As most of you have seen on the TV, there is an outbreak of whooping cough doing the rounds and are telling mums-to-be etc to get vaccinated....
Guess what I have been diagnosed with???
Yup
Whooping cough!!! I supposedly was vaccinated as a child!!!
Thats how bloomin rotten my immune system is!!
Bah, could only happen to me!!
No, it can happen to anyone. I had it extremely badly in about 2001. It was so awful, twice I wished I could die. Luckily, I finally got over it and am glad I didn't die, but it was appalling.
What made it worse was that I am asthmatic, my lungs were swimming in mucus, which I sometimes vomited up. I won't say too much because it is disgusting.
The vaccinations for whooping cough protect for 5-10 years. Doctors usually consider that sufficient because it is generally only babies who can die from it, young babies.
Babies can die because after a bout of coughing and whooping (viciously painful muscle spasms) your lungs feel paralysed for a minute or so. I learned it was best to be patient and hold my breath for a minute,,after which the paralysis had gone. Once you are a year old, your body is big enough to withstand a minute without oxygen.
Was your diagnosis following antibodies being found in your blood? Mine was done that way and also saliva and what I was breathing out.
My lung doc at the time said my antibody level was extremely high and would protect for me a decade, after which he would be willing to vaccinate me because he knew how dreadful it was for me. My colleagues at work got it to, at least a lot did, but mostly recovered far more quickly then me.
Good luck and take care
koala
Koala, I am asthmatic too xx
I saw the emergency doc on boxing day, and he gave me a 20 min lecture on why my body needs to cough, till I choked into a tissue, and he asked to see it, then said that I needed antibiotics!!
My own GP did a more thorough check up, and when I coughed and choked in his office, he said that I needed stronger antibiotics and that I had whooping cough!! I go back next week for a check up.
PS I had been vaccinated as a child and was about 33 when I contracted it. It left me with cough phobia. don't worry, most adults get it FAR more mildly.
koala
I had whooping cough as a child even though I had been vaccinated, I remember very well what it was like, and in late November I started with a dry, sore throat and a temperature which seemed to clear up. Until the cough started. As it progressed I recognised the sensation of coughing until I was unable to breathe, and struggling to get my breath afterwards as if I'd fallen and been winded.
My excellent doctor (you know, the one who says that I'm depressed, old, not exercising enough, eating too much, defintely do NOT have anything wrong with my non-existent Thyroid) totally dismissed the possibility that it could be whooping cough, leaving me to go around in public infecting unsuspecting passers-by (no, I didn't - I couldn't).
So, no, ChemicalAngel, it can't only happen to you. You are by no means alone. I bet THIS is not on the list of symptoms of hypothyroidism!
Thats exactly what I was like, the wind had been sucked out of me and it is very scary not being able to breathe!! Combined with asthma, and I swear it was going to take me out!
I too, as I work in a supermarket on customer service desk, have been infecting the public as the doc I saw as an emergency on boxing day, just didnt think it was anything, gave me a 20 min lecture on why my body needs to cough, till I choked and spat into a tissue, which he demanded to see, then said, ah you need antibiotics!
By the time I saw my own GP, I apparently had gone past the contagious stage!! Too late, I have put half the bloomin town at risk!
Have always wondered why my son (44 now) got whooping cough when he was 6 after having the vaccination for it when a baby. Was not told then it would only last 10 years. He had it quite badly (and not immediately recognised by his then doctor) and I wonder if it would have been much worse if he hadn't been vaccinated? Hope you are better soon CA. Janet.
I had it as a very young child almost immediately after being vaccinated. After recovering, I was diagnosed with chronic bronchitis - every month until I was about 8, when they decided it had probably been asthma all along. Hope I don't get it again.
I hope you recover soon! 
Am I insane? Or is my body shutting down? 
DRY COUGH, NO CONGESTION AND VIOLENT COUGHING
Don't feel well but doctor says I am fine. Is she right?
Hi - TSH down but am I converting to T3? THANKS!!!
Just realised how well I am! (Maybe slightly off topic)
