Whooping Cough

Forum rules
The information / discussion in the Cycling Health Forum is not qualified medical advice. Please consult your doctor.
User avatar
gorilla monsoon
Posts: 3553
Joined: Tue Aug 26, 2008 10:45 am
Location: Lake Macquarie

Whooping Cough

Postby gorilla monsoon » Wed Dec 21, 2011 8:04 pm

I have had a chest inrection for about 10 days. The doc at first thought "bronchitis" and treated it accordingly but there has been no significant change.

Today he said maybe whooping cough and changed the treatment.

Has anyone here had adult whooping cough? What are the symptoms?

I'll find out more tomorrow but right now I'm really curious.
Not my circus, not my monkeys

vander
Posts: 1346
Joined: Thu Jul 28, 2011 12:35 am
Location: Earlwood
Contact:

Re: Whooping Cough

Postby vander » Wed Dec 21, 2011 8:49 pm

gorilla monsoon wrote:I have had a chest inrection for about 10 days. The doc at first thought "bronchitis" and treated it accordingly but there has been no significant change.

Today he said maybe whooping cough and changed the treatment.

Has anyone here had adult whooping cough? What are the symptoms?

I'll find out more tomorrow but right now I'm really curious.
I had it + Pneumonia earlier this year and it is the pits. Its really just a cough. A never ending (up to 100days) constant inescapable cough. If you cough yourself into a vomit (which I was doing for about 2 weeks) then it is almost 100% whooping cough. You get normal cold like symptoms with the cough such as malaise and tiredness. Ultimately its a never ending cough which interrupts everything such as skiing trips to NZ :evil:

User avatar
simonn
Posts: 3763
Joined: Thu Jan 31, 2008 11:46 am
Location: Sydney

Re: Whooping Cough

Postby simonn » Wed Dec 21, 2011 9:06 pm

I had my vaccination for it today because we have a newborn. Thanks to all the <removed> who ignore 99.999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999% of the medical profession and listen to mental cases, ex-pornstars and comedians instead it is having a come back have almost been eliminated.

vander
Posts: 1346
Joined: Thu Jul 28, 2011 12:35 am
Location: Earlwood
Contact:

Re: Whooping Cough

Postby vander » Wed Dec 21, 2011 10:04 pm

simonn wrote:I had my vaccination for it today because we have a newborn. Thanks to all the <removed> who ignore 99.999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999% of the medical profession and listen to mental cases, ex-pornstars and comedians instead it is having a come back have almost been eliminated.
I had been vaccinated you can still get it. Its like the flu vaccine doesn't cover all the strands, which is why it is making a comeback.......Some people should think before they post, or atleast be somewhat informed.

User avatar
Schmenz
Posts: 493
Joined: Thu Sep 08, 2011 10:48 am

Re: Whooping Cough

Postby Schmenz » Wed Dec 21, 2011 10:34 pm

im not vaccinated... but thats because i reacted badly to the other childhood vaccinations at the time. i then got it as a kid but i dont remember it being so bad... more excited about being in hospital, and quite devastated that i didnt get a needle :roll: pfft... 3 - 4 year olds!

it shits be when people who have it come into my clinic (where i treat a lot of kids and some quite young) without thinking of the potential to spread it. :roll:

one patient came back several times. luckily i didnt have any of my littlies in that day.
Newbie to the cycling world.
2011 Giant TCR Advanced W
http://www.sea2summit2011.blogspot.com

User avatar
Schmenz
Posts: 493
Joined: Thu Sep 08, 2011 10:48 am

Re: Whooping Cough

Postby Schmenz » Wed Dec 21, 2011 10:52 pm

interesting timing..

this just popped up on my facebook feed.

i have no comment on it or the website it came from (have never been to the website and havent looked around so no idea whether it is credible or not, and havent actually read the article yet - too brain dead right now)

just sharing for those that may be interested.

http://www.vaccinationcouncil.org/2011/ ... phries-md/
Newbie to the cycling world.
2011 Giant TCR Advanced W
http://www.sea2summit2011.blogspot.com

vander
Posts: 1346
Joined: Thu Jul 28, 2011 12:35 am
Location: Earlwood
Contact:

