Caught a cold at the start of November and still have a nagging, persistent cough 7 weeks later. I now feel fine in myself and it’s low-key but definitely still there and noticeable when I go running as it then gets worse.

Same thing happened year before last and I had a cough following a cold that lasted about 16 weeks. I stopped exercising for the whole duration then but don’t want to be sedentary for 3 or 4 months again so am still exercising but don’t feel like I can really push hard intervals etc and am now 50/50 whether to bother with a trail race I had planned in January.

I’m coughing up phlegm (but not loads) so I really don’t think it’s asthma, allergies or anything properly serious (though concede I’m not a doctor).

Not really sure if this is within the bounds of normality and happens to everyone occasionally or if I’ve got some kind of weakness, wondering if it is just me or not?

I got a really bad cough about three years ago and it’s still with me today. Have had chest xrays and numerous other tests but nothing has sorted it. Don’t wait around. Get to the doctors and get it looked at.

I get a mucus buildup after a cold these days and have to use something like Covonia or Beechams mucus stuff to get rid of it or ill be coughing for weeks after the other symptoms have gone.

My Wife caught a Cold during September and it has been coming and going ever since.

She’s got a nasty cough sometimes and at other times she’s healthy. Seems to be on a 3-4 week rotation and it’s really wearing her out :o(

Cat aids, the bad kind.

A colleague had something similar that turned out to either be bronchitis or pneumonia, can’t remember which, but presumably that’s been ruled out?

Sounds a bit like Pertussis (adult whooping cough) it’s taken me over 10 weeks to get back in the bike since I got it. Off to the docs next week to ask for steroids which apparently may help with the lingering cough.

I’ve had pneumonia in the past (years ago) and definitely don’t think it’s anything like that.

Daffy- cheers, I will try Covonia. It definitely does feel like it’s just a load of excess mucus stuck in my throat that my body keeps trying to get rid of.

I’ll see if I can get to my GP if it’s not gone by the end of January though I wonder if there’s much they can do really.

Diet?

Welcome to my world. I’ve had one since May. Been to the docs and had various hospital appointments and they still don’t know what it is.

Similar to me, had a really chesty cough, with amazingly viscous phlegm, since June.

Not ill as such, as I’ve carried on cycling. I just need to cough up a load about 1km into the ride.

The current thinking (GP and asthma clinic nurse) is that it’s asthma related, and something is making me produce excess mucus, especially at night. I wake up and have to hack for ages. Mmmmmm, lovely.

Cheers all. Ajantom- yeah sounds similar, I feel fine other than the cough itself. I had a month of rest (some of which I did feel ill) but think I’ll just plough on with exercise now otherwise could be waiting ages it seems.

I had one last year: started in July, was still there in October. I did all the doctors stuff, apparently there was nothing and it cleared up anyway by itself. But it was definitely worth seeing the doctor, if only for the peace of mind. So go see a doctor. It might be nothing, it might be something… And either way that’s what your taxes are for 🙂

I’ve had my cough for about 3 weeks now and recently started putting Vicks VapoRub on my neck and just under my nose before I go to bed as well as having the odd sniff from the jar during the day. It seems to have done the trick so I stopped using it for a couple of days but now it has come back.

Had this a couple of years ago. The 100 day cough it was being referred as. Ended up feeling pretty rough/temperature so rang 111.

Ended up in hospital for 3 nights on IV antibiotics – pneumonia and sepsis.

Keep an eye on it and deal with it if it gets worse.

Go to the Dr, no-one can diagnose on the internet. You may get rushed for a chest x-ray to eliminate the big C

If you suffer from acid reflux that can cause a persistent cough as the acid comes up and irritates the throat

big-n-daft May have it. Check what you are eating. I will be taking a pill before bed🙁
I’m asthmatic so need to watch my “triggers”
After needing BP meds I suffered a cough which turned out to be caused by the meds. Are you on any meds? Check the side effects.

Check the cancer thread below and get yourself to a doctor.

Edit: Its probably not cancer but best to make sure

If you suffer from acid reflux that can cause a persistent cough as the acid comes up and irritates the throat

When I had a nagging cough for several months I eventually went to the doctor and mentioned this (ie I’d looked on the internet and thought acid reflux might be a possibility) I might as well have curled one out on his desk.

