lungy cough

catbirdgirl · Post by **catbirdgirl** » Sun Nov 25, 2007 10:58 pm

Hi all

I have the worst cold I've ever had. Mucinex D, Robitussin, and Nasonex twice a day and it seems to be on the run, except for the cough.

the cough is productive, but loud and sometimes sounds awful. My husband can't stand to listen to me, and I'm getting tired of it too.

I drink a ton of tea a day, caffeinated and non caffeinated, eat a ton of soup, and Emergen-C

I'm not running a fever, and strangely, the CPAP stops the coughing, until I get up in the morning.

What can I do to keep this from becoming bronchitis?

I went to the doc before, he said it was a cold. I'm not sure it is anymore.

Advice please?

ozij · Post by **ozij** » Sun Nov 25, 2007 11:14 pm

I'm not sure this is the advice you want - but go to the doctor again. It may have developed into bronchitis already.

Last times I had bronchitis (pre-cpap) I would be alright just sitting about quietly - but the minute I started talking I'd start coughing. That's why I wouldn't consider your non-disturbed sleep as an indication that its not bronchitis.
Do you usually run a fever? I rarely do - and managed to have brochitis without a fever more than once.

Take care - I hope you'll feel better soon.

O.

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Mon Nov 26, 2007 4:52 am

what is the humidity level in your home. If you are using high humidity during the night with cpap, and not coughing, perhaps you need to humidify your daytime air also. Easy enough to put a big pan of simmering water on the stove to see if it helps.

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Mon Nov 26, 2007 6:21 am

Me too have it for around 6 months. Really strange no tickle or urge to cough just a slight gurgling sound and its productive. thought maybe its the humidifier but i live in Bangkok so maybe just the pollution

catbirdgirl · Post by **catbirdgirl** » Mon Nov 26, 2007 7:12 am

I almost always run a fever with infections.

The house is pretty dry, I'll try the humidity stuff.

If I still have the cough badly on Tuesday, I'll probably go to the doc Wednesday.

Suz-E-Q · Post by **Suz-E-Q** » Mon Nov 26, 2007 8:21 pm

Hi Catbirdgirl,
I always have a cough for a very long time after I have a cold. I also have exercise induced asthma (which can also be called Reactive Lung Disease or Reactive Airway Disease)

From a quick google search:
Generally reactive lung disease is another way of saying "asthma"--i.e., extraordinary "twitchiness" of the smallest airway tubes of the lung in which there is an increase in the thickness of the tissue lining the ways (inflammation), a narrowing of the tube by constriction of muscles which rap about the tubes (bronchoconstriction) and the increase in production of mucous.
There are multiple "triggers" to set off this 3 dimension problem--routine viral infections, exercise, weather changes, certain allergens (dust, animal dander, etc.) Besides avoidance of the potential trigger, various medications exist to help control and prevent further attacks

Routine viral infections - a.k.a. a cold!! So when I get a cold it causes inflammation in my lungs that takes a long time to get rid of. The test my Doctor did to confirm Reactive Airway Disease after my cold; he asked me to pretend there was a candle on the counter across the room and try to blow it out from where I was sitting. This sent me into a coughing spasm for about 5 minutes or so. It was amazing how it was triggered. So now when I get a cold I always use an inhaled steroid to reduce the inflammation in the lungs and reduce the time of the hideous cough.

I became so well known at work for this cough that once I was visiting a site that I worked at for many years and someone who wanted to talk to me, heard me cough and came from around the other side of the walls of the cubes I was walking past and said I knew it was you.....

This might be the cause of your cough. Give the candle blowing out thing a try and see if it sets off a coughing spasm....or you could always run fast around your block as long as you can and see how long into the night you continue the cough . It is so hard to stop what I call a "spasm" after it starts.

Good luck with this. If you are lucky it is just the humidity in your house.
Suzanne

ozij · Post by **ozij** » Mon Nov 26, 2007 10:47 pm

This might be the cause of your cough. Give the candle blowing out thing a try and see if it sets off a coughing spasm....or you could always run fast around your block as long as you can and see how long into the night you continue the cough . It is so hard to stop what I call a "spasm" after it starts.

Suzy, do you mean now, or when the present cold/cough is over?

O.

Suz-E-Q · Post by **Suz-E-Q** » Tue Nov 27, 2007 4:29 am

My doctor had me blow out really hard (to blow out the candle across the room) when I was still having the cough after the cold was gone. I can continue to have the really deep cough 4 to 6 weeks after all other cold symptoms have subsided. And I continue to have to tell people "I'm not sick. Really, I feel fine. I'm not dead yet" (oops! recently watched Monty Python )

The coughing fits typically happen when there is inflammation in the lungs after the cold has gone.