Re: Whooping Cough

Postby vander » Wed Dec 21, 2011 10:58 pm

Schmenz wrote:im not vaccinated... but thats because i reacted badly to the other childhood vaccinations at the time. i then got it as a kid but i dont remember it being so bad... more excited about being in hospital, and quite devastated that i didnt get a needle :roll: pfft... 3 - 4 year olds!

it shits be when people who have it come into my clinic (where i treat a lot of kids and some quite young) without thinking of the potential to spread it. :roll:

one patient came back several times. luckily i didnt have any of my littlies in that day.
I had it for about 3weeks spreading it everywhere before they actually realised what it was. They thought it was just a bad cold and gave me some antibiotics just in case. When it didnt get better after then they tested for it.

User avatar
simonn
Posts: 3763
Joined: Thu Jan 31, 2008 11:46 am
Location: Sydney

Re: Whooping Cough

Postby simonn » Wed Dec 21, 2011 11:11 pm


Do a search on:

suzanne humphries quack

This will lead to several copies of this gem:

http://vactruth.com/2010/07/06/quack/

"They preach as gospel that antibiotics are better or safer than homeopathy..."

I'll stop right there thanks...

User avatar
simonn
Posts: 3763
Joined: Thu Jan 31, 2008 11:46 am
Location: Sydney

Re: Whooping Cough

Postby simonn » Wed Dec 21, 2011 11:13 pm

vander wrote: I had been vaccinated you can still get it. Its like the flu vaccine doesn't cover all the strands, which is why it is making a comeback.......Some people should think before they post, or atleast be somewhat informed.
Yes, it is not 100% effective, unlucky. The decrease in immunisation is a big and unnecessary contributing factor.

User avatar
Schmenz
Posts: 493
Joined: Thu Sep 08, 2011 10:48 am

Re: Whooping Cough

Postby Schmenz » Wed Dec 21, 2011 11:15 pm

as i said... havent read it and to be honest, not interested in reading it right now...

just added it to the discussion as it popped up on my feed and was related and thought some might find it interesting
:)


as for sharing it ... the time between infectious state and diagnosis does make it difficult. although this particular person told me they had it and still chose to come in and splutter everywhere while still contagious :roll:
Newbie to the cycling world.
2011 Giant TCR Advanced W
http://www.sea2summit2011.blogspot.com

User avatar
Schmenz
Posts: 493
Joined: Thu Sep 08, 2011 10:48 am

Re: Whooping Cough

Postby Schmenz » Wed Dec 21, 2011 11:20 pm

Schmenz wrote:interesting timing..

this just popped up from a friend on my facebook feed.

i have no comment on it or the website it came from (have never been to the website and havent looked around so no idea whether it is credible or not, and havent actually read the article yet - too brain dead right now)

just sharing for those that may be interested.

http://www.vaccinationcouncil.org/2011/ ... phries-md/
Newbie to the cycling world.
2011 Giant TCR Advanced W
http://www.sea2summit2011.blogspot.com

Marty Moose
Posts: 1421
Joined: Sun Jan 17, 2010 7:00 pm
Location: W.A

Re: Whooping Cough

Postby Marty Moose » Thu Dec 22, 2011 9:24 am

gorilla monsoon wrote:I have had a chest inrection for about 10 days. The doc at first thought "bronchitis" and treated it accordingly but there has been no significant change.

Today he said maybe whooping cough and changed the treatment.

Has anyone here had adult whooping cough? What are the symptoms?

I'll find out more tomorrow but right now I'm really curious.
My wife had it last year Symptoms for her bad cough,normal cold stuff and a funny inhale after coughing this is the "whoop" in Whooping cough. Its a real pain she was immunised as a child. Good luck and take it easy.

