Coughing?

I don't really know where to start, so I guess I'll try to summarize as best as I can. I was diagnosed with GERDs 2 years ago.

I've been having this terrible dry cough for over 2 months now and I'm not sure if it's GERDs that's causing it or not. I've been juggling between my primary's recommendation and my gastroenterologist for a while now. After dealing with this cough for 2 weeks I went to see my primary but he was away on vacation but I saw another doctor that was in the office and he gave me a 10 day (2 packs) sample of protonix and 2 nasal sprays and said I should take a cough medicine to relieve the cough for the time being. This combination helped for a while but I have a feeling it was the cough medicine doing most of the work.

I had an appointment to see my regular primary 2 days after that event and I brought this up to him again and he said I had minor bronchitis and put me on anti-biotics, I really don't think I have bronchitis. After having the coughing symptoms get worse I went to see my gastroenterologist (my gastro and primary are in the same office). He sort of shrugged it off and told me to take Pepcid AC at night and see him in 3 months. I have a feeling he was swayed by my primary's diagnosis.

My primary also sent me to see an allergist and I brought this up to him. He immediately put me on Protonix and a nasal spray. But it's been a month now and I'm still getting these horrible coughs at night, they seem to get worse when I lay down and it's always at night, and haven't had a decent night's sleep in months.

I guess my question after this extremely long story is, has anyone else had these night coughs that are extremely dry? could it be a product of GERDs?

Any advice on how to deal with all these doctors would be greatly appreciated as well. I apologize for such a long post.

Thanks for the quick reply, and you hit the nail right on the head. My doctor put me on Chantix to quit smoking and during the time of his diagnosis I didn't smoke for about 3 weeks, so I think he might have jumped the gun. Since then I've been off chantix and I started smoking again but not heavily, either way, I'm gonna try quitting again, without the aid of chantix, I really didn't like the side effects.

I've actually always had stomach problems... for as long as I can remember I had really serious heartburn and about 5 years ago I started feeling nauseas all the time. I had an endoscopy done and the doctor said it was just stress related, which was partly true, it was finals week and such. The nausea never really went away but the heartburn subsided somewhat. Well fast forward 3 years and I've had 2 more endoscopies and I was diagnosed with GERD. I still struggle with nausea (no more heartburn), especially in the mornings when I don't get enough sleep and sometimes after I eat, a couple of gags in the morning and I'm usually better but the underlying feeling is still there. The nausea after eating usually happens when I'm out, at a restaurant etc... so I think it's somewhat anxiety related.

I haven't really put in a full effort on controlling my GERD but I'm just starting to understand how it works, and this is partly due to not getting a good explanation from doctors and such. I've never been so stressed out, as you can probably tell.

Another long post, but I've had so much to vent and never really had an outlet until I found this site, thanks again for your reply.

Post Edited (m0rn) : 10/22/2007 12:36:30 PM (GMT-6)

m0rn:
Yes, I had a dry cough for a long time. It was worse at night, but also happened frequently during the day. It annoyed my family and co-workers, but to me it had become such a habit that I pretty much didn't realize how much I was doing it.

Once I saw a gastroentologist and started meds to resolve the GERD, the cough subsided but didn't totally go away. I took Protonix 40 mg once a day for many years. It didn't do much to help heal my esphagus or stop the reflux from happening when I laid down. Protonix is the least strength of the PPI's, so it may not be strong enough for you.

I quit smoking more than 10 years ago.

It is possible that your dry cough is not related to GERD. Certain meds, such as blood pressure meds, have a dry cough as a side effect.

I just wanted you to know that my dry cough was definately linked to GERD and even while on Protonix, I had a dry cough. It might also be helpful for you to know that "cough" was listed on the questionnaire I filled out at the gastroenterologist's office under "do you have any of these symptoms". So it's something that my physician was looking for when diagnosing GERD.

My total relief from GERD didn't come until 2 1/2 weeks ago after undergoing the Nissen fundoplication procedure.

Good luck.