 |
 | Home | Contact Us | FAQ | Search & Site Map | Link to Us |
 | Sign In | Join | Other 45 Sites in Network |
Medical Forum / Diseases and Disorders / Breast Cancer / November 2007cough concerns? additional questions
Once again I'm asking for comments from the list. I tend to be a worrier, and I don't like to worry my wife. She's 13 years post treatment --- lumpectomy and radiation. She had a bit of a cough and some mucus. Saw the doctor a few weeks ago, he told her to use some cough medicine. The cough didn't go completely away, but did decrease a lot. It has not awakened her at night, has not been strong, racking coughs. In fact, this weekend it didn't seem to bother her at all and she was almost thinking of cancelling the visit. I said she should go. Doc did a breath test and said her capacity? was slightly dimnished. He thought perhaps allergy or asthma, or something else. He gave her a prescription for an inhaler. Wife asked what the next step might be and he said x-ray if it didn't go away in 10 days or so. She asked for the x-ray now and he agreed, just to ease her in mind. She's getting the x-ray today. Needless to say, as this group can understand, I'm a bit nervous. Any comments, or thoughts on additional questions we should ask would be appreciated. Again, the cough does not wake her and it seems to come mostly in stufft situations. Thanks, Ed Ed Kratz wrote: > Once again I'm asking for comments from the list. I tend to be a worrier, > and I don't like to worry my wife. She's 13 years post treatment --- [quoted text clipped - 23 lines] > > Ed Patience. As long as it is diminishing, I wouldn't worry. See what the x-ray says. There are any number of causes for a persistent cough. Probably the most common one is acid reflux from the stomach, which possibly fits the bill here. You could ask the doctor about that, maybe he could try her on an antacid. I dare say lung mets could present somewhat like that, but it is a diagnosis of last resort. The partial effectiveness of the cough medicine suggests not; that the inflammation is higher up the airway. If everyone who got a cough (or even just the cancer survivors who did) insisted on x-rays there'd be extra cancers from the x-rays, and is it worth adding a small risk of a life-threatening disease just for peace of mind? In the unlikely event that it is mets, diagnosing it early doesn't give much clinical benefit. But I do understand that you want to know. Tim Jackson Ed-- I caught a cold over 2 weeks ago and have had a lingering cough ever since. Five years ago this would just have been an annoyance, but now that I've had BC everything becomes a worry. Could this be "it?" I've told myself that if it doesn't go away in 2 more weeks I'll call the oncologist. This is how life is gonna be from now on. Every pain, every cough, every memory lapse triggers fear of death. I didn't respond to your original post because I don't have any support or information to offer, but just to let you and your wife know....we all know how you feel! Eva > Ed-- > [quoted text clipped - 12 lines] > > Eva In the general population, more than 90% of coughs that persist more than three weeks are caused by one or more of: (1) post-nasal drip, (2) asthma, or (3) esophageal reflux. A little over 2/3 of cases have two of these and about 1/6 have all three. Look for and treat those first and see if the problem goes away. Thanks for the support. Good luck to you. Ed > Ed-- > [quoted text clipped - 12 lines] > > Eva Eva, Thanks for your reply. I figured people in this group would understand how I felt, and appreciate the support. Ed > Ed-- > [quoted text clipped - 12 lines] > > Eva Thanks for your answer. I wish you good luck. Ed > Ed-- > [quoted text clipped - 12 lines] > > Eva Thanks for your response. I appreciate it. Ed > Ed Kratz wrote: >> Once again I'm asking for comments from the list. I tend to be a [quoted text clipped - 44 lines] > > Tim Jackson |
Reply to this Message |
 Sign In
 Join
 My Latest Posts My Monitored Threads My Blog My Photo Gallery My Profile My Homepage Start New Thread Enable EMail Alerts Rate this Thread
|
©2008 Advenet LLC Privacy Policy - Terms of Use
This website includes both content owned or controlled by Advenet as well as content owned or controlled by third parties.