I have a Yearly Mucus Cough and my doctor keeps calling it allergies, is she right?

[Fluffysld77]

For the fifth year in a row I have discovered mucus towards the middle of my throat. It always starts in January and I just started with it a few days ago. The mucus causes me to cough because there always seems to be a tickle in my throat, often giving me headaches, and sometimes I'll sort of throw up mucus--just mucus, not really anything else throw up-like--which causes me to want to really throw up. When I do spit up mucus, I always have really sick feeling that makes me believe it is more than allergies. It seems worse in the "night" hours; as in it'll be okay, but still horrific, during the day and then late in the night it'll get worse and mornings... they are terribly horrific. My throat is always sore from the coughing, my head always aches, it worsens my breathing problem that I am sure began with this to begin with.

I was 12 when this first started, roughly 12 and a half, if it even matters, and I believe it was really bad then, I was coughing up mucus a lot. From the sickness, I often had to inhale rather deeply to get a good amount of airflow. It often cause weird looks from others, too. Even after it stopped which is roughly 4 or 5 months after it starts--so usually April or May; I am not entirely sure of that, but I do know that it has to stop at some point since it starts in January, etc.--I had to inhale deeply every once in a while. It wasn't as bad as it was, but people still don't get why I do so, that's how I know it must be a little odd.

My cough is rather loud and often a distraction, after 4 years of it, and starting the 5th year, I am even more determined to find out what it is. Please help me. And not only just whether my doctor's right or not, I'd like to know what else it could be, and maybe some sort of cure. That way, when I go to my doctor I can let her know what I think it is, etc. Thanks.

[Bhupinder Kaur, MD]

Hello,

Since you have such cough during a particular time of the year and during a particular season,so I agree with your doctor that it can be due to air borne allergies.Other causes may be asthma, allergic rhinitis, sinus problems (for example sinus infection),post nasal drip and esophageal reflux of stomach contents.

In my opinion,you should get allergy tests done.It is by skin testing. A diluted extract of each kind of air borne allergen is applied to a scratch or puncture made on your arm or back or injected under your skin. With a positive reaction, a small, raised, reddened area with a surrounding flush (called a wheal and flare) will appear at the test site. Confirmatory tests is by blood tests (RAST).Once an allergen is identified,then avoidance of allergen is the best preventive treatment.

If the allergens come out negative then various other lung conditions like bronchitis,pneumonia,COPD,asthma and emphysema have to be probed.Pulmonary function tests and spirometry have to be done.Pls consult a respiratory medicine specialist in that case.
Hope it helps.Take care and regards.

[snowboard2090]

In the link at the end I meant ask your doctor about taking a Spirometry test, theres this device that you just basically have to breath into and it monitors the quality of airflow from your lungs or something like that.

[snowboard2090]

You sound like me, and personally I still don't know what I have (or had I let this go because everyone convinced me it was allergies, and I already started smoking a year ago). My reasoning for what I'm about to tell you is, this was always an on off thing sort of for me. Anyway I started smoking, I've been used to this stuff my whole life, but I'm noticing it seems to be getting worse now, and smoking is often considered the leading cause for it, but tbh I've had this my whole life, I remember not being able to sleep one night when I was little (around 7 or 8 years old) because I kept coughing and couldn't stop.

Ask your doctor about COPD(http://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/health/public/lung/copd/) another site that makes this seem more likely would be this http://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/health/dci/Diseases/Copd/Copd_WhatIs.html

"In chronic obstructive bronchitis, the lining of the airways is constantly irritated and inflamed. This causes the lining to thicken. Lots of thick mucus forms in the airways, making it hard to breathe."

I'm not trying to scare you or anything, but if I could go back in time I would have asked about this, I've always been one to sort of ignore things (my dad always told me I complained to much from an early age) so eventually I just stopped complaining about it after Allergies always ended up being the answer.

Good luck and I hope you figure out what in the world it is...  also if they continue to doubt you ask about one of these things and where you can use one to test the quality of your breathing http://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/health/dci/Diseases/Copd/Copd_Diagnosis.html