Random cough bug??

[Frustratedmum]

This really is a random thread, was really just wondering if anyone has suffered a bug this summer like I am currently putting up with and if so what you did about it?!? Basically I woke up about a week & a half back with flu-like aches and pains, really painful aches which lasted about two days. This then turned into just a cough, no other symptoms, now I've been coughing like mad since, it kept me awake for hours for about 5 nights in a row, which I haven't encountered since I was really young I don't think!! So I've tried medicine, lots of water, steam and endless cough sweet varieties, can anyone recommend a good remedy?? Thanks in advance

[Looking for help]

Well I am the same now. I was in the Lake District this past weekend and it was freezing and raining, and I know you can't catch a bug like that, but my daughter who is 18 had a terrible chest infection and I think she's passed it on to me - however she was very phlegmy and I seem to have a drier (and if anything far more irritating) cough.
I don't know any remedies - cough medicine is a no no as it suppresses the cough which is a mistake ( coughing is the body's natural response, isn't it Herman?), so I think it's a ride it out thingy, unless you are showing more serious symptoms (like coughing up blood - as my daughter was ) A good course of antibiotics sorted her out, but I think I will be ok in a week or so, although I have felt very bad this last week.

[scary mum]

But it's AUGUST! DH has just started coughing too

[mum23*]

A work colleague had this for about 2 months and I have heard of a few people with coughs and this sort of bug. I think it is just a case of waiting it out. Poor you. I sympathise.

[Snowdrops]

My dd and I had this - nothing to do but ride it out I'm afraid - took about 5/6 weeks though

[aliportico]

My mum's had a cough for about 2 months. A friend's daughter turned out to have whooping cough, and another GP friend said she's seen a couple of cases lately.

[Frustratedmum]

Ah, thanks guys, I thought as much really. It's a real pain, you know the type, keeps you up at night, you can't laugh without having a blue fit and I genuinely think I've torn a tummy muscle coughing!!! Oh, well soldier on it is ha ha, thanks again.

[Jiff]

I'm sorry to hear about all your coughing, it is very wearing. I'm sure it will sort itself out in a couple of weeks but just a note of caution. Last year I had a cough that went on for a couple of months and then thought I'd pulled a muscle in my ribs during a particularly violent coughing fit. It transpired that I had pleurisy which took two lots of antibiotics and a good few months before I felt fully well again.

[Amber]

I had whooping cough while 9 months pregnant. It was totally hideous - OH and I had it together but a large bump made it very inelegant. Medical staff very keen to avoid me, which isn't that easy when you're in labour, but it did get me my own room at the hospital. And yes, was vaccinated. I was still coughing like an old smoker some 7 months later, which drew hard stares from shoppers when I was pushing a pushchair and retching and spluttering over my darling child. So just to warn you, it can be pertussis too, though there isn't any treatment, so all you get is the knowledge of why you are coughing.

[hermanmunster]

Immunisation against pertussis doesn't last long - probably just a few years. Kids (and adults) remain immune by the odd bit of exposure here and there - a lot to acheive easier in urban areas, have seen some ferocious outbreaks in rural communities - mainly 5 - 8 year olds who had lost their baby immunity.

Can have erythromycin for the bug..