The Cough

I've had a cough since about December of 2019.  There's times it's been on the wane since that time. I brought it to my Dr.'s attention the summer of 2020.  He thought it was allergies.  Claritin helped but it only reduced the cough some. I think that it has something to do with post-nasal drip like when I clear my throat.

Let's talk about the cough.  First of all, I DON'T WANT to cough.  Coughing once is like seeing 1 insect.  If I cough once, I will cough over and over after that (with insects if you see one, there's plenty of them you don't see).  Sometimes, it feels like when I inhale there's a speck that just sticks to my throat out of nowhere, and I cough and cough.  But while I don't want to cough, I can't repress the cough, because the irritant goes deeper, and I not only cough, but I gag.

Another important principle I know is that since the cough is caused by an irritant, the cough is tolerable as long as it doesn't move down the trachea. Coughing is ok.  When it's further down the trachea, I will start to gag.  I had to gag today, and it still feels sore from that gagging. When I gag, my eyes water, the stomach acid comes up to irritate my air passage even more, and I have to rush and pop an antacid.  

The only thing I do is take cherry cough drops (and they MUST be cherry or they don't help AT ALL!).  That reduces the amount of time I cough.  I cough in bed just like I could cough at any time of the day.  I worry about what the cough drops will do to my teeth.  As we know, if you have a sweet substance in your mouth, that is bad during bedtime.  Sugar in mouth + nighttime = cavities and tooth decay.  

I go through many cough drops.  Sometimes, if I am not coughing but I still have a big cough drop in my mouth, I take the cough drop out of my mouth, take the wrapper it came in and rewrap it for the next time I cough.  Because, there will ALWAYS BE A NEXT TIME!!! Today, was frustrating.  I thought I was done coughing and rewrapped the cough drop. No sooner did I finish wrapping, then I had to rush the cough drop back in my mouth, because I was coughing again. 

There isn't a day that goes by that I don't cough.  Some days that are really good, I cough a few times a day.  If it's bad, I will go through 12 -15 cough drops.  It will involve gagging several times.  It seems worse when I go to work.  Our carpet in our hospital telemetry rooom is really dirty and very old.  I'm coughing as I write, and I have to stop because now I gagged.  Today was a bad day.   :(  

Now, I'm better.  Should I put away the cough drop because I don't feel like coughing???  Better wait awhile.  My stomach is unsettled because of gagging. 

Also, it means that I shouldn't eat something that I love like chocolate malts, because that thickens my mucous and causes more coughing. Nothing like being prevented from enjoying the things you love!

So, I had a chest x-ray and will have a pulmonary(lung) function test once it gets scheduled. I feel like the realization that the cough is due mostly to post-nasal drip then if they can thoroughly stop the post-nasal drip, then it would seem like I would stop coughing.  

I hope and pray that happens.