A forum for people who suffer from chronic or persistent coughs to share ideas... these don't have any sort of official approval so you try any of them out at your own risk. I've consigned some of the more unusual ones I received to the Oddities bin on the left. I've also listed very simple remedies separately. If you're a sufferer, good luck, and please report back by commenting on the particular posting if you find success. Or just comment to the most recent posting and I will pick it up.

Wednesday, March 15, 2017

Latest update

I'm now at a settled stage with my cough - I know what it's about, and I know there's a change coming ... just got to be patient.

I recently had a review session with Prof.Woodcock at Wythenshawe. They're now pretty much settled on the idea that my cough, and that of many other people, is a neurological condition, characterised by hyper-responsiveness of the nerves. What I take that to mean is that there's nothing mechanically wrong with any bit of my airwaves, just that it over-responds to the slightest trigger, and at the moment there's no way of calming that down - but help is on the way when the ATP drug that is still being trialled is approved and becomes available, in about three years time. (I've posted elsewhere about my positive experience with the drug trial).

The profs have recently published what's supposed to be the definitive summary of the cough story so far in Clinical Medicine, the Journal of the Royal College of Physicians.  It's called "Towards Understanding and Managing Chronic Cough."  I'm going to try to put a link to it here, but if that doesn't work please try to Google it. It's interesting. 

Don't get me wrong, the cough is still a big nuisance and blights my life often, but I'm confident it's nothing too sinister and probably will not develop that way (who knows what the future holds?).  

My top tips for coping with the cough??? No.1 is Try not to worry about it too much ... 2/ I find Airwaves chewing gum helps a lot - not the prettiest thing to be doing at my age but it keeps me lubricated 3/ same reason, drink plenty of water (and white wine and soda in a green bottle passes for water at the theatre!) 4/ Fishermen's Friends, a good old product from the North of England, also help to keep the tubes clear 5/ explain your problem to your friends - they should be supportive and helpful. 

With simple measures like that I've learnt to live with this damn cough (as has my long-suffering wife!) and so I intend to get on with enjoying myself ... that means making as much music as I possibly can with as many friends as I can!!!

Best regards to all out there in the Cough Community 😊
 
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