Cough

[Calintay]

Does anyone else seem to have had a cough that has lasted a very long time? Will this ever subside for my mother? She rarely is coughing up blood but continously coughing. Thanks

[Ry]

There are many things they can give her for the cough. John had a medication which I think was called Tessalon Perles, an inhaler, and a codeine cough syrup for nighttime. His cough improved and he doesn't need them anymore. Ask her doctor for something.

Also...just chewing gum will help because it will keep her swallowing. One of the PET scan techs told us that.

Good luck to your mom.

[Andrea]

Is it a bad cough, like the kind where just listening to it hurts you b/c you know it has to hurt the other person; or is it just a quieter milder kind of cough that keeps happening?

My mom has had a pretty constant mild cough, she was given some medicine to control it, but it just kind of stays. They said chemo can cause a cough, then surgery causes a cough, and now her radiation fibrosis is the cause of the cough.

She took what Ry mentioned, the Pearl medicine, when it got bad and it helped a lot

[shineladysue]

From experience with various causes of cough, we have learned that it could be from infection, location of tumor, result of treatment (especially radiation) etc etc. That has been my husbands case, but a lot can be learned from whether or not it is a productive cough and if it produces sputum of any certain color. A culture of sputum from my husband revealed an infection that put them on the right track as to what antibiotics to give him to get rid of it. Each case is so different, but I would certainly discuss this coughing with your mom's doctor. My husband's pulmonologist is the best one of his doctors to consult about the symptoms and possible causes. My best to you and your mom.

sue