It’s tiring to write only technical articles, so once in a while, let’s talk about daily life, or rather, health. For the past few years, I’ve been suffering from symptoms of “uncontrollable coughing” when winter comes.
In conclusion, it wasn’t a cold but allergic coughing. It’s just a story about how I changed hospitals and medicine and got dramatically better, but I’ll write down the history leading up to it and the difficulty of seeing doctors, as a lesson to myself.
Last Year’s Nightmare and This Year’s Realization
It started last year. After catching COVID, from November until early February, coughing continued endlessly. I diligently went to a nearby internal medicine clinic and took the prescribed cough suppressants (like Medicon), but it didn’t get better at all. I woke up at night coughing, and my QOL plummeted. Eventually, it subsided naturally as it got warmer past February.
And this year, after catching a cold again, the same kind of cough started. I despaired, “Ah, it’s that thing from last year.” While disgusted at the thought of that cough medicine life again, I suddenly thought, “Let’s go to a different doctor.”
As a result, the new doctor’s diagnosis was: “Isn’t it allergic coughing?”
I took the prescribed anti-allergic medicine half-skeptically, and the symptoms eased to a level that made me wonder what my previous suffering was all about. It hasn’t completely healed yet and has continued for about a month and a half, but I haven’t had trouble sleeping like last year, and I’m living relatively healthily.
The Problem: Second Opinions Are Too Hard
What strikes me here is that “Second opinions are important, but maneuvering them is too difficult.”
Last year, I believed “The doctor says so, so it must be right” and kept taking cough medicine. But consequently, that wasn’t the optimal solution.
On the other hand, immediately deciding “This doctor is a quack!” and repeating doctor shopping feels like being a “monster patient” in the making. First-visit fees cost money, and medicine isn’t cheap. When told “Let’s observe for a while,” how long should you wait before giving up? How does everyone handle this balance? I don’t know the right answer, and it bothers me.
Warning to Folks Like Me
According to the doctor, “People with a history of allergic rhinitis in childhood tend to have lingering coughs after colds.” And if you leave this alone and let it fester, it can transition into asthma. Scary.
I’m an allergy holder with just a history of allergic rhinitis as a child, but since the allergen is house dust, my throat gets hit no matter where I am indoors. There’s no escape.
I have air purifiers running at full blast, but I feel they are only a placebo. Please help.
If you have “a lingering cough even though the cold should have healed,” I recommend going to a respiratory or allergy specialist instead of general internal medicine. You might be happier changing your approach rather than deceiving yourself with cough medicine.
Aside: Dryness is the Enemy
I recently had a chance to take a long-haul flight, and the dryness in the cabin was tougher than anything. My throat dried up, and I was chugging medication. Masks and throat lozenges are essential, and although it’s a bit pricey, buying water at the airport is good too.
Please be careful about dryness and allergies, everyone. Health first, let’s write good code.
