Hi – Just wanted to let you know you're not alone in this! I had an upper left lobectomy in July 2020 and coughed relentlessly for months afterwards. The first 3 months were so bad it was really wearing me down physically and emotionally. And there were no answers - It was so frustrating!
The only time I didn't cough was when reclining or sleeping, but upright I coughed most of the time, and any talking resulted in a prolonged deep coughing fit. There wasn't a lot of phlegm, just dry coughing and shortness of breath. I had a hard time doing the spirometer because it sent me into violent coughing.
My regular pulmonologist prescribed Symbicort, prednisone, and Albuterol, none of which worked, and I didn't take the Benzonatate (Tessalon Pearls) she prescribed out of concern for the side effects.
I finally started on the Benzonatate at the insistence of another pulmonologist. He and my regular pulm agreed that the coughing was most likely caused by irritation from the surgery and the healing process, which was then being further aggravated by the coughing in a vicious circle, and that taking it would break the pattern of coughing, retrain my system not to cough, and allow my body to start healing. Within a couple of weeks of taking the Benzonatate, the coughing eased up, and 6 weeks later (4 months after surgery) I was 90% cough-free. The only triggers after that were excessive talking that caused me to run out of breath and then cough. And I had no side effects from the Benzonatate except less coughing! 😀
It took about 5 months to be mostly free of coughing. I do still get the random cough, but it's a superficial "light-style" cough, and once or twice a day is manageable compared to constant like it was at the beginning!
Hoping yours gets better too!
