Coughing question

[dozy]

I have a question about a reaccuring cough that I have had since Oct of 2005. I need to go back to August though to make you aware of a condition I had then. I developed sepsis and after a surgery I developed fluid on my lungs. I recovered from this and was fine until October when I developed a mild cold. I then started having coughing bouts. On Halloween I also developed a terrible case of the hives that lasted over a week.  In December I got a very bad cold and I also started having problems with my siatic nerve in my back and had to take advil for about 4-5 weeks before that went away. I have been cold free since about the first of the year now except my coughing bouts have not stopped, I am fine most of the time but all of a sudden I will start coughing. Mostly it starts in the evening, generally after supper but I have also started coughing in the morning or during the day. The coughing can last anywhere from half an hour to a couple of hours before it stops. Most of the time I get a wheezing noise in my throat/lungs. One time I believe it was triggered by being in a smokey room as about 15 min after I left it stopped. Sometimes the coughing isn't real bad, just annoying and other times it is painful. Only once did I cough so hard that I had to gasp for air. Oh and I do cough up a little bit of phlemy stuff when I am coughing, but not alot. I would say on average this happens about 3 times a week. I am now making a log so if this doesn't stop I can go see a Dr about it and have something showing how often it happens. Do you think this could be a mild form of asthma?

[National Jewish]

This could be a "mild form of asthma".  Probably what happened is that your airways became inflamed and irritable after any or all of the events you describe in the past 6 months.  This airway inflammation is sometimes called reactive airways disease (RAD).  Asthma is one of the RAD diseases as are some viral infections.  I would suggest taking this excellent history that you have kept to your physician.  He/She can perform an examination and a lung function test, called spirometry.  This will help to document what is going on.  There are several choices for medications to bring the inflammation under control.  If this persists, then "asthma" will be the ongoing diagnosis.

[Inanga]

i would consider allergies - airborned stuff liek you mention, but also possibly food realted. I had inexplicable dry cough for years - eventualyl turned out to be some reaction to corn additives in food causing respiritory mucus. It was worst after eating bread in the morning (containing corn flour) and at night after eating some sauce with the same. For me the regularity of the timing was due to my weating pattten. Juse something to consider.