The 100 day cough!

To those gran’s who can’t get a doctor’s appointment, have you thought to try a walk in centre? I had to go to our local one last Saturday evening. I was seen by a nurse practitioner who was very thorough, and then by a doctor who managed to sort out my problem. Couldn’t have asked for better care.

Andovernan, if you had taken the time to browse Gransnet, you would have noticed that there are interesting threads and many supportive posters.
I have made a fair number of friends over the years.

As for the cough, unless you have experienced it, you have no idea how debilitating it can be.
I have COPD and am on lifetime, prophylactic antibiotics, anti reflux medication, diuretics ( fluid in lungs and round heart) and three inhalers, all to no avail. At Christmas my GP prescribed Doxcycicline, which helped get rid of the cough for a week, it's back with a vengeance! That's eleven months of coughing!

Very dismissive to say it's all gloom and doom., BTW.

Andovernan you were reading a thread on the Health forum so what do you expect??
As MOnicasuggested, have a look at the many options available to read on Gransnet. It's not all 'doom' as you call it.
Welcome to Gransnet.

Andovernan there is more than one thread on GN. If this one depresses you then read others. Although I am not sure that uplifting inspiration to do with being a grandparent is quite our scene either.

The main thing (possibly the only thing) we have in common is that we are old enough to have grandchildren, even if we do not actually have them. This means we are probably, all but a few, over 45 and the oldest member(s) is over 100.

Also do not dismiss other peoples's health problems with such indifference. What most of us have had is something far more serious than a 2 week cough. Had you read all this thread, or media references you would know that it is probably whooping cough and what we have is something that makes us feel extremely unwell for 2 months or more.

i hav done my 100 days and am now, thankfully back in good health and firing on all cylinders. But what I, and DH had is considerably more than a 'cough for a week or two'.

100 day cough has been mentioned quite widely in the media, so I am surprised you have not seen references to it.

I'd not heard of '100 day cough', but at one time some of the colds or flu attacks I caught would end up with a marathon cough, about 8 weeks in some cases? I haven't had that effect for some years now, the germs clear up in a reasonable time.

BUT -- many decades ago, I had a chest infection, white marks on the lungs. That I think leads to these marathon coughs, if and when they do appear, and to clear them up I've been given the antibiotic erythromycin, works well for me.

When I had Covid in 2020, I coughed for three months - mid March to mid June - there were no tests then, but I had all the well known symptoms so I knew what it was. If there had been tests then, I suspect I would only have shown up positive for maybe 7-10 days of this period. So maybe you have had Covid and been left with the cough?

I've had a persistent cough several times over the years ,I read somewhere to suck fisherman's friends and I was amazed they really help with the coughing,

New to Gransnet. Not a Facebook/media person, I've never posted anything in my life. Was hoping for uplifting inspiration to do with being a grandparent. Seems doom and gloom. I've had a cough for 2 weeks now but what can you do but get on with it? Cheer up all, please 🙏

I take a daily PPI for acid reflux and haven't coughed since, that is until I developed this one.
DH and I went out for lunch today and I felt quite embarrassed by my cough. Fortunately there were only 5 tables occupied while we were there.
Still coughing, shows no sign of easing .

Are you on statins? I found to my amazement recently that a cough sometimes accompanied by a sore throat is one of the symptoms of long term use of statins.

Sometimes the medics put you on the cheap statins like Atorvastatin. I am told that Rosuvastatin is more expensive but had fewer intrusive side effects.

I told my DH this ( I learned it at a Christmas lunch from other women whose husbands suffered the cough) and he is now on Rosuvastatin.

I had a bad persistent cough after a cold around five years ago. Went to the docs after it got so bad I would fight for breath and he said they were seeing it a lot that year and were prescribing ventolin. It worked after 4 days of use but since then I have had a "no reason" cough occasionally.

Whooping cough was the original " cough of one hundred days " .
Lasted 3 months.
Vaccines have made it extremely rare now though it does occur.
All coughs have the potential to last a long time however annoying they are .

I don't suppose Charles and Kate had to wait so long.

I had a cough from June to December a few years ago. Turns out it was whooping cough. I remember whooping once and had absolutely no idea!

Missed this off my message, I found a tsp of Sloe or Damson Gin helped me enormously like cough mixture only nicer!

A family member on antidepressants and really needed to consult with the GP, this was before Christmas. Said there was no telephone consultations with thus particular GP until March! As an ex Drs receptionist I have never heard anything so ridiculous. The family member just stopped taking the medication because of this!

A persistent cough and sore throat is often a sign of reflux disease, especially at night. I didn’t have any idea about this as never suffered with indigestion but after an examination by ENT they diagnosed reflux.

I had a persistent cough for 9 months last year and it’s exhausting. I have the condition bronchiecstatis which was diagnosed 5 years ago. The consultant said if I had an infection I needed to have a 10 day course of antibiotics.
I had several GP appts over the 9 months I had the cough - everytime they listened to my chest and declared it to be beautifully clear and no antibiotics were required. The last GP treated me for post nasal drip but that treatment didn’t do anything. She also referred me for a chest x-ray. Came back within a few days, guess what something showed up, possibly an infection of the lung. I know doctors are reluctant to prescribe unnecessary antibiotics but after getting them the cough went within a week or so and the second X-ray came back clear.
So to any GPs out there looks like a lung infections doesn’t always show up using a stethoscope.
I’m hoping I don’t catch the current coughing virus going round as I don’t want the cycle to start all over again 😕

I see there is a vaccination for over 65s who suffered each year from severe cough/ chest infections etc. it’s called RSV. My husband has very low immunity so I’m going to try to get through to our surgery to see if/when it’s available

I had a 6 week really bad cough, where I couldn't stop sometimes, and it made things weak below - shall we say . I had it three years ago, went to the docs and they said just a cough - then got it 2 years ago, same time, and they sent me for xrays etc. Apparently I have mild COPD, so I'm glad I went again. Best to get it checked - even if ends up nothing, peace of mind is a lovely thing.

Yes I had it for over 3 months - a horrid choking cough which has just gone. My granddaughter and son had it too and she was diagnosed with whooping cough so I think it’s the same thing. I know lots of people who have had it for months and antibiotics don’t shift it

I’m like you, only a cough, tickly, forever coughing night & day. Started off as a sore throat too. Very tiring & exhausting. 🤞 it doesn’t last 100 days, though I too had heard of this, I’m sure people at work had it before Christmas

I read that the cough lingers after the infection because it leaves your respiratory tract inflamed and irritated. So the last time I got a cold a few weeks ago I figured that Ibuprofen should help, because it’s an anti- inflammatory. I began to take 2, 4 times a day. It worked, in a couple of days the cough had almost gone. When my son caught it he tried it too and it worked. But you have to treat it as a course of treatment and take it regularly for a few days.

I've had the cough too, weeks and weeks. Two lots of Amoxycillin, steroids too. Mine turned into a chest infection that wouldn't go away. Poor husband was coughing too, but his was viral, so steam and Honey & lemon drinks.
Exhausted from broken sleep, both of us !

I had a cough for 5 years, all the docs would do is give me antibiotics, I asked several times to see the respiratory clinic, but instead would be prescribed antibiotics. One day I finally, exhausted demanded to see a respiritary clinic, the doc looked up from what he was writing nd asked, do you want to go today our an emergency appointment in two weeks? I said today!! I turned out I had TB and was kept in hospital for a week, then had two years off anti biotics until I was clear!! Hope no one else has that!