Thank you very much for your quick reply. It has been a day and I realized that I actually have phlegma, I have a productive cough even tho I was only able to expectorate very little due to my reluctance to coughing. I don't think the allergy section was the right section to post this to, but I don't know which would have been correct.
In regards to smoking, I used to be a "serious smoker" for 7 years, but I quit 5 years ago, and in the last 3 years or so I occasionally indulged myself in smoking when out with friends, when having drinks or in other social situations. I don't smoke more than 2 times every month tho and when I do it's usually just a cigarette or 2. But it would not be a big deal to stop doing that, if necessary. I just never thought it would be harmful.
The cough that I can't stop is a different type of cough, it starts with a tickle and a dry spot in my neck, I would say on a tonsil or near a tonsil. That dry spot becomes extremely irritable and I start to cough, but when air passes it by it only irritates it more so basically the coughing becomes the very thing that produces the coughing. Tears immediately start to run from the eye on the same side of the dry patch in my throat. I can only stop it by drinking some liquid, but that sometimes will not work by itself and I also have to force myself not to cough. After an episode like that, I start shaking and I am good for nothing for 10 minutes or so. In any case, that is not a productive coughing and it's different from what I have now.
I have also experienced choking on phlegm before, so the productive cough I have now is scary too. Since yesterday I have been drinking a lot of water and hot tea, and I am also taking a medicine that is supposed to make the phlegm thin so I can expectorate it.
The weird thing is, I don't have a cold and I can't understand why this started out of the blue. Post nasal dripping maybe?
Hello whitefox1,
Just finished reading your post. I don't know what you are experiencing
but I'm glad to hear that you will be going to the doctor. You mention a
cough that you can't stop and leaves you short of breath. Have you
ever been tested to see if you have asthma ? Just a thought.
Before I was diagnosed with asthma, I experienced coughing bouts that
seemed like they wouldn't stop. You said you are a hypochondriac, so
I don't want to alarm you , but you might want bring this up with your
doctor.
You said you're not a regular smoker, but that you smoked 2 cigarettes
yesterday. This will not help. Whether you're a regular smoker or a
daily smoker, you're still taking tar and nicotine into your lungs. I used
to smoke too a long time ago. I didn't smoke very often and I told myself
that it didn't matter because I wasn't a regular smoker. I would complain
to my doctor and say my cigarettes keep getting stale. She would say
to me jokingly, either become a serious smoker or quit. So I quit more
than twenty years ago. It took me three tries, but I quit. One day I took
the remaining cigarettes out of the cigarette package I had, broke each
one in half over the garbage container in my kitchen . As I broke each
cigarette, I said out loud " death stick" and I repeated this until each
cigarette was in the garbage and from that day on, I've never touched
or wanted a cigarette. Now I have asthma, so the smell of a cigarette
is an asthma trigger. I 've shared this with you because you can give
up cigarettes. My ex husband smoked too , but when we separated
it was a lot easier to quit. Smoking is so dangerous. Did you know
cigarettes have formaldehyde in them as well as many toxic substances.
Well, that's enough about cigarettes. Get to a doctor as soon as possible.
Liquid in your chest doesn't sound good. Tell the doctor's receptionist
you're very concerned and that you need to see the doctor asap. and
the sooner the better. Be well. Eve