coughing. I have tolerated it since my doctor can't find anything wrong and I am getting frustrated. Does this sound like anything you have ever heard of and is it at all possible that the allergy I had to the folic acid somehow compromised my lungs and is to blame for my coughing now? As a side note, my daughter is a happy healthy 22 month old now. :-)
Thanks
-Lisa

[tschock]

Glad to hear that your little "pumpkin" is doing well.

Nasty allergic reaction you had there...what a shame.
Glad all those medications didn't affect your little girl.

I get the same way when cold air hits my chest. No idea what causes it...it's been that way since I was a kid.
One doctor said that it was a virus in my ribs...he says viral infections can stay in the rib cage for many years and there are no drugs that affect viruses...only bacteria.
I'm sort of doubting that it's from the folic acid, especially after this long.
Perhaps some of us are a little more sensitive than others, and that's why we cough when exposed to cold air?
Perhaps it's a long term affect of having had a bad cold/bronchitis in the past?
Perhaps we'll never know...but what I DO know, is as irritating as it can be...I'm still alive after 40+ years of suffering from that.

[tschock]

Glad to hear that your little "pumpkin" is doing well.

Nasty allergic reaction you had there...what a shame.
Glad all those medications didn't affect your little girl.

I get the same way when cold air hits my chest. No idea what causes it...it's been that way since I was a kid.
One doctor said that it was a virus in my ribs...he says viral infections can stay in the rib cage for many years and there are no drugs that affect viruses...only bacteria.
I'm sort of doubting that it's from the folic acid, especially after this long.
Perhaps some of us are a little more sensitive than others, and that's why we cough when exposed to cold air?
Perhaps it's a long term affect of having had a bad cold/bronchitis in the past?
Perhaps we'll never know...but what I DO know, is as irritating as it can be...I'm still alive after 40+ years of suffering from that.

[lmi71]

Thanks Tschock, :-)
But I rarely got sick as a kid or now as an adult. I never had asthma and I had bronchitis 2 or maybe 3 times in all my 40 years. I am not saying that folic acid is causing it now, but perhaps because it got so bad when it was happening and not diagnosed properly for so long that it somehow damaged my bronchial tubes, lungs, whatever. This is something new for me. I never had this coughing problem before I started the folic acid and If I became sensitive then I would imagine that it has something to do with the allergic reaction i had.

[Paderla Anitha, DNB]

Hello and hope you are doing well.

Asthma is usually triggered by allergens. It's unlikely that folic acid could be causing the allergic cough. You may be sensitive to cold and dust mites this could be triggering the attacks. You could consult an allergy specialist to see if allergens are triggering the reaction.

Hope this helped and do keep us posted.