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10 Things Your Primary Care Doctor Does That Should Make You Run for the Hills
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Dr. Orrange received her BA in Biology at the University of California, San Diego, and a Masters Degree in Health Sciences at the Johns Hopkins University School of Public Health. She received her MD from the USC Keck School of…
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The Persistent Dry Cough....What the heck is it?
A complaint of a dry cough that won't go away brings many of you in to the physician's office. The 3 most common causes of cough lasting more than 3 weeks in adults are: gastro esophageal reflux disease (GERD), post-nasal drip from allergies, and reactive airway disease (asthma). Many of us, however, worry that it could be something more sinister. Let me try and talk you out of worrying that your cough is really caused by one of the following illnesses:
1) Pneumonia: People in my office worry about viral, bacterial and fungal causes all of which are unlikely in the absence of other symptoms like fever, body aches, fatigue, and shortness of breath....in other words you should feel SICK.
2) Tuberculosis: Unlikely unless you also have night sweats, weight loss and fatigue but it's a good thought especially if you were just travelling in a less developed country or where I work in East Los Angeles.
3) Lung Cancer: Could be, but you should also have a history of smoking, blood tinged sputum, pain in the chest, or weight loss. Asbestos exposure would make your concerns even more valid.
4) Blood clot in the lung (pulmonary emboli): Unlikely unless you also have swelling in one of your legs (a deep venous thrombosis which would be the source of your lung clot), blood tinged sputum, or you get winded easily. A sharp pain in the chest that's worse when you take a breath in (pleuritic chest pain) would also be a good thing to worry about.
5) Pulmonary fibrosis/ Interstitial Lung Disease: Unlikely unless you have shortness of breath when you exert yourself and when you lie down at night or unexplained weight loss.
6) Mass in the upper airway: It could be, since a lesion that compresses the upper airway could give you a cough but that would be so unlucky and possibly reportable in the medical literature.
7) Foreign body in the ear: The "ear-cough" could be the cause of your cough if you have a foreign body or wax irritating the external auditory canal which leads to your cough by stimulation of the vagus nerve.
8) Sarcoidosis: Before you worry about this you should look out for chest pain, shortness of breath, skin or eye lesions and maybe even joint pain.
9) Medication side effect: This could be your issue particularly if you are on an Ace Inhibitor (Lisinopril, Enalapril, Ramipril, etc). An annoying dry cough is a very common side effect of Ace Inhibitors so ask your doctor about this.
As someone who has waves of hypochondriasis I have talked myself in to a few of these..... but kidding aside, the symptom of cough is responsible for 30 million physician visits a year in the United States, so we don't mind if you come in to see us to check it out.
- Dr O.
1) Pneumonia: People in my office worry about viral, bacterial and fungal causes all of which are unlikely in the absence of other symptoms like fever, body aches, fatigue, and shortness of breath....in other words you should feel SICK.
Is it a Cold, Flu, or Allergies?
Take the Winter Aliment Quiz from Sharecare and find out now.
Take the Winter Aliment Quiz from Sharecare and find out now.
2) Tuberculosis: Unlikely unless you also have night sweats, weight loss and fatigue but it's a good thought especially if you were just travelling in a less developed country or where I work in East Los Angeles.
3) Lung Cancer: Could be, but you should also have a history of smoking, blood tinged sputum, pain in the chest, or weight loss. Asbestos exposure would make your concerns even more valid.
4) Blood clot in the lung (pulmonary emboli): Unlikely unless you also have swelling in one of your legs (a deep venous thrombosis which would be the source of your lung clot), blood tinged sputum, or you get winded easily. A sharp pain in the chest that's worse when you take a breath in (pleuritic chest pain) would also be a good thing to worry about.
5) Pulmonary fibrosis/ Interstitial Lung Disease: Unlikely unless you have shortness of breath when you exert yourself and when you lie down at night or unexplained weight loss.
6) Mass in the upper airway: It could be, since a lesion that compresses the upper airway could give you a cough but that would be so unlucky and possibly reportable in the medical literature.
7) Foreign body in the ear: The "ear-cough" could be the cause of your cough if you have a foreign body or wax irritating the external auditory canal which leads to your cough by stimulation of the vagus nerve.
8) Sarcoidosis: Before you worry about this you should look out for chest pain, shortness of breath, skin or eye lesions and maybe even joint pain.
