Persistant Dry Cough

[missioncontrol]

I have been flying commercially for the last 15 years and am current on A320.

Over the last 7-8 years I have developed a persistant dry cough- have no history of asthma etc.

It feels like you want to clear your throat/lungs and want to cough up phlegm bu can't. The feeling is worse after a couple of days of flying and ends up with loss of voice croaky throat on day 6.

Have seen AME who said see your GP.

I went to the GP 2 years ago, and he performed lung function tests along with appointment for chest x-ray. Results were normal and no abnormalities found.

The cough is still there. Has anyone got similar symptoms?How can I ger rid of this irritating cough?

Thanks in advance for any help.

[Boss Raptor]

I have had exactly the same for many years dry cough possible loss of voice - been thru the chest x-ray checks etc. and nothing
There are several possible and concurrent causes believed triggering it off - and identified by a specialist;
1. pollution in the Eastern European cities I regularly visit
2. hay fever allergy manifesting as a dry cough
3. nervous cough stress related
4. dry air in air conditioned environments
5. alcohol de-hydrating my throat
What seems to happen is one cause can start it off causing ongoing irritation and a continued/ongoing dry cough which remains hard to shift
Not really a lot you can do but i find drinking a reasonable amount of water regualrly seems to help

[Bob the Doc]

Any symptoms of nasal congestion to go with it? Sometimes a post nasal drip caused by a runny nose can cause a dry cough. Particularly if it is worse at night or first thing in the morning. If so, there are things that can be done

[missioncontrol]

No - no nasal congestion.

No problems with hay-fever or such like.

Seem to get it when in dry low humidity environment with dust about-ie flightdeck.

Can it be treated?

[Bob the Doc]

Can't think of anything off hand. you could try Simple Linctus (basically cough medicine without the active ingredients) as you don't need the anti-cough stuff, you just need to treat the dry throat.

The best treatment would be to humidify the air you are getting but that is rather tricky as far as I can tell. The only ways we have of humidifying gases in hospitals involve masks and ultrasonic nebulisers or hot water baths so unless you want something akin to an arab Hookah to breathe through you might be a but stuck. Will ponder the problem and get back to you if I have any brainwaves!

[Boss Raptor]

I can/do get nasal congestion from the pollution and hay fever aspects doing my sinuses no good - as far as coping with it a lot of it is will power to stop yrself coughing and so by preventing the irritated throat so let's cough again scenario - the problem is you eventually becoming unaware that you do it and it can become habitual

[gingernut]

Sounds like your doc has ruled out the "nasties"

Could be one of a number of causes, interesting that the "asthma" tests were normal, but the cough itself could be a sign that the lining of your lungs is reacting to something it doesn't like- perhaps a trial of an asthma inhaler may be in order in your case.


If this doesn't work, perhaps we need to be thinking more broadly, something like reflux in the gullet could be causing your problem, (are you eating big meals prior to sleep?)

Are you on any meds? ACE inhibitors are renowned for causing symptoms simillar to yours?


keep us updated:) ginge

[Loose rivets]

This surprised me.

People who eat more than 14 servings of cured meat per month–such as hot dogs, bacon, sausage and deli meats (not including ham for some reason)–are 80 % more likely to develop chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.

Study at Columbia University.

The preservatives (nitrites) can produce an oxidant that can damage lung tissue, explains
Neil Schachter, MD medical director of the Mount Sinai Medical center in NY city.

[AMEandPPL]

My GP tried Salbutamol first then Atrovent which has helped a lot

Diagnosis: Asthma
Treatment: Correct, therefore successful.

Glad it has helped a lot . . . . .

Causes (or exacerbants) of Asthma: Iatrogenic, exercise, infection, allergy, temperature . . . . . . . . . . . .
and, oh yes, chemicals (eg isocyanates in the rubber/plastic industry ).

[AMEandPPL]

It's also very scary when many different parts of your body are being affected and damaged

That must be so very true. Inhalers, however, (ie Pulmicort) only treat one area - the lungs. Nowhere else.

[AMEandPPL]

the feeling is worse after a couple of days of flying and ends up with loss of voice

Going back to the OP's question, the words I've highlighted in red just made me wonder - could this be no more than a nuisance effect of the dry air in an air-cond A 320 cabin ? Plenty of drinks or gargles (little and often) might reduce the tendency of the mucous membranes to dry out.

[Bad medicine]

The only posts that are deleted are the ones unrelated to the thread, or otherwise breaking the rules agreed to when signing as a member of PPRuNe. Thread "hijacking" to push a particular agenda, unrelated to the thread topic isn't permitted. There is a long thread already on contaminated cabin air.

This is consistent with the rest of the forum, where closely related threads are combined for ease of searching by those looking for information.

A user might be banned from a thread if they persistently post in inappropriate threads despite previous moderator action.

Cheers,

BM

[AMEandPPL]

Quote:
It's also very scary when many different parts of your body are being affected and damaged
That must be so very true . . . . .

How ridiculous to exercise "PART" censorship ! My post looks stupid when the quoted sentence has been extirpated. Never mind, eh . . . . this one probably won't last long either ! Is there anyone to whom a complaint about inappropriate and excessive censorship can be conveyed ?

[Bad medicine]

Despite this being a completely inappropriate place for this discussion, you have raised it here again. We (the mods) can not change the time stamp on the posts. There has been a significant problem with the time stamps as a result of the server changes over the last month or so. It is not new. It goes along with the problems with the backgrounds, the loss of icons, the slow running of the site, etc.

So, AMEandPPL, I would get my facts straight before making libellous accusations in a public forum.

Unfortunately, you have now achieved what I warned about earlier - hijacking a thread for a private agenda. The thread will be closed, and missioncontrol, through no fault of his own, will need to try again. I'm sure he will thank you.