I should like to know if many people have this problem. My husband feels he has a tickle in his throat and as he coughs,his cough often leads to choking, It can happen after any food or drink, even water and can go on until his face is red and I worry he is going to have a heart attack. The Speech Therapist gave him Omeprazole because she said his problem was acid reflux and this helped for a while but it is happening a lot again. I wondered if anyone has any tips for dealing with this. Sometimes he has discharge from his throat and nose, but sometimes the cough is dry. He takes Madopar,which has cured most of his other symtoms
A dry throat is a fairly common problem I think. I seem to have been sucking strepsils a lot recently, not because of a cold/sore throat but just to stop that dry tickly feeling that starts me coughing. Your husbands sounds worse than I get it. Do you have a PD nurse you can talk to about possibly tweaking his meds?
Wow, glad someone else has this problem, I have had this big time since I was ill last June (2016) that is!! No one can get to the bottom of this damn cough, I'm so sick of it.
I've had camera down throat, xray, reflux tablets, nothing has come to light, so I am getting addicted to strepsils!! GP suggested botox injections in neck for muscle spasms causing the cough, but neurologist says no. The thing is GP nor neuro have heard me cough to know how bad it really is with the choking, watering eyes, nose running. The cough is so intermittent it can just start anytime, so embarrassing when out anywhere especially when out dining. Can't go to theatre anymore or cinema! Have to make sure I have the essentials with me before leaving home: bottle water, handkerchief(sss) strepsils(sss)
Frustrated - Sheila
Hello Thankyou very much for the posts. We do have a nurse we can call on and a speech therapist, who added Peptac to the meds but nothing much has changed. It is a relief to know the problem is normal and nothing very wrong. We have the same trouble that noone else has heard all the coughing and choking so cannot really understand it and it is just like yours shefinn. He can go through most of a roll of kitchen towel during one meal but If you have had all those tests, it seems as though husband will just have to put up with it . We haven't had a meal out for years because it is too embarrassing for him and he has only recently tried to have a coffee or such when we have been out, with no coughing so far. Hopefully the problem will soon be understood properly and a solution found.
Hello erscar, the only thing that has helped my cough a little bit is going to speech therapy, and I will say again just a little bit, because I still have spasms of coughing. The speech therapist has heard my cough but not my GP or neuro or parky nurse the most important people, in the mean time I've just got to live with it. So as you said we will have to live in hope - good luck to all of us - Sheila
P.S. if something comes to light you and your OH will be the first I will let know!
Thank you the same goes for us. Very best wishes
I had a dreadful cough a couple of years ago. Went on for months, didn't matter what I did, ate or drank. It got so bad, it was making me throw up.
I had two chest x-rays and three or four different diagnoses (and prescriptions) from various GPs.
Eventually I realised it was caused by the Citalopram I was on for anxiety. I stopped taking it, and the cough disappeared in a couple of days.
My PD nurse said it was quite a common side effect of the drug on PWPs.
Hi Tabbycat - thanks for the info, but it does'nt help me because I've never been prescribed Citalopram, but it just goes to show how some meds are given to help deal with one thing and you end up with another in the process.
I wish it was as easy as that, iv'e got to the state of desperation.
Sheila
Shefinn, it's likely to be caused by something you're taking - might be completely unrelated to PD meds.
Hi Tabbycat - the other meds I take were prescribed after I had already got the cough, so back to the drawing board again and thank you for the suggestion TC xx
Sheila
Damn!
Does it come and go? Is it worse at certain times of the day, or in certain places, or after particular foods?
I love a mystery!
Hi Tabbycat - think that's why no one can really get to the bottom of it!
It's very intermittent, can have a bout anytime during day (don't cough at night in bed) could have a session cleaning teeth - or just sitting down to meal - walking along - sitting in car going shopping - every day at sometime or other it can start - please please can you come up with anything??......Lol.
I'll send you a gift!! Sheila
Mine was the same - couldn't link it to any time of the day or any place or activity. The only difference is, I would wake up coughing several times a night.
Does yours stop when you have a drink of water? (Only fizzy water stopped mine - I had to have something to "scratch" the back of my throat.)
What supplements do you take?
Once you rule out everything you're taking, it might be an idea to look at environmental things - cleaning products/sprays you use around the house, for example. It's not unheard of to develop an allergy to something you've been using for years.
I really hope you can find out the cause. I know how horrible having a cough is. I think I had mine for over six months - it made me weak and tired.
Hello again. I cannot remember when OH began to cough and choke like this, only that it was before Madopar and after taking same drugs for other conditions for years. I knew he had Parkinsons long before he would admit the problems were not age related. We came to think it was another symptom of Parkinsons. Speech Therapist said it was caused by acid reflux attacking his throat, but it comes when he hasn't eaten or drunk anything. Hopefully,the three of us will, between us, find the cause. Best of luck.
Yes, I got the acid reflux diagnosis too. But I've genuinely had that in the past so I knew it wasn't the same thing (acid reflux usually happens when you're lying down, and it gives you a burning sensation in the throat, not a tickly cough).
Then I was told it was post-nasal drip, and then some sort of allergy, for which I was given an inhaler (like an asthma inhaler). The first time I used it, it made me cough so badly that I never used it again!
I spent hours on the internet researching tickly coughs. I eventually found an article about someone who'd developed a cough while taking a beta blocker. It was then that I realised medication might cause it.
Hi Tabbycat and erscar - more info about the cough i've had since June 2016 - I have finished sessions with speech therapist, and guess what cough is ..............still there! It is a bit better, GP has put me on Lapro......something or other, just to rule out Silent Reflux, don't think it will be though cos don't cough at night, sleep like a baby, but during the day it's really bad. Anyway got to take the meds for 2 wks, then he'll have a go at changing Ramapril (blood pressure tabs, known for giving people coughs, been taking them for 30yrs so don't think it will be them) Unless anyone else is taking them. Drinking water helps more than anything never go out without a bottle (of water that is)
Look out for next bulletin - Sheila
It could well be the Ramapril. Thirty years ago you didn't have PD and sadly that's what seems to be the trigger.
As I said earlier, my PD nurse said it was common for PD patients on citalopram to develop a cough. GPs never come across this side effect and are always surprised to hear about it.