-
hack! hork!
12January 26th, 2009dailyAs I so CLEVERLY hinted in the title of my last post, I have a cough. In December I caught a cold with a cough, and while the cold went away, the cough lingered. And lingered. Annnnnd lingered. And became resistant to every cough remedy I threw at it. Mucinex? LAUGHABLE. Delsym? HA! Prescription cherry flavored troll ass-crack sweat with codeine? SNEEEEER! The coughing fits kept me up at night, and caused the people I work with to say things like “are you OK?” and “should I call someone?” and “is this your lung over by the shredder?” The last thing I wanted to do was shell out big bucks to go see my idiot doctor, who would no doubt blame my cough on my weight, or demand I get an MRI. WHAT PART OF NO INSURANCE DON’T YOU UNDERSTAND???
I decided to take the middle ground and instead pay much less money to a nurse practioner at a local pharmacy (they call it a “minute clinic”) to listen to me cough.
Of course, while I was there, I barely coughed. Dammit.
Anyway, he didn’t think I had an infection, but the cough had gone on for an unusually long time. And started not long after I started taking a new prescription…a prescription in which 4-7% of patients experience “upper respiratory irritation and cough.” Crap.
The good news is that if it IS that, it’s an easy fix: switch to a different medication
The bad news is that I’m going to have to go back to idiot doctor (expensive) and explain the NP’s theory and have her switch my meds (frustrating).
In the meantime, I have little pearl pills that will supposedly supress my cough. But so far no, no luck yet. Dammit.
I am so tired of coughing. I am so TIRED! I cough at night. It wakes me up. It wakes KEVIN up. If the cough doesn’t go away in a week, it will be idiot doctor time.
*cough*
Tags: cough
12 Responses to “hack! hork!”
-
Brittany Newberry
UGH……..I friggin HATE coughing. It is so gosh darn annoying!!!! That sucks.
-
Jane
Hah! i found my way into your comments. I hope the pearls work. Enough with the coughing.
-
Nanette
Being the “survivor” of a cough that has now lasted 20+ years (no I’m NOT kidding or exaggerating), I can tell you that you learn to cope, but it’s never pleasant. The cough used to last 2 or 3 months each year, but about 4 years ago, it moved in and has not left for more than a day or two. I suck on cough drops approximately 16 hours a day and buy them in bulk. It doesn’t stop the cough, but it helps calm the throat so the coughing is tolerable and I can continue with my life. I’m pretty sure my current dental issues are due to having a sugary cough drop in my mouth during all of my waking hours.
I wish I could tell you that this too will pass, but I have spent too many years hoping against all hope to find a solution to this problem. I have been to allergists, gastrointerologists, ENTs, GPs, and am now undergoing testing under the care of a pulmonary specialist because I keep trying to find a cure for this damn cough. I have had 2 endoscopies, 2 allergy skin tests, and sinus surgery looking for a solution.
I have taken every cough medication known to man and the only one that works is a highly addictive narcotic that I can’t take on a regular basis, so I hoard what little I have and use it only as absolutely necessary.
I also have tried every nasal inhaler and nose spray that could help. I have been on allergy meds to see if that would help…all to no avail.
On Thursday, I go in for a Methylcholine Challenge test and a chest x-ray. If any of this sounds cheap and fun, it’s not. But I cough like a maniac every day of my life.
When I’m in public, I keep a cough drop in my mouth all the time so that people don’t think I’m contagious and shun me like a leper. Flying is especially fun.
So when you find a solution to your cough, rejoice! Know that your situation is better than mine and that you can throw the fact that you don’t cough anymore in my face!
Now quit your damn whining!
-
@Nanette - waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahaaaaahaaaaaaaaaaaa!!!!
-
The Chickengoddess
You do actually know a pharmacist who, oh, might have been able to help you figure that out if you had, oh, told her about the new med, and possibly saved you the time and cost of a trip to a clinic, and, well, I’m just sayin is all.
-
@The Chickengoddess - well, I might have mentioned it on Sunday if some Pharmacist friend hadn’t been all “blah blah blah my hat was destroyed blah blah Nell’s a genius” I couldn’t get two words in edgewise!
-
Josh
Primary Care Doctors always do one of these:
a. blame it on your weight
b. find a way to tie it in to “and how’s that weight loss program going”Interestingly, if a patient’s problems ARE weight-related, then if the patient loses the extra weight, the doctor will take down less money because the patient won’t be there as much.
If the cough starts as a tickle in the back of your throat, try one aspirin/advil. One of my doctors told me once that tickles leading to coughs are somehow related to the “pain” part of the brain that is blocked out by pain relievers, and it only takes a tiny amount to suppress them.
-
grace
Yuck. I hope your idiot doctor changes your medicine with little fuss and not too much $$.
-
Ktb38
Try some honeybush tea with honey. Helps me a lot.
-
Brittany Newberry
Oooooooooooo!!!!!!!!!!! I love honeybush tea!!!
(I’m SUCH a tea whore……..)
-
Ktb38
Me too! I have a HUGE addiction to tea. I just got some loose Blueberry rooibos that is AMAZING. And some Garden Dessert Rooibos that is fabolous. They were out of organic honeybush at the tea shop so that’s what I got instead. And some English breakfast.
-
The Chickengoddess
Sorry, I had a sugar rush from eating eleventy zillion of Dougs ginger scones. But srsly, you? Not being able to get a word in? Pull the other one, it has got bells on.
Leave a Reply
Subscribe
Recent Comments
-
The Chickengoddess on hack! hork!
-
Ktb38 on hack! hork!
-
Brittany Newberry on hack! hork!
-
-
grace on hack! hork!
