Debilitating coughing

Question

Posted by: samcinnamon | 2008/06/24

Debilitating coughing

Hi. My (near) fiance has had a major coughing problem for about 5 weeks now. We have seen 5 different doctors (all in the same medipractice) and all 5 have told different things. He has been on on two courses of antibiotics, one of them twice, and none have worked. It has got to such an extent now that when he coughs, his chest seems to close up, and them he is gasping and struggling to breathe, sounding as though he has just been sucker-punched in the solar plexis. His symptoms are as follows: strong hacking couching, major shortness of breath, no energy, loss of weight, pain in his right side whenever he coughs. The last docotr we saw - after having at look at the x-rays of his lungs that we finally managed to get after repeatedly asking for - said that his right lung looked infected, and then put him on a course for TB (Rifafour) "just in case" but no tests have been called for or scheduled. One doc has prescribed Asthavent, which he uses, but it does not really help. Do oyu have a suggestion as to what this could be and how we could cure it? Thanks Sam

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Our expert says:

CyberDoc

Hi Samcinnamon
Any persistant cough for more than 2 weeks needs further examination. If the doctor thinks there could be a chance of TB he should do a sputum test or TB PCR blood test. I think sending sputum away for MCS is anyway a good idea. Ask them to refer him to a pulmonologist for a second opinion and further tests like lung function tests (Chronic coughing can also be a sign of heart disease or even gastric reflux.)
Dr Bets

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Our users say:

Posted by: Chop | 2008/10/17

i have been coughing on and off for a while now and some days is just worse than other days. when i cough, i have a blood taste in my mouth. i have never actually seen any blood though. i have had a tb test done and it is negative.
i don' t feel sick though. when i cough i get so dizzy as well. sometimes i am so short of breath and it takes a little while to recover again. Then when I go to the loo i have such an uncomfortable pain. Not during urinating but after when i get up from the loo. it literally feels like my bladder is going to fall out. this is also not all the time but periodically.

Reply to Chop