Re: and the cough

[Guest guest]

Tina,

I'm sorry but I didn't catch this post. I have finally gotten a

little sleep the last couple of nights. I have still had the cough

wake me up some but it hasn't been as bad.

Do you have intense spells of cough followed by periods of relative

rest? I will have a spell of a week to three weeks followed by

somwehere betweeen three and six weeks of relative calm. Lately its

been a little worse.

I completely understand the impact of not working and the impact of

lack of sleep upon work. Its scary how much work actually means to a

lot of us.

I completely understand the comment about your doc thinking you are

hooked and maybe wanting to be the local dealer. I would hope that

the broken ribs would help to convince your doc you aren't faking

this for the drugs.

I had a doc accuse me of being hooked. He even said " come on now not

even a little weed? " I was so incredibly angry. Due to the nature

of the business I used to be in I had some very high security

clearances and the last thing I was going to do was to abuse drugs.

I wrote him a scathing letter one night at 3AM while not sleeping due

to the cough. In retrospect I wish I had had him paged.

I was seeing this same guy when I came down with Pericarditis. I

had never heard of this until I wound up in an ER thinking I was

having a heart attack. I was referred to a really great cardiologist

with a great rep. My pericarditis was very pronounced and obvious

both with a simple stethoscope and by sonogram. My horrible internal

doc stated that he didn't even believe that I had pericarditis. I

told the cardiologist this who asked me " did that piss you off cause

it does me. " He then proceeded to dictate one incredibly strongly

worded letter to the my then internal doc. Needless to say I parted

ways with this internal doc.

I learned the hard way to be more critical of the medical field. I

was 27 when I crashed due the lymphoma while on a business trip.

Prior to that I had been told I was hypochondriac. I had had my

appendix and gall bladder removed although it turned out that neither

operation was necessary. As a result, if a doc doesn't listen to me

I typically move on. This kind of attitude will eventually kill

someone. To this day I feel that if hadn't been in Austin when I

crashed I would have died.

But for some reason, I haven't been as demanding on the docs to deal

with this cough. Typically my regular doc would state that I had

restrictive lung disease. It wasn't until recently when my

oncologist stated that I had PF did I start to research PF and what

it means. I pushed my current internal doc for a new PFT to see

where I am. I pretty much knew what it said when I left the test but

he didn't look at the results for 3 months when I forced the issue.

Given my renewed focus on dealing with this, I am thinking about a

new internal doc.

I have a shopping list of issues from the cancer and associated

treatment but I have learned to deal with all but this stinking

cough. I am really excited to get to Jewish National. My tests

begin on April 30th with 1st appt on May 1st. If the only thing

that I got out of this is a doc who really understands why I am

calling *again* about the cough I will consider my visits to Jewish

National a success. I have gotten to the point of being embarrassed

about this since my regular doc doesn't seem to understand.

Sorry for the long late reply.

Thanks,

>

> Hi ...is the cough getting any better yet? I hope you get the

> rest your body needs. I am thankful I am not working anymore,

since

> May of 2006. But I also miss working. It kept my mind very busy

and

> made me feel more useful. I was a paralegal for 22 years. I have

> worked in the legal field since high school graduation and through

> college. I was very respected in my field and feel so diminished

> since I left, however, I can't imagine going to work on those days

> when I get very little sleep - usually because of the cough. I

know

> my productivity at work suffered because of my lethargic

disposition

> at times.

> I first starting asking for drugs for the cough following a

coughing

> spell which produced two broken ribs! It was so painful, and I

ended

> up with pneumonia because I couldn't expectorate properly. And I

was

> hospitalized for 5 days. Prior to that, I think my doctor was

afraid

> I was hooked on " pain " meds and, maybe he thought I wanted to be

the

> local drug dealer....but I didn't care at that point. Thereafter,

I

> plainly asked him to prescribe the narcotics for me on an ongoing

> basis so I could have it available at any time I needed it. And,

to

> my surprise, he prescribed it just like I asked. Thankfully, my

> pulmonologist is well aware of the PF symptoms, especially the

> cough. I do not abuse the meds, but I certainly use them when

> necessary.

> God Bless,

> Tina (41)

> IPF 04/07 PH 11/08 Ohio

>