Question:
Hey all, i have had this cough for awhile and recently ig ot sick withallergies and chest tightness and it worsened i got predison and amoxil.. finished the predinsone but the cough is still hanging around.. i never coughed up any phlegm but thick clear saliva.. and everytime i try toworkout i got onthiscoughing spree.. i use an advair and abuetrol inhaler.. anything anyone knows of something i can do to help it?or suppress this cough.. thanks
Answer:
Chronic coughing is the hallmark symtpom of a form of acid reflux called "laryngopharyngeal reflux" or LPR.
The onset of LPR can often be a bad cold/virus/bout of bronchitis and noone really knows exactly what causes it. But I can tell you how to get diagnosed and what the treatment is.
Diagnosis: Go to a good Ear Nose and Throat Doctor (otolaryngologist) and have them "scope you". They will use a thin wire with a camera at the end to observe your larynx. If it's red and swollen, you have LPR - which means you have a small amount of acid traveling from your stomach all the way up your esophogous and splashing your larynx, which can't defend itself. It is not unuusal to have acid backflowing from your stomach - after all, that is what heartburn is - the backflow of acid into the lower and middle esophogous. Only with LPR, it backflows even further up to your larynx.
Treatment: 2 doses a day of a proton pump inhibitor (PPI). 2 doses is critical. 1 dose treats heartburn, 2 doses is required to treat LPR.
I recommend in the following order:
1. Nexium
2. Aciphex
3. Prevacid
4. Zegerid
5. Prilosec (BRAND NAME, by prescription only. Not the OTC stuff)
To explore it further, just do a search on "laryngopharyngeal reflux". There's tons of information out there, and you can match the symptoms yourself.