When I had a nagging cough for several months I eventually went to the doctor and mentioned this (ie I’d looked on the internet and thought acid reflux might be a possibility) I might as well have curled one out on his desk.

I went through a couple of specialists to get to the diagnosis.

If you suffer from acid reflux that can cause a persistent cough as the acid comes up and irritates the throat

They think this is what is causing it with me, I coughed up some blood a few weeks ago, that wasnt pleasant!

When I had a nagging cough for several months I eventually went to the doctor and mentioned this (ie I’d looked on the internet and thought acid reflux might be a possibility) I might as well have curled one out on his desk.

In contrast, when I went to my GP and curled one out on his desk, I got my referral pretty quickly. 🙂

I’m a lifelong asthmatic, and my daily routine in recent years has involved hacking up phlegm in the morning to clear my lungs. Tried all sorts of asthma drugs, including ones mainly aimed at conditions that hard-smoking former miners get. Eventually twigged that silent reflux might be causing it, GP was open to the idea, and a couple of months on Omeprazole improved my peak flow no end. I reckon there is a dietary trigger, either a particular food or just stuffing my face, as it came back with a vengeance over Christmas.

No blood though a_a, if that happens again I’d advise popping in to see your GP.

Had the same and it was bronchiolitis, at the time it was apparently reducing my lung size by a huge amount. Now on antibiotics, an inhaler and some phlegm softening medicine. Still there but much improved, nearly back up to normal levels but always the danger of pneumonia so I’m a bit cautious currently.

Ask the MNPR lot about mine I think it’s a type of asthma….

Gonna go the quacks again in the new year n see what they advise

I posted 5 days ago that the cough had come back and it stubbornly refuses to go away. But yesterday I met someone who swears by pineapple juice to get rid of coughs and a quick google seems to confirm that it works due to some enzyme. Anyway, I had a glass lat night and also one by the bed through the night and my cough has massively improved. The pineapple juice can’t me made from concentrate so I’m on the ‘Tropicana 100% Pure Pressed Fruit’.

Every cold I’ve ever had for as long as I can remember, has been followed by a tickly cough that can last for months. In the event of me getting say three colds a year, which did happen once or twice in the past, I’ve ended up with a “bit of a cough” pretty much all year.

Thankfully these days colds are rare. I’ve had two in the last three years. One just after we arrived in Spain and one that I’m coming out of right now. And I have a cough.

Just read an article about the difference between colds and flu, and it mentions the presence of a persistent cough after catching a cold:
https://www.inverse.com/article/62056-the-difference-between-a-cold-and-the-flu

Just read that article and it linked me to something about post-viral coughs which seems like something I might have and is exactly as Spekkie describes above, funnily enough:

https://www.healthline.com/health/post-viral-cough#treatment

Basically, I get a run-of-the-mill winter bug and then for weeks and weeks afterwards feel fine other than carrying an annoying cough that persists for ages.

Will try the pineapple juice trick described above though given it’s pretty cheap and readily available so nothing to lose I suppose.

Got it here. Had it over a month, including feeling rough, headaches and running a temperature. Saw GP last week and was sent straight for Xray. Going to phone tomorrow for results as off to Prague on Thursday, and my chest is struggling with any cold.

I’m still coughing from my November cold to but it is slowly getting better (now more just an irritating tickly throat cough rather than chesty wheezing cough I had for a few weeks). Had the same last year, can’t remember ever having such a long lasting cough before that though

In a mortar and pestle, 4 raw cloves of crushed garlic, bit of olive oil, black pepper, smeared over toast or in a cheese sandwich. Seems to alleviate symptoms of coughs and colds and reduce their duration, and also rather delicious.

Couple of years ago I had a persistent cough in the summer for c6 weeks. I thought it wasn’t worth going to the Drs “just for a cough” but after being pestered to I went and was diagnosed with bronchitis. Dr told me I should have made an appointment sooner.

My son has the same, had it since beginning of December. Doc said it’s a nasty virus that’s going around and he just has to sit it out. Wife has then had it along with a sister and niece over Christmas. Mum currently suffering. We’ve all been together over Christmas so the max strength Lemsip’s have taken a hammering.

My X-rays came back clear, so I’ll just have to wrap up in Prague. Still knackered and not sleeping well with this annoying chest. Feel like an elephant has sat on me. I’ve never known a cough/illness to go on for so long. Not touched the bike in a month, not even Zwift.