MM

User avatar
tallywhacker
Posts: 1775
Joined: Thu Apr 12, 2007 3:21 pm
Location: Perth

Re: Whooping Cough

Postby tallywhacker » Thu Dec 22, 2011 10:48 am

let me fix this for you
vander wrote: I had been vaccinated you can still get it. Its like the flu vaccine doesn't cover all the strains, which is why it is making a comeback.......Some people should think before they post, or atleast be somewhat informed.
to quote an internet guru "Some people should think before they post" or at least read their posts before hitting the submit

vander
Posts: 1346
Joined: Thu Jul 28, 2011 12:35 am
Location: Earlwood
Contact:

Re: Whooping Cough

Postby vander » Thu Dec 22, 2011 10:59 am

tallywhacker wrote:let me fix this for you
vander wrote: I had been vaccinated you can still get it. Its like the flu vaccine doesn't cover all the strains, which is why it is making a comeback.......Some people should think before they post, or atleast be somewhat informed.
to quote an internet guru "Some people should think before they post" or at least read their posts before hitting the submit
:oops: Should probably read my post before hitting submit. I was not trying to be an internet guru just pointing out that its not because people are <removed> they are getting it.

User avatar
bigfriendlyvegan
Posts: 3977
Joined: Tue Apr 01, 2008 2:18 pm
Location: Denistone, NSW
Contact:

Re: Whooping Cough

Postby bigfriendlyvegan » Thu Dec 22, 2011 11:04 pm

vander wrote:
gorilla monsoon wrote:I have had a chest inrection for about 10 days. The doc at first thought "bronchitis" and treated it accordingly but there has been no significant change.

Today he said maybe whooping cough and changed the treatment.

Has anyone here had adult whooping cough? What are the symptoms?

I'll find out more tomorrow but right now I'm really curious.
I had it + Pneumonia earlier this year and it is the pits. Its really just a cough. A never ending (up to 100days) constant inescapable cough. If you cough yourself into a vomit (which I was doing for about 2 weeks) then it is almost 100% whooping cough. You get normal cold like symptoms with the cough such as malaise and tiredness. Ultimately its a never ending cough which interrupts everything such as skiing trips to NZ :evil:
I don't know about skiiing trips, but it does stop you cycling.

I've had whooping cough for 8 weeks now and it turned into pneumonia last week. There is nothing they can do about it unless they get it in the first three weeks, and even then there is little they can do.

i was re-vaccinated a couple of years ago when my boy was born, but it hasn't helped.

The antibiotics for the pneumonia don't seem to be working, so I think tomorrow will see a trip to the docs for something stronger.

The only plus side of this is that i will probably have decades worth of natural immunity once it's over.

David

eeksll
Posts: 2631
Joined: Tue Oct 20, 2009 10:36 pm

Re: Whooping Cough

Postby eeksll » Fri Dec 23, 2011 12:23 am

tallywhacker wrote:let me fix this for you
vander wrote: I had been vaccinated you can still get it. Its like the flu vaccine doesn't cover all the strains, which is why it is making a comeback.......Some people should think before they post, or atleast be somewhat informed.
to quote an internet guru "Some people should think before they post" or at least read their posts before hitting the submit
Thats a little harsh ....

if its a 100 day cough it pretty hard not to go to work for 100 days.

vander
Posts: 1346
Joined: Thu Jul 28, 2011 12:35 am
Location: Earlwood
Contact:

Re: Whooping Cough

Postby vander » Fri Dec 23, 2011 10:04 am

eeksll wrote:
tallywhacker wrote:let me fix this for you
vander wrote: I had been vaccinated you can still get it. Its like the flu vaccine doesn't cover all the strains, which is why it is making a comeback.......Some people should think before they post, or atleast be somewhat informed.
to quote an internet guru "Some people should think before they post" or at least read their posts before hitting the submit
Thats a little harsh ....

if its a 100 day cough it pretty hard not to go to work for 100 days.
You are only infectious for a few weeks (I think it may have been 2 shorter cycles of antibiotics) after that you can go back to work etc. I was sick for about 3-4 weeks really bad but then after that it tapers out to an annoying cough but you can resume normal life. Cough would of lasted me atleast 7 weeks EDIT: now that I think about it the cough would of actually lasted a fair bit longer then this.

@BFV It completely ruined my skiing trip couldnt do much at all and had to have a few days off (to just die in bed all day) even though I had prepurchased lift tickets. mine was a bit shorter cause they gave me some pretty strong antibiotics, and I was on uni holidays so got to rest a fair bit.

