Help! Cough that won't go Away

[trbjerk6]

I have been sick for 7 weeks!! It started with a  horrible dry cough, runny nose. It wouldn't go away, so I went to the walk-in clinic and they said it was a virus. Then it still wouldn't go away, I then went to the walk-in again....they said I had Bronchitis and gave me Doxycycline and  Prednisone. It still did not work, I went to my regular doc and had a chest x-ray and they told me I had Pneumonia and he gave me Levaquin. In the meantime I took some Asthma tests (per my doctor's suggestion) and found out I have Asthma. I was given Pulmicort and MaxAir. My cough still wasn't going away and my tongue was extremely swollen. I went to the walk-in once again, they gave me a Nebulizer Treatment,Prednisone, and Nystatin for oral thrush. They said to come back if it didn't get better, which of course it hasn't. I then was tested for Whooping Cough, they did the swab through my nose and also did bloodwork. I have not got the results back yet, but in the meantime I was also prescribed  Azithromycin. I have taken three doses of the Azithromycin and still do not feel any better!!! I do not know what to do?! Nothing is working and I can't take this anymore..........

[AmericanPerson]

An update....I posted about my ordeal on Nov. 12th. It is now December 4th. My cough had started about Oct. 19th.

Well, I can report the cough and congestion are about gone. I say 'about gone', but not COMPLETELY. I still get that tickle on occasion, and it mostly seems to coincide with drinking something cold, which will trigger the dry cough again, or sometimes with eating certain foods....seems strange. And I still get a touch of the nasal congestion in the morning, but not enough to cause a significant post-nasal drip situation.

Happily, it isn't keeping me up at night anymore, which is a relief.

I'd say I feel about 90% OK....I wish it was 100%, but things are definitely much better and seem to be trending the right way after a month and a half (about 7 weeks).

[kittykat61]

Im 50 yrs old and Im having the same symptoms over and over it keeps coming back after ending all the meds and I also have bladder leakage which I never had before all of this started . I also have to wear pads and frankly im tired of being on oxygen therapy . I have had so many cat scans and chest xrays it is not even funny and on monday I have a return drs apt and Im hoping he will tell me something . If not I will see another dr who can give me answers . I think we are all guinea pigs at the mercy of drs .

[stlmommy]

I am a 40 yr. old woman with diabetes. My children started daycare in April 2011. The first day of daycare my daughter got the flu and that's where it all started. Within a couple of weeks and she was over the  flu we both came down with something. They called it a stomah virus. For me that's when it all started I soon was coughing and my mom and dad both had pharyingitis and a bacterial infection. We were all treated at the same time with Z-packs. I got rid of the cough for a few days and then I was back to coughing my head off. I couldn't sleep and was given codeine cough syrup for night time relief. But, I was still drinking tons of water, cough drops, humidifier, another trip to the doc, inhaler, nebulizer, chestx-ray for pnumonia. I went back to the doc  and he gave me another round of antibiotics and prednisone. I started feeling really weird towards the end of taking the prednisone , I don't ever want to take that again I think I might be allergic. It was three rounds of antibiotics, 3 diagnosis's of bronchitis. I am now on flo-naise and it doesn't do much. I am so sick of this cough, I am sick of peeing and having to wear pads all the time, It is now November 2011 and I see no hope in sight. I think my family thinks I am dying of something horrific. I just want to get well. I also should add that I quit smoking in 2006. I am wondering if it is COPD. My friend has this too and  she said she has swollen glands and swollen glands on top of her head. She can't stop coughing and it is going on and on. I just want to stop coughing. I am going to make an appointment with a pulmonary doc and an allergist to try and get to the bottom of  this. Any ideas? My story sounds pretty similar to everyone else's. Maybe Dr. OZ knows what's up with this cough.

[margypops]

I also have a dry hacking cough and somewhat of an irritated throat .and I get hives, ..a member a few posts back suggested the airial spraying and I have come to the conclusion tha'ts what is causing so much sickness here , I am in between LA and SanDiego each day we have chem trails across the sky lots of them and yes they do linger and yes they are toxic they do fall to the ground and we do breathe them in ...I looked it up and you guys should do it aswell you will get a shock on what they are doing to us ..PS its all around the world... UK has a lot of chem trails ..its do with experimenting how to change our weather .Write to your congressman ...I will see f I can find the link .

[HeinekenMan]

How old is everyone? I am 38. I noticed that another person was 40. Here's my story. As a child, I had double pneumonia after having an unrelated outpatient surgery. I've been fine all these years. At age 20, I started smoking. I smoked for about 10 years. Then I stopped cold turkey. About eight years ago, I started to have bouts of coughing with fever that lasted several days. When it wouldn't go away, I finally went to a doctor. He prescribed a Z-pack and gave me an inhaler for asthma symptoms. The drugs worked. But I have had bouts with the same thing every 3-6 months since then. It usually goes away after 3-4 weeks, but it leaves me almost unable to carry on with my normal routine while I am sick.

I went several months this year with no illness. In mid-September, though, I developed a fever and classic cold/flu symptoms. I was exhausted and dizzy with a mild headache. Then I developed sinus problems. After about a week, it seemed that the initial symptoms were fading. But they were replaced by a terrible cough with wheezing. It was at its worst when I was sleeping. After about two hours of coughing in the morning, I usually was able to carry on with my normal routine. The coughing went from frequent to sporadic. The wheezing, though, has never completely gone away. I felt that I was nearly well a week ago. But I developed cold symptoms again a few days ago, and now I can tell that I'm on my way back to the worst part, which is the constant coughing and hacking.

My body is getting to where I'm not sure it can continue to handle this. I once suspected that I had chronic bronchitis, which is common among smokers. This time, though, it feels like pneumonia. And now I've read here about pertussis, allergies, asthma.

I have no idea what this is. But I want to be well like the rest of you. So I'm going to shell out some money to visit a doctor tomorrow. I have no insurance coverage. So it's going to come out of the Christmas money for my kids. I'm hoping that there is an easy explanation. But I'm worried now after reading all of these stories. Are the doctors mis-diagnosing what's wrong with people? I have no idea what to do. I feel like I have developed a distrust of doctors after reading all of this. It almost sounds like they're just operating a fast food operation. They toss you a Z-pack and bring in the next customer like it's a burger joint. I hope I can stress for the doctors how serious my problem is. Because I want this problem to go away for a long time. This has adversely affected my life for the past several years.

[Csunbabe]

Bronchitis  is what they said I have withba sinus infection but they gave me  z pack and that hasn't worked then they gave me penicillin  but that didn't work they gave me an inhaler but that only helps for a few it's been 4 weeks and I'm sore and tired pleased help what should I do next