Cough after a cold - 3 weeks later?!

[tan235]

Hi There,
I've had a pretty rough cold, took me about 3 weeks to get over and I'm now left with a cough - mucousy cough and I'm always clearing my throat.
Someone said to me, 'Maybe you have a bacterial infection,' and now my anxiety is through the roof!
I can't get to the Dr till Tuesday next week - has anyone else had a wet cough after a cold?
I have heaps of post nasal drip so wondering if it's that?
This isn't common for me - I normally don't have a cough that lasts this long - or clearing my throat like an old man every 5 minutes - anyone else??
HELP!

[MyNameIsTerry]

Different viruses can mean different patterns. When I had my merry Xmas cold (:mad:) it was different to the more common pattern I see in them. My parents had it too and said the same.

It was like it went & came back so it went on over a longer period than normal.

If you've got mucus, it can irritate your throat & lungs hence coughing, throat clearing, etc. As an asthma sufferer, I'm very used to having a week or so after a cold with chesty mucus. If it turns coloured (yellow/green) it can be a sign of infection my GP's always told me (to monitor my asthma as years ago I needed antibiotics and even steroids when I had chest infections) but it's easily treated.

Get plenty of vitamin C. Spread it out throughout the day. It's prevented me needing antibiotics for years now when I've has throat & chest infections. Not that I'm saying don't use meds, just that it's safe & it may help.

There might be some useful over the counter remedies too. We always use an old fashioned honey & balsam cough linctus and it does help. They do it in lozenges too.

Gargling with warm salt water also helps me with mucus. Another old fashioned remedy.

Ginger is good for throats. Lemon too. I found squashes helped with a throat infection.

Honey is supposed to be good.

[vincy]

I have had a cough that comes and goes (comes, more often than not) for years. There are so many different reasons for something like that.

My dad and uncles ALL have a lot of phlegm, no matter the time of year, pretty much always. I just recently learned how to clear my throat (I never knew how, is that weird?) and I discovered that I could have just been clearing my throat this whole time instead of coughing! Turns out that I have whatever every other male in my family has!

Sometimes stuff like that is just there. It is more than likely nothing serious.

[Phuzella]

It's hay fever season too :)

[WiredIncorrectly]

I don't know about anyone else but in the UK it's pretty cold. I had to turn the radiators on.

@OP Sounds normal to be honest. Your body is getting rid of the junk after a cold. My son had a cold a few months ago and it took almost 2 months for his cough to go.

[ankietyjoe]

There's a cough like that in the UK at the moment that lasts weeks, if not months.

If you had a bacterial infection, you'd probably know about it. And even if you did it's just a matter of taking a course of antibiotics.

[braginskaya]

I once had a lingering cough which lasted almost a year. Never bothered seeing a doctor for it as it very obviously started with a bad cold I had, but that didn't stop me worrying I had everything from asthma to lung cancer. Eventually it just went away by itself.