Should I see a doctor (whooping cough)?

Go to the doctor and ask them. Better to be safe than sorry. I don’t know about the antibiotics for whooping cough (or whatever ails you). It depends if you have a virus or a bacterial infection. Your doctor can tell you that though. Go and pick up the phone and make an appointment.

I had a very memorable case of whooping cough in my teens. It’s not just a cough: you really do whoop. You cough convulsively and empty your lungs until it feels like you are going to tear them loose and expel them, and then you suck in air in a huge loud whooping breath that you can’t help.

I’m not a medical professional, and so I’m not the one to tell you “if you don’t whoop, it isn’t whooping cough.” Anything that hangs on in your respiratory system probably means you ought to be seen. But I will say that I don’t think you could have actual whooping cough without knowing you were really sick.

@Bellatrix
Whooping cough I believe is bacterial but antibiotics have shown to generally not be helpful in “curing” you, only in reducing the contagion of the disease.

@Jeruba
I think you know more about it than I do, but the internet does say that especially in adults you do not necessarily “whoop” when you cough if you have it. It also says that if you catch it early, i.e. in the first 2 weeks, there is a remote chance of being able to reduce the symptoms with antibiotics and antibiotics are effective at making it non-contagious. After this period, there is nothing to do but let it run its course, and I am not sure how long it takes for a person to develop the full blown symptoms. The early symptoms are milder and not unlike the common cold…I don’t really want to take antibiotics unless necessary, but in this case it sounds like there is no way to really know (who knows how long it’s been incubating if I do have it? Especially because I was vaccinated…). And with only a week between antibiotics preventing contagion and a person no longer being contagious, it hardly seems worth it to take the antibiotics – rather just avoid human contact…

I’m not a medical professional, and so I’m not the one to tell you “if you don’t whoop, it isn’t whooping cough.”

Take my remarks for what they’re worth, and feel free to differ. I’m simply trying to supply a possibly helpful answer, but I’m not the one who needs the information.

If you have it even though your immune response is blunted you would likely get a less virulent case of it, but you are fully contagious to others.

I think it is your duty to the head to get tested and take antibiotics if you test positive.

@marinelife

Yesterday, I would have completely agreed with you and was planning on getting tested today. However, now that I have done some research I’m reconsidering as it seems to me a more complicated issue of risk to others vs benefits to self.

I am only coughing once or twice per hour or two, if that, very mild. It is possible to limit my contact with other people over the next week or two. I won’t be in confined mechanically ventilated spaces much at all over the next two weeks. So I wonder. Since it is airborne, what is the real risk to others? Everyone I live with has long been exposed to this. I am of the opinion that antibiotics are not so good for you, especially the strong, broad spectrum ones that kill everything indiscriminately.

Related to your possible infection @wallabies: My husband rec’d a company wide email this am. Apparently a co-worker spread whooping cough after coming to work ill. Now, there’s an entire division of my husband’s company that needs to be checked by a doctor before returning to work.

Even if you think it might be pertussis, you should just get checked. This is highly contagious.

*******Bit of the email sent to my husband today:

The purpose of this email is to alert you to the possibility that you may have been exposed to pertussis or what is commonly referred to as whooping cough. Whooping cough is a bacterial disease of the upper respiratory system that is transmitted through droplets produced during sneezing and coughing. In order to be considered an exposed individual you must be in close (within 3ft) of a contagious person for greater than 1-hour. The incubation period (time from exposure to development of symptoms) is 6— 20 days. Symptoms of contagious whooping cough include; runny nose, low-grade fever, a mild cough that gradually progresses over 1–2 weeks to significant coughing fits.

@Wallabies, interesting info about whooping cough, but you don’t know if that is what you have or not. Hence my suggestion to see a doctor. We can only really give you generic opinions. Up to you though whether you want to visit a doctor or not – you could always refuse antibiotics if they suggest them and you don’t feel they are warranted. At least you will know what is wrong with you (hopefully).

I don’t think you have whooping cough.

I am not completely clear on the chronology of your symptoms. If they started two weeks ago, but then you felt much better and then got sick again, I think it is two separate illnesses. If you are congested, even mildly, and have an annoying cough, especially when you first wake and in the middle of the night, and all symtoms persist over a week, I think you have a bacterial sinus infection that needs to be treated. Augmentin would be my guess at the best bet for an effective antibiotic for that. Some docts might give you a zpack. But, as I said I am not competely clear about your symtoms and the duration, and I am not a doctor.

If you do see a doctor, let us know the result. Hope you feel better soon. :)

It can take you up to six weeks to kick a regular cold (with coughing) to the curb entirely.

I had whooping cough as a kid and I was sick, sick, sick. I coughed so hard I tore up my trachea and throat and ended up puking up blood.

Is it possible you have whooping cough?...Sure. But your symptoms don’t seem very urgent. I’d take a wait and see approach if I was you.

@wallabies I am very glad that I don’t work or live near you. You are a selfish, thoughtless person.

I just looked it up and zithromax is recommended for whooping cough and of course a regular sinus infection, so if your problem persists the doctor will probably prescribe that so it will treat either. No matter what illness you have it is good to not to infect others, which it seems you are aware of, and doing your best to keep others safe. It is an esepcially dangerous disease for young children. Whooping cough is not quarantined as far as I know. It does have a long contagious stage which sucks.

You mentioned not liking antibiotics. Well, for a bacterial infection that goes on for more than 8 days with no upward trend in symptom relief or if it is getting more severe, take the meds. If you are getting better you are getting better. I am completely against frivilous prescribing of antibiotics, but some illnesses we should thank God and science we have the drugs. Strep can lead to irreversible heart damage, whooping cough can be very serious, tetanus can kill, sometimes the drugs are warranted.