My Dad is a 54 yr old white male. His current meds are a blood pressure pill and omeprozal prescribed my his PCP. About 8 months ago he became sick and, developed a nagging cough after my convincing him to go to the Dr. he was diagnosed with walking-pneumonia. He was treated with oral anti-biotics, 2 shots,cough med.,prednisone and was sent on his way. The symptoms cleared up, he felt better and all seemed well, except the cough never left. He has been to his PCP 4 times because of this and each time he was given an antibiotic and a couple times he also took prednisone. The Dr. also ended up giving him a nasal spray, inhaler and several different types of cough meds too, still coughing. The only cough medicine that helped control the cough was a combo med. that had hydrocodone in it. He has used 3 bottles of that. I suggested that he be seen by an ENT so i made him an appointment. He was evaluated and they did a procedure (cant remember the name) where his throat was nummed and a tube inserted thru his nose and down into his esophagus. There the ENT saw redness and irritation that he thought maybe caused by acid reflux. He decided to up the dosage of the omeprozal to see if that might help the cough and sent him home. Well, that was 5 weeks ago…still coughing…no change.

Let me try to describe the cough. It is nothing short of what i consider a coughing “attack”. I have timed him and he has coughed non-stop (just breathing in between) for 30 seconds to 3 minutes. He says it starts with a “tickle” and let the coughing begin. His face turns blood red, clear stuff will just run freely out of his nose. His eyes water to the extent to where it looks like he is crying, tears flowing down his cheeks and they also become blood shot. His voice changes after the attack, but returns to normal.

I have been all over the internet looking for natural/holistic remedies/advice to help stop a cough. Here are a few he has tried. Local honey w/ apple cider vinegar (seems to help for 45 minutes to 1 hour). Oil of oregano capsules (no help) from GNC store. Sore throat sprays (he says they will shorten the coughing attack), but it comes back. He has gargled ST-37, salt-water, peroxide/water, and his latest treatment Listerine. He says the Listerine gargle helps IF he gargles it for 20-30 seconds and allows ” a tad” to actually go down into his throat (swallows it). I read the bottle and it is clearly labeled DO NOT SWALLOW. I realize the amount that he is actually swallowing is minimal, but if you do it 10-20 times a day everyday (and he is) that minimal amount adds up.

My Dad owns a floor covering business and I work there as well. So i am with him 7+ hours a day. I know how much he coughs and how violent some of the attacks are. They can occur at any given time, during sales transactions with our customers and telephone conversations. We also sing in a southern gospel group called the Foundations. They also have occured when we are on stage, but they have been mild.

To Sum it all up I AM WORRIED ABOUT MY DAD!!!! This cough limits his ability to deal with customers at our shop, to be able to do what he loves the best SING and even more it is affecting his quality of life. His sleep is interupted with coughing spells all thru out the night. (it is driving my mom crazy too). I am starting to think he is entering a mild state of depression due to the cough and his inability to find permanant relief. Thru this i can see where he has lost some joy and bubble from his personality. He is more irritable too UGH!! Some of the different thigs he has tried have helped but it is short lived and only treating the symptoms and he needs to find out the cause.

Can You Help?????