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Friday, April 11, 2008
Whooping Cough?
Consider this blog a public service announcement. Remember all the immunizations you got when you were a little kid? Many of them can "wear off" when you're a grownup. How do I know? Because I caught Whooping Cough! It's also called pertussis & is the "P" in the DPT immunization. How do you know if you have Whooping Cough? First of all you cough uncontrollably & at the end of the coughing fit you inhale a large gulp of air that makes a "whooping" sound. Also, unlike a regular cold, your cough doesn't go away. For many people, including me, it can last for over three months! Before the vaccine became available, 5,000-10,000 people a year would DIE from whooping cough. There's a sudden rise in cases of whooping cough because many parents are choosing not to immunize their children & as a result those kids are infecting the adults (whose immunizations have worn off). Unfortunately once you have it, there's really no effective treatment.
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3 comments:
YIKES! That's scary. I hope I don't get it. Thanks for letting us know!
You said it lasted 3 months!!! How did you get rid of it???
Hi Erin, thank you so much for this post - Joe and I have been sick with a mysterious choking cough, feeling fine in between but it has gone on and on - horrible at night too. When I read your post I knew right away that we had the same thing. It's been really wearing us down and it's crazy to have lasted this long. I think we've had it about a month and a half. As of a few days ago I was still relegated to hanging over the nearest garbage can gagging and icking-out the junk in my throat - not to be missed! LOL Sheesh. Anyway, I was vaccinated for it when I was a kid, but apparently the immunity is gone. We never went to the doctor because most of the time we seemed fine and we figured they'd never find anything wrong - then I read that doctors miss it for that very reason.
Now that we have both had it we won't get it again, thank GOD!
Thanks again,
Wendy
Hi Erin,
Wow! I believe you just diagnosed the cough I had 3 years ago. I had the same symptons Wendy posted. It lasted about 6 months (thanks to the doctors). They gave me all types of cold medicines and tests ending with (we can't find anything, but we think you have heartburn) and gave me heartburn meds. When the coughing stopped, I wanted to get off of the meds, but of course the doc said no. About a year ago I had had enough of the meds and took myself off of them, and funny (no cough). I had been vaccinated years ago, but I guess the immunity wore off. Thanks again for the information and I will talk to my doctor about this.
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