9) Medication side effect: This could be your issue particularly if you are on an Ace Inhibitor (Lisinopril, Enalapril, Ramipril, etc). An annoying dry cough is a very common side effect of Ace Inhibitors so ask your doctor about this.
As someone who has waves of hypochondriasis I have talked myself in to a few of these..... but kidding aside, the symptom of cough is responsible for 30 million physician visits a year in the United States, so we don't mind if you come in to see us to check it out.
- Dr O.
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I have had this dry cough for a week no cold or flu,not everyday just on and off.Any recommendations.
Posted on 11/28/09 02:12:32 am
I have been on TX for 38 weeks now and have developed a Smokers cough. A dry hacking gagging cough. I understand that this can be from the TX. What concerns me is the first round of TX I developed the same cough and it turned out to be thyroid cancer.
Posted on 04/25/08 08:39:41 pm
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Let me tell you what DOES NOT work. Cough medicine, either over the counter or prescription, it only makes you cough more and harder, cough drops, MusinexDM. Prescription strength ibuprofen is the only thing that will give you respite from the cough for up to four hours. After I was diagnosed positive, they also gave me a two-day prescription for Dexamethasone, which really helps supress the cough.
If you experience these symptoms, strongly urge your Dr to run this test for you, before you infect everyone you know, like I did.
Dear Dr. O. Thank you for your articles. Very interesting and helpful.
Your thoughts on mold and fungi infections. I was exposed to serious mold and didn't handle it properly. Soon after I started to get white foam in my mouth. Pure white and sometimes thick white like beaten egg whites.
After no luck with my doctor who kind of blew it off and hundreds of hours searching the internet, over a period of 2-1/2 years, I finally came across information that made sense.
www.knowthecause.com by Doug Kaufmann on FUNGI and MOLD infections.
Another site used by doctors www.drfungus.org and click on human link.
Mind blowing information.
I hope you get a chance to check it out.
I have been using a nasal spray with grapefruit seed extract in it by Nutribiotics. I will not use OTC sprays with rebound effects. It doesn't work as quickly on a stuffy nose like the OTC sprays but I think killing the fungi is more important. Be patient.
I want to kill the fungi/mold infection. I have started using Olive Leaf by a company recommended by other great doctors with terrific sites like yours. www.SeagateProducts.com I hope your readers will take the time to investigate the MOLD/FUNGI CONNECTION to Asthma, lung and a host of other medical issues.
It's taken me going on 4 years now to find a solution to my Candida Yeast Overload Infection and I do have to go on a strict diet avoiding all sugar, yeast products ect. all listed in books by Doug Kaufmann found on his Know the Cause website or Amazon.com.
I have made some changes to my diet but I have to commit to a few months of strict diet changes.
Happy New Year to you and all your readers for taking control of your own health.
Regards, LucyEbony
I was concerned about TB because I recently spent close to 6 months in Guyana and was exposed to it(some neighbors had it). I have not really had any fevers though so I figured it might be something else. I don't really want to go back to the med center though because they have not helped me so far. It doesn't seem like it is getting worse quickly but it is annoying! I have had pneumonia several times in the past and know it is not that. Also with my running more I would expect my lungs to improve but they don't seem to be?? Any advice or suggestions?
Sometimes a persistant cough can be a clue and I worry that, like my doc, others may dismiss a symptom because it is so common.
Ilene
He added Atrovent Nasal Spray to help dry stuff up, and it helped relieve the cough from the Post Nasal Drip! Already on Zyrtec and Singulair, plus added in some Benadryl on top of it.
Allergies are out of control in Ohio right now! My son has this dry cough now, and I added Mucinex to his regime with some results. He's on Zyrtec too. Try to give him a squirt or two of the Nasal Spray, but he doesn't like it, but he plays football, and all the dust and pollen in the field get all kicked up when he practices and plays too.
1) the Proton Pump inhibitors (omeprazole which is prilosec, nexium prevacid, protonix, etc) are used to treat the dry cough believed to be from reflux (GERD) and can be taken long term. There are studies done on elderly (over 70) patients in nursing homes that show some bone loss with long term proton pump inhibitor use.
2) For the dry cough from post nasal drip the intranasal steroid sprays are used (flonase, nasacort, nasonex) and will relieve the cough...you can also try an over the counter non sedating anti-histamine like claritin or zyrtec.
Dr O.
As for the post nasal drip, what can alleviate that? It really affects my voice. I love to sing, but the gunk makes my voice scratchy.
So exactly what kind of "foreign body" could possibly be in the ear to cause this besides ear wax???