User avatar
bigfriendlyvegan
Posts: 3977
Joined: Tue Apr 01, 2008 2:18 pm
Location: Denistone, NSW
Contact:

Re: Whooping Cough

Postby bigfriendlyvegan » Fri Dec 23, 2011 11:40 am

vander wrote:You are only infectious for a few weeks (I think it may have been 2 shorter cycles of antibiotics) after that you can go back to work etc. I was sick for about 3-4 weeks really bad but then after that it tapers out to an annoying cough but you can resume normal life. Cough would of lasted me atleast 7 weeks EDIT: now that I think about it the cough would of actually lasted a fair bit longer then this.
That sounds right from what I've read. As an adult, having a bit of a cough isn't something of much concern, so most people don't do anything about it until they've had it for weeks. At that point they're past the stage where they're infectious. If everybody had the whooping sound or had vomit inducing paroxysms then doctors could probably diagnose it and knock the whole thing on the head pretty quickly. As it is, it's a bugger to get a proper sample of the bacteria to culture properly and even if they can't get a sample it doesn't mean you don't have it.

Quite an insidious little bugger is whooping cough.

On the debilitation front, i was only doing short commutes to work with the whooping cough (before I knew what it was) and killing myself over a 6km ride. I had to give that up and drive to work for the first time in 3 years. I haven't raced for about 8 weeks now and I'm going to miss the upcoming christmas track carnival. I'm really not enjoying the summer daylight like I did in years past. Lung problems really kill your cycling.

lethoso
Posts: 1569
Joined: Sun Jun 21, 2009 7:56 pm
Location: brisbane, 4101

Re: Whooping Cough

Postby lethoso » Sat Dec 24, 2011 3:37 pm

Schmenz wrote: this just popped up on my facebook feed.
congrats on having dumb friends I guess
Image

User avatar
twizzle
Posts: 6402
Joined: Wed Aug 13, 2008 11:45 am
Location: Highlands of Wales.

Whooping Cough

Postby twizzle » Fri Jan 13, 2012 1:11 am

Just had another awesome coughing fit, and the wife said "couldn't be whooping cough, could it?"

Luckily (?) the night-time coughing symptoms fit in with asthma as well, so here's hoping my doctor got the diagnosis right.
I ride, therefore I am. But don't ride into harm's way.
...real cyclists don't have squeaky chains...

User avatar
the grid
Posts: 178
Joined: Sat Oct 02, 2010 3:35 pm

Re: Whooping Cough

Postby the grid » Fri Jan 13, 2012 8:45 am

Another lucky one here with Whooping cough for last month.
My 7 year old son (immunised) also has it . The irony is he can't play with the unimmunised neighbours until he has had 5 days of antibiotics.
The theory is that immunisation provides 60%+ coverage and it really requires the majority of the population to be immunised to prevent the current epidemic.
Hence the high rates in northern NSW recently.

Antibiotics only help reduce your infectivity unfortunately not the severity of the illness

User avatar
gorilla monsoon
Posts: 3553
Joined: Tue Aug 26, 2008 10:45 am
Location: Lake Macquarie

Re: Whooping Cough

Postby gorilla monsoon » Thu Jan 26, 2012 11:19 am

Well, my whooping cough/bronchitis became an acute lung infection, probably picked-up on either my trip to LA or the one a week later to Tokyo.
On top of it though was a long-term lung issue that caused some anxious moments when a chest x-ray came back with the words "something sinister" in the radiologist's report (words an ex-smoker never wants to hear in relation to chest x-rays) which meant a follow-up CAT scan to clear-up the concerns.
It showed-up that a portion of one lung has kind of shut down (the doc explained it and I am only translating into layman's terms that I can understand) and is causing its own set of problems so yesterday the new doctor (same medical centre) put me on some heavy-duty antibiotics that have had an immediate effect.
The upside is that my hypochondria has dismissed the lung cancer worry (ex-smoker, remember?) and there is improvement already.
The downside is that I have been off the bikes since early December and have been told by the doc to get back into riding SLOWLY with only short, flat work for at least the first two weeks back and working up to a reasonable ride program.
Which means that I will miss my favourite ride event, Loop the Lake, in early March.
But at least I know what's wrong with me and know that I can work with it.
Not my circus, not my monkeys

User avatar
ColinOldnCranky
Posts: 6734
Joined: Fri Feb 27, 2009 4:58 pm

Re: Whooping Cough

Postby ColinOldnCranky » Thu Jan 26, 2012 12:22 pm

gorilla monsoon wrote:I have had a chest inrection for about 10 days. The doc at first thought "bronchitis" and treated it accordingly but there has been no significant change.

