Adult pertussis. Have you had this or do you know anyone who has had this?

It took about 3 weeks to get over it. I had a prescription medicine, but I don’t recall what it was.

Was your throat sore from coughing so much?

http://www.cdc.gov/pertussis/about/index.html

My father had it and was sick for a long time. He did have a bit of the whoops. It’s viral though, so not much you can do aside from waiting it out. I’m sorry

It’s not viral. It’s bacterial. Read the CDC links.

I think zithromax works for pertussis, @rarebear can correct me if I am wrong, which should also work if it is just a sinus infection. Although, I personally prefer Augmentin for a sinus infection, but I don’t know if that is effective for pertussis. What I don’t know is if they don’t bother treating if it is after a certain amount of days. Although, if they told you it was post viral and also is likely to be pertussis that doesn’t make much sense. Anyway, most regular coughs take 3 weeks to completely clear up once the infection is gone, but they progressively get better. What that means is after about a week, if all other symptoms are gone, you only have bad coughing jags in the morning, or if you wake in the middle of the night, and then even that gets less and less. But, it sounds like you are coughing badly all day long.

Personally, I think any cough that lasts more than a week that is not improving and has some sort of congestion, especially a blocked feeling with very bad cough in the morning needs antibiotics (the congestion sometimes does not seem very bad) unless it is confirmed to be something that doesn’t need antibiotics. I hate antibiotics, and am completely against taking them for common colds and flu, I don’t even go to the doctor for cold or flu, and God forbid you had TB that would be a whole different story. No reason to think it is any of those though.

Reminder: I am not a doctor.

@JLeslie I didn’t have any confidence in the doctor that examined me Sunday. She seemed very unsure of herself. She didn’t even look in my ears. She guessed it was a post-viral cough and then mentioned it could possibly be pertussis if the cough continued for more than 2 weeks. The doctor that is usually at this Prompt Care is very thorough, so I went back today and she checked me out. My cough was at its worst last night. She heard wheezing in my left lung so she prescribed Cipro. I’m allergic to many other antibiotics, so this was one of my options.

Since last year I’ve had a lung disease and acute bronchitis, so I’ve noticed the difference between a cough with those and a cough with the common cold or flu. This cough has been the worst I’ve ever experienced, so I took her word that it could possibly be pertussis.

As long as the cipro works for pertussis and sinus infection I think you are covered. If you had pneumonia she would have heard it in your lungs I think. I know very little about what medications are prescribed for pertussis as I said above, I wish I could help more. Hopefully in 72 hours you feel much better. Take the meds well. Check to see if it is with or without food, if dairy is ok with it, and space the time out evenly. If it is twice a day, make sure you take it 12 hours apart not more than give or take an hour.

Also, I think cipro might warn to take with a full glass of water. If it says that on the information that is very very important. I wish I could remember well. Drugs that are to be taken with plenty of water can form crystals and damage organs, that is what the precaution is for. It’s rare, but water helps prevent it. It should say take with a full glass right on the bottle if that is a precaution.

Edit: By the way, very very few adults die from pertussis in the US, I don’t want you to be overly worried, even though it can definitely be quite serious. I think something like 20 people die in the US each year from pertussis, and something like 20,000–30,000 die from flu, just to give you a frame of reference. That doesn’t tell the whole store, because more people get flu, but still, don’t be panicked. If suddenly you get much worse go to the ER, which is what I would tell anyone who was sick with anything.

I just reread your symptoms. It does sound like it could be flu also. You didn’t have a runny nose right? Did you have the cough from the beginning? When you had the fever and aches also?

I’m not worried, just tired of not feeling well and tired of vomiting and (tmi) peeing my pants during my coughing fits. The early symptoms were low grade fever, body aches, minor sore throat and I was very tired. This lasted 4 days. At the end of 4 days those symptoms disappeared and I developed the cough. It was minor at first, then became worse over the next 2 weeks. I noticed that vomiting and exhaustion after coughing fits are two symptoms listed on the CDC site @Rarebear linked to. This is what’s happening to me. I haven’t had a runny nose at all. I’ve never had anything like this before. I usually have a runny nose whenever I have a bad cough.

I have some meds, so hopefully I’ll feel better in a few days. It’s going into the third week now and I’m tired of not having energy to do things. :(

Thanks @JLeslie.

Yeah, that actually does sound like pertussis. The cough developing later. Flu the cough is during the whole fever, aches, right from the beginning mess. Interesting. I wonder if your immunity waned, or if you were never vaccinated (I highly doubt that) or if there is some new strain? I don’t even know if there are “strains” of pertussis.

Edited by me.

I’m going on my 5th week of this cough. It started to get better last week but it’s stagnant now . It’s not terrible, but it’s still there and it’s annoying. Is this something I should worry about? I don’t see what else a doctor could do for me. Could it possibly be a flare up of my histoplasmosis from last year and not pertussis or bronchitis? ugh

Yes, I’m calling my doctor next week if it doesn’t get better.

I’ve had coughs like that that several prescription cough syrups simply did not work at all (yes, I saw a doctor, and several times too). This was when they had the old fashioned codeine cough syrup, but it didn’t touch it. I finally found a combination of remedies that brought good results (whiskey and honey, acupressure, hot drinks, and believe it or not, an antihistamine). Using those remedies, I finally (after many months) got it under control.

I vaguely remember that the nickname for whooping cough is the 100 day cough. So, I guess it is normal for it to drag on for a few months. But, it doesn’t hurt to check in with the doctor to make sure you aren’t having a complication that is hard to sort out, and to make sure there wasn’t something else going on they may have missed originally.