i am a wet blanket today

[initforlove5]

so feel free to ignore this

I am just failing so miserably

no matter what i try - nothing is helping in any way

my coughing/choking/breathing fits are worse than ever and no matter what i try I cannot do anything but stuff myself full of huge blocks of chocolate just be able to breathe

i just wish I could have one day with no breathing/choking/coughing fits
- just one day! just a little tiny bit of rest from it

and its something that doctors cannot comprehend and so they all think i am making it up

I have severely reduced all food groups - I am left with just a chicken and cucumber salad and a cup of coffee

I dont dare to even have a fruit or a red vegetable and i dont dare to have anything with carbs in it and still i keep getting these coughing/choking/breathing fits all the damn time and nothing but huge blocks of chocolate lets me breathe a little

I so HATE my life

[sinders]

that sounds really weid, which i could offer some help. I read in one of my books that coltsfoot tea is very good for bronchitis, maybe it might help have you thought of tying the health shop. ill have a look in my herbal books and see if i can come up with anything, apart from chocholate.

[Sherrie]

Have they checked you for reflux etc?

[sinders]

hi when you are coughing do you cough up mucas. just a thought came across this

What Are the Signs and Symptoms of COPD?
The signs and symptoms of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) include:

Cough
Sputum (mucus) production
Shortness of breath, especially with exercise
Wheezing (a whistling or squeaky sound when you breathe)
Chest tightness
A cough that doesn't go away and coughing up lots of mucus are common signs of COPD. These often occur years before the flow of air in and out of the lungs is reduced. However, not everyone with a cough and sputum production goes on to develop COPD, and not everyone with COPD has a cough.

The severity of the symptoms depends on how much of the lung has been destroyed. If you continue to smoke, the lung destruction is faster than if you stop smoking.

[Sherrie]

I get really chesty and flemy cough from certain foods, still not 100% sure on what it is exactly (e.g. they don't all contain a common ingredient such as dairy) , started getting it from yoghurt too now. Maya gets it from yoghurt and Ryans gets short of breath from certain brands of milk.

I hate it because it often happens when I eat out. First started happening with Chinese and has just gone on from there.

Don't know if thats similar to what you get?

My mum used to get coughing fits and asthma attacks at one stage (besides her smoking coughing fits lol) and found out it was reflux or something like that.

[Sherrie]

Hows your iron?

Chronic cough? Iron deficiency could be to blame



By Julie Steenhuysen

CHICAGO (Reuters) - Instead of cough drops, some women may need to reach for an iron supplement to treat that pesky cough, Italian researchers said on Tuesday.

The study, presented at the scientific meeting of the American College of Chest Physicians in Chicago, suggests iron deficiency may help explain why some otherwise healthy, non-smoking women had persistent coughs.

Tests on women with chronic coughs and iron deficiency showed that a simple iron supplement often cleared up the cough, said Dr. Caterina Bucca of the University of Turin and colleagues.

Bucca said women also are more likely than men to suffer from otherwise unexplained chronic coughs.

"We put the two together," Bucca said in a telephone interview. "Cough is much more frequent in women and iron deficiency is very frequent in women due to pregnancy and menses."

In addition, immune function can be affected by iron deficiency, which is defined as having low iron levels, sometimes to the point of anemia.

Bucca and colleagues studied 16 women with chronic cough who were found to have normal lung function, with no signs of asthma or other respiratory disease and no evidence of acid stomach reflux that could explain their coughing.

All had iron deficiencies.

And they all had signs of swelling in the back of the mouth and red, inflamed mucous membranes. Their vocal cords were also very sensitive, making them cough and choke easily, such as after vigorous laughing.

Bucca gave these women iron supplements to improve their iron stores. When these had normalized -- after about two months -- they were checked again.

After iron supplementation, coughing and signs of inflammation in the mouth and vocal cords were improved or completely resolved.

"I found the hypersensitivity was nearly gone or vastly improved in all of the women," Bucca said.

Because iron helps regulate the production of proteins in the immune system that control inflammation, an iron deficiency might make the upper airway more prone to inflammation, leading to this chronic cough, Bucca reasoned.

She plans to study this association further, but she urges doctors who are stumped by women patients with chronic coughs to check for iron deficiency.

http://www.reuters.com/article/healt...34367320071023

[Sherrie]

Found the study: http://meeting.chestjournal.org/cgi/...act/132/4/468a

[initforlove5]

I am pleasantly surprised that you are being so helpful because I feel so alone

the coughing fit consists of unproductive cough - no mucus at all - nothing

it starts with that and the coughing can go for hours and hours without stopping and i cannot even get a breath in between the coughing

it proceeds to a productive cough after a few hours of the very painful non productive coughing and then the mucus runs from everything at once - tears, blowing nose and coughing up phlegm that reappears the second i clear it - and i cannot breathe in between that because i am spluttering so much. It actually feels like I am coughing up from some secondary reservoir that is secondary to the usual place you get mucus from when you cough. and it just refuses to clear. After hours of painful coughing i finally do clear it whatever it was

it proceeds to me being totally drained and flaking out for at least 15 hours sleep

I have been to endless doctors and specialists and health food shops and naturopaths and even a Chinese herbalist and acupuncture and have taken vitamin and mineral supplements on and off for ages and nothing makes any difference

these fits can start any time - even if I fast or if I eat - no matter what I do - if i am watching TV or trying to have exercise - I have not noticed a pattern at all

and doctors think I am making all this up because it is not something they can figure out so it has to be all my fault

I tell you I wish I could just die - at least then these coughing/breathing/choking fits would stop

[melvan]

Maybe it's something in your house, a detergent? mold?

[Sherrie]

That sounds really horrible

I'm worried about you just eating chicken and cucumber because you can only eat so much so you may be eating too little.

I wonder if it could be something environmental?

[initforlove5]

yes - it may be - but how to find out what?


oh and the only time i smoked was when i was in my mother's womb - i did not get a choice then

i also dont drink alcohol

[Sherrie]

http://cat.inist.fr/?aModele=afficheN&cpsidt=13733452

[Sherrie]

http://www.cdc.gov/nasd/docs/d001201...0/d001270.html

[Sherrie]

one more: http://www.hc-sc.gc.ca/ewh-semt/pubs...erieur-eng.php

[DOINGIT]

http://www.epler.com/whatsb.html

a friend of mine had this and yours sounds simmilar to what she presented with

go to another doctor and ask about these things taking the print out of these with you.
I often get coughing fits that are severe but only last 4-5 minutes and usually end with a barf!!
Not nice