Is there any such illness as a chronic cougher? (1 Viewer)

[Jay H]

I'm in the next cube of a person who is constantly coughing, constantly, I mean like once every minute or so, he'll cough a couple times. I don't think he is a smoker but I could be wrong. But a friend and I net send each other constantly when he gets into his coughing fits and it's wacky and somewhat strange how somebody can constantly live coughing and coughing. Is there some known illness or problem that I don't know about? It's really strange!

Jay

 

[JustinCleveland]

I've got a buddy like that I work with. We're both DJs, and he's turning his mic off on a regular basis. Neither of us smoke, only one person in the office does and she goes outside. He won't go to the doctor, but it could be a variety of factors, like alergies or a pollyp on the vocal chords.

And then again, it might just be psychological. Who knows.

 

[Leila Dougan]

Asthma and Acid Reflux can both cause coughing.

I had a horrible cough for years with at least one coughing fit a day. I never smoked or hung around others that smoked, didn't have allergies, and several doctors said they couldn't see anything wrong. Turns out I have asthma. Apparently my asthma is mild enough that it does not usually restrict my breathing but it does "tickle" the inside of my lungs, making me cough. Now I use my albuterol inhaler and the cough is completely gone.[

My husband also has a coworker that coughed a lot and had problems for many years and it turns out he has acid reflux. Never had felt any heartburn or any other symptoms. He started on medication and now is much better.

But of course it could be a wide variety of things, these are just two common causes.

 

[Philip_G]

bronchitis? I had a bout when I was a kid and still have a little chronic cough, well more so now because I'm sick.. but...
agreed with the asthma too.

While we're on the subject (kinda..)
I have a coworker that slurps about every minute, and it's SO VERY annoying.

 

[Chris Souders]

He could be taking ACE Inhibitor medications for high blood pressure, a common side effect of is cough.

 

[Ted Lee]

i used to work with a guy who was *constantly* picking his nose. everytime i walked by i could see him digging for gold.

sorry...back on topic....

 

[Philip_G]

TED!?! is that you??! long time no see buddy!!

 

[Ted Lee]

 

[Mark Zimmer]

For a couple years I had this constant hack that baffled the doctors (who admittedly weren't trying very hard since they didn't have to listen to me all day, every day). It turned out to be low-grade allergies. A bit of FloNase and problem solved.

 

[PhillJones]

Could be Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD). It's massively underdiagnossed and is potentially fatal. In fact, it's the forth biggest killer in the US.

 

[Jay H]

Well, perhaps it's asthma, the guy, nice enough anyway, is from Queens, NYC and commutes to NJ all day so he's probably breathing a lot of pollution from the traffic in NY. We're all too polite to say anything, but it is strange and worrisome if he gets sick.

We do have our share of snorters though, some that are awfully loud. Makes you stick your head and go, WTF was that????

Jay

 

[DustinLC]

For several months, up to six months, I would cough whenever I talked too much and after eating or laughing. It's like being tickled inside. This happened to me twice in the past few years. It's odd and annoying because people around me think I"m sick and I'm not.

 

[Jim_C]

There's a good chance it's asthma. I had the same problem with coughing all the time. After the doctor diagnosed it as asthma and gave me an inhaler the cough went away.

I have to say that your co-worker probably feels pretty self-conscious about it. I know I did. Thank god for inhalers.

 

[Leila Dougan]

I'd say this is probably asthma. I'm the same way. I only get attacks in cold air, around cats, and when I laugh too much. It's also worse at night. That tickling feeling you feel is exactly what I was talking about earlier.

 

[Jeff Pryor]

It's also a possibility this guy smokes a lot of marijuana at home and his cough is the result. You never know. Never.

 

[StephenA]

It could be asthma, chronic bronchitis, or enphysema or other lung problem.

I have the same problem sometimes. My grandmother thinks I'm sick, but I have to keep telling her I'm not. It mainly happens to me when it changes from summer to fall and winter to spring. I had asthma and chronic bronchitis growing up, so I coughed alot. It got to be annoying, especially since the cold triggered it alot and I live in an area that's cold up to half the year.

 

[Holadem]

Chronic cougher here as well. Specifically after eating or talking or laughing. Never bothered to do anything about it (although it got disctinctly worse in the last 6 weeks, with endless fits) until I had to go to the doc last week for some other (apparently) unrelated stuff. Well, the doc seemed a lot more interested in my cough than the reason I went there in the first place. Turns out I have asthmatic bronchitis.

So now I walk around with an inhaler. Me. Can you believe that shit? .

--
H

 

[MarkHastings]

Holadem, this has been a MISERABLE year for breathing problems...

I had asthmatic bronchitis a few months ago, a co-worker of mine has had asthmatic bronchitis and keeps losing her voice every week...my mom was out of work for 5 weeks with a nasty asthmatic bronchitis cough...my newly born nephew had to be hospitalized from RSV and has had breathing problems since January, in fact, the entire childrens area (in the hospital) was full of kids with breathing issues....another co-worker says her two kids have had bad asthma problems (more so than usual).

Definitely a BAD year for sinus/breathing problems.

 

[Holadem]

Well that sucks! Why do you figure that is?

--
H

 

[MarkHastings]

I heard it was because the warm winter (up until late January) didn't kill off a lot of germs, mold, or bacteria (or whatever it is that dies in the cold).