I am a 41 year old, normally healthy female. I have a persisent, non-productive cough going on 12 weeks now. It's so non-stop that at most, I have maybe 8-10 seconds between bouts. The only relief I get is to lie down
I had this cough after the flu 8 years ago. My allergist diagnosed cough-variant asthma, despite the fact I had excellent lung function testing & passed the methylcholine challenge with flying colors. That particular cough went away after about 10 months. The whole time I was using Flovent, Seravent, & other inhalersl. The cough was not THIS bad, however.
For the last 8 years, I only cough when inhaling cold air, ingesting cold food & beverages or laughing too hard.
The current cough started 12 weeks ago after a couple of days of feeling like I was about to get a cold, but the cold never materialized. I had two days of hoarseness, then the cough started. Shortly after, I had a sensation of something in my throat & a little mucous there, as well. My allergy/asthma doctor put me on inhalers. After 3 weeks of no improvement, he sent me to an ENT.
The ENT scoped my throat, saw my red larnyx and diagosed LPR. After no luck on Prevacid, I started Nexium, which I've been on for 6.5 weeks (along w/Allegra-D, Flovent, Rhinocort, & Carafate). The throat lump and mucous went away, but not the cough.
I had an Upper GI last week & it showed nothing. I have no food allergies. I do not have GERD symptoms. My sinus/lung x-rays are clear. Lung function is excellent. No post-nasal drip.
I've tried a low-carb diet as well as a low-fat diet; neither helped. Prescription cough medications do not help. I am getting desperate. Are there tests for other things that I could possibly rule out? What could possibly be next? 24-hour pH? Is it possible at all that this is not LPR?
THANK YOU