Dry cough

Status
Not open for further replies.

Hreal85

Member
Joined
Jan 19, 2021
Messages
10
Reason
CALS
Diagnosis
01/2021
Country
US
State
MA
City
Weymouth
Hi everyone,

I’ve been trying to troubleshoot my dad’s cough for the last few months. Im trying to figure out if it’s related to his ALS or if it’s something else.

He has had a dry cough for over 6 months now. He describes it as a tickle cough the kind that just by inhaling a certain way can set off a coughing fit. The only thing that seems to help temporarily is throat losenges and he is going through them like candy.
The cough was present before he started Bipap but he feels that the Bipap can make it worse as the air triggers the coughing and often enough he coughs so much he feels like he will vomit and it forces him to take of the Bipap off (nasal mask) until it subsides.

(On a side note he also has bad bloating from the Bipap, his RT added a chin strap and went down on his settings and also he takes simethecone daily and it’s helped alittle but if anyone has any other suggestions we are open to them.)

At his latest appointment his FVC was 48 (3 months ago it was 58), I was there when he did the test and last time his cough wasn’t as bad versus this last appointment where as soon as he started to inhale it triggered the cough. So is his lung status worse or was the cough making the results seem worse or is the cough another symptom of progression? I know a weak cough is but his cough isn’t weak it’s just incessant. He doesn’t have any cold symptoms but he does say that he has a running nose in the morning after taking off the Bipap so maybe it’s some post nasal drip but he has it during the day too even when his nose is clear. I’ve also recently reached out to his PCP and his ALS doctor so they are both aware and I’m just waiting to see what they say.

But in the meantime I wanted to reach out to you guys as I creep here a lot :)…and your advice has helped before . So advice would be appreciated and even if you don’t have advice but if you experienced this as well that would be helpful to know too.

Thank you
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top