Do you think it's whooping cough?

Question

A week and a half ago I was home sick for 3 days. I had headaches, muscle pains and I just didn't feel right. A few days later I started coughing alot, I am still coughing! It's a terrible cough, I don't know whether to think it's a cold or something more serious. The only thing that makes me think it isn't a cold it that there is like no mucus to cough up, it's just a dry cough and an all day sort of cough, it gets worse at night when I lay down or when I laugh. Any suggestions as to what it might be?

Answer 1

Whooping cough is MISSED by a lot of doctors too!!

Our whole EMS company had it, and they missed it at the doctor's offices, AND the hospitals. in fact, it was QUITE prevalent in the county and until a few years later, they denied it was EVEN possible, OR that we were exposed to it, or that we had it even when we kept trying to tell them that it sounded like we had it.

Usually with whooping cough, the cough is drawn out....and it almost sounds like you stop breathing....it sounds SIMILAR to croup...with the high-pitched kind of cough....but, not quite. hard to explain.

It has a "whooping sound" usually when the person breaths in after the long coughing fit....alot of coughing in a row, followed by 1 breath with a WHOOOOOOP sound it it. kind of like the opposite of croup.


"Although whooping cough can occur at any age, it's most severe in unimmunized children and in infants under 1 year of age (early immunization can usually prevent this serious disease in babies). But more cases have been reported in teens and adults, because their immunity has faded since their original vaccination. That's why the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) recently recommended that kids who are 11-18 years old get a booster shot that includes a pertussis vaccine, preferably when they are 11 to 12 years old.
Signs and Symptoms

The first symptoms of whooping cough are similar to those of a common cold:

* runny nose
* sneezing
* mild cough
* low-grade fever


Adults and adolescents with whooping cough may have milder or atypical symptoms, such as a prolonged cough without the coughing spells or the whoop.
Contagiousness

Pertussis is highly contagious. The bacteria spread from person to person through tiny drops of fluid from an infected person's nose or mouth. These may become airborne when the person sneezes, coughs, or laughs. Other people then can become infected by inhaling the drops or getting the drops on their hands and then touching their mouths or noses. Infected people are most contagious during the earliest stages of the illness up to about 2 weeks after the cough begins. Antibiotics shorten the period of contagiousness to 5 days following the start of antibiotic treatment.

Incubation

The incubation period (the time between infection and the onset of symptoms) for whooping cough is usually 7 to 10 days, but can be as long as 21 days.
Duration

Pertussis can cause prolonged symptoms. The child usually has 1 to 2 weeks of common cold symptoms first. This is followed by approximately 2 to 4 weeks of severe coughing, though the coughing spells can sometimes last even longer. The last stage consists of another several weeks of recovery with gradual resolution of symptoms. In some children, the recovery period may last for months.
Professional Treatment

Call the doctor if you suspect that your child has whooping cough. To make a diagnosis, the doctor will take a medical history, do a thorough physical exam, and take nose and throat mucus samples that will be sent to a laboratory and examined and cultured for B. pertussis bacteria. Blood tests and a chest X-ray may also be done.

If your child has whooping cough, it will be treated with antibiotics, usually for 2 weeks. Many experts believe that the medication is most effective in shortening the infection when it's given in the first stage of the illness, before coughing spells begin. But even if antibiotics are started later, they're still important because they can stop the spread of the pertussis infection to others. Ask your child's doctor whether preventive antibiotics or vaccine boosters for other family members are needed."

from the website: http://www.kidshealth.org/parent/infections/bacterial_viral/whooping_cough.html
Hope this helps (ps, even though it Says CHILD for treatment, they mean ADULT too)

Answer 2

Honestly, it's probably just a cough. It may be residual from your cold you had a couple of weeks ago. It's cold outside now in most places and cold dry air never helps a cough.

Unless you have a high fever, start coughing up yellow/green mucous, have trouble breathing, I'd just wait it out. Robitussin or some other cough suppressant will help.

The ER is not the place to go. You will just sit there and wait as other people with more urgent problems get treated. If you feel like you need to see a doctor, call your primary care provider. They usually save an appointment slot or two for "emergencies."

Answer 3

It could be lingering effects if the flu, but you might have bronchitis. Sometimes the flu morphs into this. Its definitely not whooping cough - the coughing in whooping cough is unmistakable -it doesn't even sound human. Use a humidifier (or vaporizer) and cough suppressant and see if that helps. If things haven't improved by Christmas, then its probably time to make an appointment with the doc.

Answer 4

???? I think you're joking about the frog thing, but if you do have Whooping Cough- I had Whooping Cough as a child- steam does help. A vaporizer with mint or eucalyptus in it should help, and the herb Slippery Elm with soothe your throat and is harmless even by the spoonful- don't inhale it though- you'll cough more.. a teaspoon of slippery elm in honey should help.

Answer 5

whooping cough is diagnosed by a doctor and tests. go to the ER.

Answer 6

we can't listen to your lungs or when you cough. go to your doc. it could be whooping cough or anything really