severe cough

[tigerlily717]

I am an 18 year old female, I have had a severe cough for over 6 weeks with a lot of phlegm that is very difficult to cough up. I also have asthma which is making it very difficult to breathe, especially at night. I have lost 20 pounds and now am 95 pounds and feeling very tired. Im coughing and wheezing all the time, I cant go 3 minutes without coughing and coughing, this  is very annoying, please what can I do?? I dont want to see my doctor

[David Tinkelman, M.D.]

I apologize for this extremely tardy response.  For some inexplicable reason, MedHelp shut down the Asthma Forum.  It was just restored.  Here is my response.

First, you stated that, “I don’t want to see my doctor.”  If you have not seen your doctor by this time, and have not completely recovered, you must arrange to see your doctor, immediately.

I am quite concerned about your having had a “severe cough for over six weeks” at the time you submitted your question.  It is conceivable that, whatever the cause, it could have worsened your asthma and, your finding it “very difficult to breathe” would be based on a combination of the two.  While possible, it is also very unlikely that your cough and weight loss would be on the basis of asthma alone.  For practical purposes and safety it must not be assumed that the problem is primarily asthma.

Continuous coughing and wheezing “all the time”, could result in severe sleep deprivation and fatigue and that could be responsible for your weight loss of almost 20% of your body weight.  Weight loss could also accompany any one of a large number of lung diseases and such disease could be infectious (with special consideration of tuberculosis), allergic or autoimmune,  caused by a tumor (benign or malignant), related to your occupation or home environment, or to any of many lung diseases, of unknown etiology.

This is serious and so I beseech you to see your doctor or, if you have concerns about your current doctor, another doctor willing to see you without delay.  Please let us know what transpires and I wish you good luck.