cough that wont go away !

[2Young4This31]

hello ,  have been coughing for almost 2 wks now when i first got sick i had a raw feeling in my throat , runny nose sneezing and coughing i did cough up dark green phlem when i first got this .the sneezing has stopped, and the raw throat feeling has went away the runny nose comes and goes one day its runny the next its dry , but i still have the cough sometimes it sounds dry and others it sounds like im gargling and i feel rattling in my chest , also my rib cage hurts ,and now i have a heat feeling in my back . also at the begining of this i did have a very slightly temp of 99.0 but nothing else . and yes it feels like i need to cough something up but nothing comes up. i am a smoker been smoking on and off since i was 13 yrs old and i am now almost 34 yrs old . my main concern is the cough could i be getting another resp infection ? i had one a few yrs ago doc thought i had copd or asthma but come to find out it was just an upper resp infection with broch. i did go to a pulmanary doc and he told me he didnt see anything that indacated that i had copd or asthma . also i have been expereancing  this pain on my left side of my rib cage , there is some sort of growth there on the bottom base of my rib cage . doc told me its possible that its cartilage build up . whatever that means ! and hasnt shown any other concerns about it . he did some chiro stuff on me to see if it would help , but it hasnt . i constantly have a feeling of something being there , and i have pain on and off where the growth is , on my side and back like a wrap around on the ribs sometimes its a stitchy pain feeling and most of the time its a tender soreness pain or a sharp stabbing pain . he gave flexeril which didnt help . i was also wondering if maybe this is all connected ? or is this just  a common cold and the other thing is just a whole differnt other thing ?
i know i should probley go back to him but i feel as though im being a pain in the butt lol . i know this is my health and i have every right to go .. but i just feel as though they will think im a nut case because ive been to him already 2x in the last  months because i had a bad UTI  ! ive also been getting them since 1999 i think i had 7 or 8 total since then .
Anyways i am concered about this cough and this thing on my ribcage . if its all related or 2 diff things ?

[2Young4This31]

Update on my situation , so far the cough has calmed down , not coughing as much , what i do notice though is when i bend forward with my head , i feel some funky feeling in my nasal  cavity ,almost like when u dive into a pool or do a front spin in the pool and u get water up in it . that kind of feeling and then my nose starts to drain . its mainly my left nastral than my right one . i dont know the reasoning for why is does that ? any suggestions   ??? thanks !

[2Young4This31]

Thank you for your response ,

may i ask though when i had that upper resp infection with bronch. is it possible that i still have bronch does it go away or still stay with you ? The doc said when he took my x-ray that my lungs looked ok but not good enough for my age at the time .

Also do you know anything about cartilage build up ? what causes it ,and if it is that what to do about it ?

[Dr. Kokil Mathur]

Hi
Welcome to the MedHelp forum!
A cough that has been persisting for so long should be investigated. To begin with an X-ray of the chest should be done. If you have a growth then maybe a CT scan will be a better option for diagnosis. Persistent cough could be due to asthma or bronchitis or it could also be due to smoking. Since you have been a smoker, possibility of cancer should also be looked into. It is difficult to comment beyond this at this stage. Please consult your doctor.
Hope this helps. Please let me know if there is any thing else and do keep me posted. Take care!