Laryngeal hypersensitivity

[Jackwabbit]

My wife has been told for the last 63 years that she had cough variant asthma. Over the last 5/6 years this has got a lot worse & was referred to the royal Brompton hospital about 2 years a go. After changing inhalers & trying various nose drops & omoprozole things didn't get any better. Earler this year she hurt her leg & was put on a high dose of pain killers & funny enough whilst on these she stopped coughing. Her coughing & breathing got so bad she was rushed by blue light to our local hospital twice in a week and spent one night followed by another 24 hours on nebuliser's antibiotics & steroids, which did nothing & the hospital didn't know what else to do! They were going to admit her but when they found out she had an appointment that day at Brompton they discharged her to go to Brompton. When we got there we explained what has been happening, they said they knew exactly what the problem was & arranged for to have an endoscope to have a look at her larynx & identified she had laryngeal hypersensitivity. They threw away all the antibiotics & steroids & put her on morphine & a nose spray. 2 weeks later hardly any cough! They want to do another endoscope in a few weeks time to see how the larynx is settling down & if needed a biopsy.

[beech]

How interesting - and how lucky she had that Brompton appointment that day! But also how frustrating that after all this time the solution might be easier than realised. I guess that’s what the specialist knowledge can do for you. I do hope that she continues to be managed well.

[Jandm]

I have a hypersensitive airway and the slightest thing can start a cough reflex. When this starts, I’ve found that taking some codeine helps to settle it down (I’m not advocating others to try this, it’s my experience that I shall be discussing with my consultant). I do know however, that some cough linctus medications have codeine in. I’d also been told that a cough clinic would prescribe a low dose morphine if the coughing became a problem, so this is my interim intervention until I go back to clinic.

[RuralLad]

I never wheeze, just cough! so this was particularly interesting, thanks.

[Tryphena134]

After going all round the houses for over 3 years my current consultant who I really rate has diagnosed me with hypersensitivity pneumonitis- not asthma, not COPD not bronchiectasis. Allergic reactions to drugs for heart related issues - aspirin, Losartan set my cough off. I’ve come to the conclusion it’s the lesser of 2 evils and for me at the moment the state of my lungs wins hands down so no aspirin no Losartan for now! Buying a dehumidifier which is on 24 hours a day seems to help too!

[Jackwabbit]

Update on my wife's laryngeal hypersensitivity. She completed a 2 week course of morphine & has now been on 300mg of Gabapentin once a day & the coughing is starting to come back. She has seen the GP this morning & after reading the letter from Brompton Hospital he has increased the dosage 300mg twice a day & wants to see her again in 4 weeks time to see if the dosage needs to increased even higher.