Chronic cough following sinus infection

[joeworried]

I had a sinus infection at the end of June.  My doctor prescribed Augmentin (an antibiotic), and all of the symptoms except the cough went away in several weeks.  Since the cough continued, I went back to my doctor near the end of August.  My doctor ordered a chest X-ray (that was normal), and prescribed Biaxin (an antibiotic) and Azmacort.  The cough has improved, but it still has not gone away.

Other than the cough, I feel fine.  I do not cough at night.  When I get up in the morning, I cough about 5 or 6 times in the first hour to clear mucus from my lungs.  I've noticed that after I eat I sometimes have quite a bit of mucus in my throat, which causes me to cough to clear my throat.  I seem to be able to largely control when I cough, which generally is to clear mucus from my lungs.  

While I have a number of allergies, I have never had an extended cough like this.  I am 53 years old, male, never smoked, and in reasonably good health.

I'm getting quite frustrated with this cough.  Any input is appreciated.

[National Jewish]

It is possible that you have a chronic inflammation in the sinuses that is an outcome after the infection.  This is causing drainage and thus the cough.  Certain foods and irritants can aggravate the situation.  A course of nasal inhaled steroids might be helpful.

[Inanga]

hi
i've am dealing with something exactly the same. The mucus in my case is coming from my sinus or somewhere above the palate in the back of the nose. I suspect there is an allergic thing here as antihistamines seem to help.
I used to worry that the mucous was coughed up from my lungs too - it's a scary thought that there's something wrong woth your lungs. But when i relised it was just originateing from above and gravity was taking it down, then I could relax known that the lungs were not the source of the problem. I also learned to get rid of the mucous early - ie suck it down and spit it out before it goes into the throat - this means I don't actually cough much any more. I still do in the morning as some has gone down while I was asleep. I had been through xrays and all sorts to try to find the source of my chest pain - it was from all the coughing.

doxycycline fixed the sinus infection and i had pseudoephedrine to dry everything up. Am now attacking the allergy component with antihistamines, etc. I find it's worse when we have the washing machine on - must be something in the detergent that gets me going.

good luck

[Coughingformonths]

A related discussion, Chronic Cough was started.