I will also have coughing issues when the air is extremely cold outside. So if I am shoveling snow off my drive way and the air is extremely cold and dry, I will cough quite a bit and continue to cough for the remainder of the day.

These are typical symptoms of "exercise induced asthma" or "reactive airway disease"

Hope this is helpful.

Suz-E-Q · Post by **Suz-E-Q** » Tue Nov 27, 2007 4:53 am

Last times I had bronchitis (pre-cpap) I would be alright just sitting about quietly - but the minute I started talking I'd start coughing. That's why I wouldn't consider your non-disturbed sleep as an indication that its not bronchitis.

O.
This is also something that is typically a symptom of RAD. This is when I found out I had it. Had a cold, it was completely gone and I was talking with someone and after about 5 minutes I went into a coughing streak, to the point I had to excuse myself and try to get everything to calm down....typically inhaler time!!

I have had 2 different doctors that were very aware of this condition, but it seems not all are. I had a colleague that had the same symptoms. Would cough for a long time after a cold (esp. when talking a lot). I told him of my symptoms and diagnosis and he went to his doc and his doc never called it RAD or asthma. Said you have inflammation of your lungs that's all and gave him a steroidal inhaler. Hmmmm.

But when I google bronchitis the symptoms are the exact same....but I think the difference might be in that acute bronchitis can be accompanied by headache, fever, chills, yellowish/greenish mucus. They discuss chronic bronchitis and that doesn't have the fever, chills etc. So I can see how bronchitis and RAD can be one in the same????

I don't know how doctors would diagnose either of them separately...I know that RAD is in reaction to something (talking, cold air, exercising hard and breathing deeply and for me laughing really hard will trigger it too...and it will be days before my lungs calm down again) where bronchitis might not need a trigger, it might just be a continuous state of being????

oceanpearl · Post by **oceanpearl** » Tue Nov 27, 2007 9:07 am

My question would be, do you use a heated humidifier and if so, do you clean and replace your hose regularly. A heated hose provides a breeding place for mold spores if it is not cleaned regularly. I never wear the same hose two nights in a row.

ozij · Post by **ozij** » Tue Nov 27, 2007 9:34 am

Oh?
Mold needs moisture. A heated hose, disconnected from the humidifier dries itself perfectly.

O.

DreamStalker · Post by **DreamStalker** » Tue Nov 27, 2007 9:43 am

oceanpearl wrote:My question would be, do you use a heated humidifier and if so, do you clean and replace your hose regularly. A heated hose provides a breeding place for mold spores if it is not cleaned regularly. I never wear the same hose two nights in a row.

So do you change out your entire respiritory system every couple of days too (you know, lungs, throat, mouth and sinus tissues)? They are all warm and moist 24/7 and perfect breeding grounds for molds too. Or do you live in one of those plastic bubbles connected to a special air ventialtion/purification system?

One day you will discover that your body is made up of more non-human living cells than it is of your own human cells

Look out! ... there is a mold spore floating past you!

oceanpearl · Post by **oceanpearl** » Tue Nov 27, 2007 9:47 am

[quote="ozij"]Oh?
Mold needs moisture. A heated hose, disconnected from the humidifier dries itself perfectly.

O.

catbirdgirl · Post by **catbirdgirl** » Tue Nov 27, 2007 11:25 am

[quote="oceanpearl"]My question would be, do you use a heated humidifier and if so, do you clean and replace your hose regularly. A heated hose provides a breeding place for mold spores if it is not cleaned regularly. I never wear the same hose two nights in a row.

Yes I do use a heated humidifier. No I don't replace my hose regularly. However I am so Allergic to mold that if there was mold in my tube I wouldn't be breathing better with my mask on, I'd be runny-nosed and coughing a LOT.

Suz-E-Q · Post by **Suz-E-Q** » Tue Nov 27, 2007 11:26 am

Wow, this has become heated....

For me my coughing stuff started long before xPAP. I have had this lung inflamation stuff diagnosed since about 1998 or so. I started xPAP in October.

But for Catbirdgirl, from whom the thread started with, i cannot speak.

Molds need nutrients besides H2O to grow....specifically a carbohydrate source (they need peptides too). Not to say mold growth is not at all possible but you are going to have to have a very dirty hose (perhaps not visible dirt, but something for the mold to use as nutritents) to get growth. I think mold would probably grow in the mask before it would grow in the tube. The mask touches your face and your face has lots of nutrients to use to grow. Water alone will not cut it to grow mold or yeast.

I have a mild mold allergy but I clean my hose about once a month and feel pretty good about the safety of it WRT growing things in it.

Everyone has different degrees of comfort WRT cleanliness and I don't even presume there is a right and a wrong.
Suzanne

Mask	Humidifier

Mask	Humidifier

Mask	Humidifier