Today he said maybe whooping cough and changed the treatment.

Has anyone here had adult whooping cough? What are the symptoms?

I'll find out more tomorrow but right now I'm really curious.
Yes - about a decade ago. It was before hooping cough had made it's return so it was only after four months that the doctor sent a sample for testing for it and was surprised. At that stage it had almost run it's course. Since then whooping cough has become normal so it tends to get spotted now.

It was aggravating as I would constantly get an itchiness of the sort that you spend your life soothing with a bit of a cough. But as it is with you all the time this is bad for you and I can understand why it killed babies. I now have some permanent scar tissue that gives out that itch but I just swallow hard for a minute, squint the eyes and loses a couple of involuntary tears and it is good. If you are getting the same then don't make my mistake - just breathe slow, squint and settle.

For the first couple of months it was quite dibilitating and did require a day off work here and there when I could hardly control the coughing. You can get a test to confirm. It generally only responds to the relevant treatments for about the first month. Thereafter it will run it's course over the next couple and all you can do is take lozenges or lem sips or vix or whatever works to soothe.

It used to be called the hundred day cough as it will kill itself off around three or so moths after catching.

Despite common misunderstanding, resistance to it after exposure is not long term. It drops off over a number of years so you can catch another dose. I have had what appears to be a single recurrence but then knew how to handle it better.
Unchain yourself-Ride a unicycle

User avatar
ColinOldnCranky
Posts: 6734
Joined: Fri Feb 27, 2009 4:58 pm

Re: Whooping Cough

Postby ColinOldnCranky » Thu Jan 26, 2012 12:36 pm

vander wrote:
simonn wrote:I had my vaccination for it today because we have a newborn. Thanks to all the <removed> who ignore 99.999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999% of the medical profession and listen to mental cases, ex-pornstars and comedians instead it is having a come back have almost been eliminated.
I had been vaccinated you can still get it. Its like the flu vaccine doesn't cover all the strands, which is why it is making a comeback.......Some people should think before they post, or atleast be somewhat informed.
He did think. He is informed. And I can understand simonn's passion.

There are idiot celebrity and new age types who are working against herd immunity. And while herd immunity is not as easy to achieve in pertussis as some others, it was deliberate public policy that nevertheless achieved it and kept it out of general circulation for half the 20th century. And it was the eventual failure of us, the population at large, to carry it through that has allowed it to return.

TB and others are tough to beat. But pertussis is not. Those new-age hacks selling books by preaching against inoculation is as scientifically valid as flat earth theories. They should be held in the same low esteem as Big Tobacco.

For the record it was never really "almost been eliminated". Even before it's recent resurgence it was a reportable disease so numbers were known at, say, 30 a year in WA. (What is it now? 1200 pa? More?)
Unchain yourself-Ride a unicycle

symo
Posts: 11
Joined: Tue Jan 24, 2012 1:24 am
Location: Perth, WA

Re: Whooping Cough

Postby symo » Thu Jan 26, 2012 11:17 pm

Unfortunately, not all doctors suspect whooping cough when one may have whooping cough.
Months ago, a relative was coughing excessively to the point of almost vomiting and unable to work.
Had seen 2 doctors who suggested antihistamine and a cough suppressant.
This was a dry cough and these 2 doctors suspected allergy or viral infection.
After 3 weeks, a non-medical friend suspected whooping cough as she had read somewhere about it and recognise the symptoms.
Then the relative went to a third doctor and politely asked for a whooping cough test and antibiotics.
The antibiotic (specific for whooping cough) was effective after 2 days to reduce the coughing.

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users