Cough fear

[steph25]

I have had a cough for ages, it's been almost a year now and I'm starting to worry about it again. It's always especially bad in the morning when I get up out of bed.

I have been to the doctors, they sent me for an x ray months ago and it came back clear so my doctor said 'it's just a cough'.

I do live in London (not central but I guess the pollution is still probably bad) and if I remember rightly when I went on holiday abroad in September my cough did go away and came back when I was back.

I do want to say that I haven't been anxious through this at all until now when I'm starting to worry about it.

I'm 29 and I don't smoke and I never had.

[Phuzella]

Dust mites maybe ?

[steph25]

I did notice on our carpet in the bedroom the other day that something had been 'eating' it. There's a chunk of carpet missing. Could that be dust mites?

[NervUs]

Well, that's a long time for a cough and a weird response from your doctor. You shouldn't have to live every day coughing.

I experienced the same thing- went 9 months coughing. My doctors were equally blase until I pushed for more testing. I did worry about lung cancer but, in my case, it was asthma. I developed asthma at 45 years old! Getting on a daily inhaler has fixed the cough, and I no longer cough.

As I was googling, though, the other main sources of persistent cough (other than asthma) are GERD and postnasal drip (maybe sinus problems?).

Personally I would ask my doc to get to the bottom of it, as coughing constantly is a drag and interferes with life. Just realize, it is not likely to be cancer, and knowing the right cause is necessary for getting the cough treated and getting it to go away, hopefully permanently.

[Carys]

Carpet moths! They chew lumps out of carpets, in corners and edges. Go around the very edge of your carpet looking right at the edge of the skirting board, down in the gap where skirting board and carpet meet. If you see some long white egg sacs, they are about 5mm long and shaped like a cigar, then you have carpet moths.

---------- Post added at 20:33 ---------- Previous post was at 20:29 ----------

I too would be asking for a referral, this is a long time to be coughing and I don't blame you for being fed up (not that it sounds like anything serious of course, but theres no reason after so long to not find something to help you with this). Can you relate anything to when it started, moving to that house? A virus?

[steph25]

Thank you so much - I've had a look and a Google and we do indeed have carpet moths!

Could they be causing the coughing?

[Carys]

We had some and they didn't affect me, but I have heard that people can have allergies to carpet moths. Is it in your bedroom ? I would still ask for a referral though :) (then you can see if attacking and dealing with the moths works or not first). Dust mites are another good lead though.....if you are thinking about allergies.

[steph25]

It is in my bedroom.

I will go back to the doctors, thank you

[Carys]

Its a def. possibility then. You will have to somehow deal with the moths too (otherwise your carpet will get wrecked), a good start is vaccumming every single day with the nozzle head of the vaccum cleaner, round the very edges and corners really well. You can buy pheremone traps that are mean to attract the adult moths, but they didn't work that well for us. Apart from that...contact a local pest controller and ask what they offer?

edited to add.....the moths only breed in the places which don't get vacuumed regularly....like corners and close to the skirting boards.

[steph25]

The carpet that has been attacked is under furniture like bedside table which I don't move that often so I will start doing that. Thank you so much for your help

---------- Post added at 20:54 ---------- Previous post was at 20:49 ----------

One more thing - what should I ask for a referall too? After I had a chest x ray done and it was all clear my doctor had said there was nothing else to check

[Carys]

Personally I would, but its your choice, it seems its really getting to you after so long.....my husband had an odd cough for 6 months and they found he has a post viral 'over reaction' of mucous in his chest and sinuses. A spray and an inhaler for a few months sorted it. I'm not saying you have this of course, but there must be something they can give to try and help clear it up and find out what the cause is? As for the lung cancer.....nope...you'd be much more ill by now a year later with multiple more symptoms (AND it would have shown up)

[steph25]

I wasn't too worried about lung cancer oddly. I used to have severe health anxiety about a year ago and had CBT and really been fine for months now regarding my anxiety. I also lost my gran 2 months ago to lung cancer and I saw how quickly it progressed and since I've had it for so long and not got really ill lung cancer hasn't worried me.

It's just a pain really and I want to get rid of it

[Phuzella]

Dust mites are found in your bedding. Try hoovering mattress and washing sheets etc at high temperatures .

[Carys]

Oh sorry, the lung cancer thing came from me then, I have seen so many here recently that have been worried about that....I assumed. My apologies, and condolences about your Grandma.

[au Lait]

I cough pretty regularly due to allergies. I didn’t develop any allergy issues until I was an adult. My cough seems to change depending on my environment as well.

The fact that it went away and came back when you were traveling indicates that there is an environmental factor. There is a lot of air pollution in a big city, even if you’re living in the outskirts. That’s the most likely cause, especially considering that you’ve had X-rays that came back clear.

Have you tried seeing if the cough responds to allergy medication?

[WiseMonkey]

Coughs that are ongoing can be for a variety of reasons, most of them not serious.

Other members have mentioned some, but if you have autoimmune conditions it can predispose you to coughs. This could be due to dryness issues, eg dry mouth.

I cough quite regularly too. Mine is a combo of teaching and exposure to lots of germs and also having CFS and dryness issues. I find that after a virus, it takes at least 3 months for a cough to resolve.

As the others have said, a chest X-ray will pick up lung cancer. A teacher at my school was diagnosed through a chest X-ray.

[steph25]

Thank you everyone for your replies.

I haven't tried allergy stuff and I think I will try that.

I have a doctors appointment tomorrow (for something different - just a follow up after a hysteroscopy) and I'll mention it to him.

[steph25]

Just thought I'd update since I'm really pleased I was told to go back because I wasn't sure whether too or not.

I had another x ray done last week along with blood tests and a phlegm test. I have had a call from the doctors today saying not to panic but they have got my x ray results back and want me to book a routine appointment. So I guess that means they've found something and I wasn't going crazy but it's not serious otherwise they would have called me in straight away.