COUGHING STARTING TO HURT: I have been... - Atrial Fibrillati...

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COUGHING STARTING TO HURT

Torfs1930 profile image
4 Replies

I have been coughing for four months now. White, sticky sputum hard to get out. My throat starting to hurt.

I don't feel like having a cold. I feel good except for these cough attacks five times a day, two times at night.

Saw every doctor in town. Tried syrups, antibiotics, codeine, acetylcysteine, inhalers, sprays,

Any tips?

Thanks.

88 years old male

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Torfs1930 profile image
Torfs1930
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4 Replies
Fruitcake100 profile image
Fruitcake100

Hi Torfs 1930

Yes I unfortunately have the same problem, it can also be tiring and embarrassing. I don’t go to the cinema and some other places because of disturbing other people. When I cough it sounds terrible and I am sometimes sick. I think it stems from a combination of slight COPD and allergic rhinitis , if I can control any mucus running down the back of my throat it helps. I now squirt a sea salt spray up my nose a few times a day and then an anti inflammatory spray which calms things down, I also take a one a day antihistamine pill, all this is available at Boots. I am also taking pills for AF so it is possible that it is partly caused by the pills. Since sticking to this regime it has improved also drinking honey, lemon with a little glycerine helps sooth the throat.

Good luck I am sure you will improve soon. Ps, I presume they have done chest X-ray etc to rule out the real nasties.

LindaDaisy profile image
LindaDaisy

I presume you have ruled out Ramipril which gives some people a cough. Have you tried a Sinus Rinse?

goldey profile image
goldey

I had 4 cardiac arrests in June and had a pacemaker put in. I am 71. After I came home, I started having this horrible cough, exactly like you described. I would cough every 5 minutes sometimes, and thick white stuff came up. Horrible deep coughs that sometimes made me feel like I might throw up. My lungs were so sore. I had boxes of Keenex all over the house, because this coughing just wouldn't stop. During this time I also had severe loss of breath -- if I even took 3 steps I would lose my breath and have to sit and recover for 5 minutes. My doctor said she never heard of respiratory involvement with any of the meds I was taking, and I had two housecall doctors come out, and they both said my lungs sounded clear. And yet all this crap kept coming from somewhere But I did some research and found out that this serious respiratory involvement was a VERY RARE (1 in 10,000) side effect of the ACE Inhibitor Perindopril (Coversyl). I had been on it for 10 days at the time. I told my doctor what I found, and she said she never heard of this (very rare) side effect -- but she said it was safe to just stop it, that there were alternatives. So I stopped it immediately. It took 4 WEEKS for the drug to get out of my system and the cough to completely stop, but it eventually did. They gave me Candesartin instead, and I have had no problems with that. If anybody has a severe cough like this, take it seriously -- it is probably a side effect of one of the meds you're on. Go to the drug company's site and look for the very rare side effects -- then talk to your doctor. There are alternatives to all the meds we could be put on ---

dcoughey profile image
dcoughey

I have mentioned it on this forum before; but, it seems no one took it seriously. I had the issue of coughing with nothing being able to stop it until a cardiologist gave me a spray of nitro under the tongue. The cough stopped immediately. The first time the cough stopped was when I took Prednisone during my chemo-treatment process. As soon as I stopped the Prednisone, the cough restarted.

Recently, over the last three months since my second ablation, the cough started becoming increasingly more frequent. Each time, the nitro spray stopped it. It also helped with the shortness of breath and stopped the wheeze. A week ago, I decided to take one spray of nitro at least once a day and the cough is now rare, short and of much less intensity. This morning, I decided to try the nitro patch again to see if the cough stops completely and my shortness of breath improves on a more continual basis.

I know this sounds weird; but, my wife is sure thankful and kept suggesting I use the nitro as her ears were ready to fall off. I often wonder why others do not appear to know about this or have tried it. You have nothing to lose.

WARNING: Do not take nitro unless your blood pressure is high enough that you can safely take a 30 point drop within 20 min or so before it starts increasing again.

I am very interested in hearing from others about this, especially EPs.

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