Whooping Cough- anyone currently got it?

From dec to feb i was on my arse.  Coughing short of breath.

Inhalers and steriods...

Only from march have I felt more human!

Currently have the cough (as does everyone else in our house)

Started in Jan and still going. The boys are catching other illnesses now as they’re immune systems are empty.  Antibiotics did nothing for the little one when he was running a temp. The rest of us were told to man up and get on with it.

Tim

My wife has it. 4 weeks in, several pulled muscles, a course of antibiotics and various cough meds (mainly to knock her out so she sleeps through the night) so far. The ferocity and frequency has improved ibut she’s still suffering. It’s nasty! (but Covonia Night Time is rather good).

I’m two weeks in. Thought it was just a chest infection, as did the doctor. However he took a swab just to be sure. That was on Monday. Tuesday afternoon he called to say I have whooping cough. Am now on antibiotics.

I have to say how impressed I was with my GP and pharmacy. Test results within 24 hours and on antibiotics within an hour of that.

I don’t feel too bad during the day. Mostly just a regular cough. Do feel very tired and short of breath though. Only able to do short walks. Nighttime is horrible though. Getting woken up coughing violently and gasping for breath.

We were supposed to be off on holiday this morning but been told to isolate for two days. Main worry is the stories of it dragging on for months and what it might to fitness. I’ve been training for a couple of things which are now in doubt.

Basically being a proper man and feeling very sorry for myself. 😀. Mrs Kenny is being far more stoic.

It's crap when illness like this scuppers plans though !! Rest up.

Jnr FD got it last October, and passed it on to Mrs FD

Its very very nasty.

Jnr FD took about 3 months to get rid of it, although occasionally he still has occasional weird coughs.

Mrs FD still has it. She had 4 weeks off work, nearly ended up having to have a tracheotomy. Broken rib, pulled muscles, incontinent. Nearly 8 months in an its getting manageable but still has coughing fits. If it happens in public people literally think she is choking to death.

Whooping cough is reportable to public health england, and you should ensure you get a swab and its noted.

I had to take antibiotics at the time as I was classed as a contact. If you do get it you are supposed to isolate for I think a week. Even if you dont get it too severe other people will so please do keep isolated if you get it.

Whooping cough is reportable to public health england, and you should ensure you get a swab and its noted.

I had to take antibiotics at the time as I was classed as a contact. If you do get it you are supposed to isolate for I think a week. Even if you dont get it too severe other people will so please do keep isolated if you get it.

Yes I've had the swab test. Doctor was on the phone as soon as it came back so obviously something they are worried about. He'll do the notification. Both doctor (and NHS website) say you should isolate for 48 hours from starting antibiotics which I did think was surprisingly quick.

My main worry was that we'd been socialising with friends who have young grandchildren. Frantic round of phone calls last night to warn people. Fingers crossed but  no one has any symptoms and at least they are now all aware.

I thought this was vaccinated for?

Remember the days when whooping cough was something you learnt about in your primary school Victorians project?

See also scarlet fever etc.

I thought this was vaccinated for?

Public Health England rang Mrs FD. Apparently when she should have had it as a kid around that period the vaccine was ineffective. Pregnant woman are now offered/given the vaccine when pregnant, but this only came in 2012, Mrs FD had Jnr FD in 2010.

So in theory immunity comes from pregnant women having the jab and passing on to their child. However not all parts of the world offer the jab so with population movement these days its going to get more prevalent, and just because you've had a vaccine doesnt mean you cant get it.

Oh and just to add to the complications - Mrs FD has been on antibiotics multiple times from getting chest infections due to the cough. She has also tried antispasmodics (helped a little but big side effects), and now we are exploring Speech and Language therapist support.

There is a lack of medical research on whooping cough as it was almost eradicated in the west (poor country disease) - however steroid treatment will not help and can make it worse.

I thought this was vaccinated for?

I was vaccinated as a child. But that was about 50 years ago so guess it may have worn off.

Remember the days when whooping cough was something you learnt about in your primary school Victorians project?

Slight worried I may have rickets now!!

@FunkyDunc your wife sounds horrible (if you know what I mean). I'm thankfully nowhere near that level of illness. Hope she recovers eventually. Out of interest did she have an underlying condition (don't answer if you don't want to)? Reason I ask is I have asthma.

Out of interest did she have an underlying condition

Nope nothing at all. She is a hospital surgeon and her immune system is pretty robust due to having been exposed to multiple rubbish of 30 years being in the NHS.

It just came out of no where and has knocked her for six.

I had it several years back. Even if vaxed it can wear off later in life, I was 40-odd at the time. It can be serious, mainly for those with underlying issues, etc but the coughing itself can create pulled muscles and the like as others have noted. It's also serious for the very young, hence need for pregnant people to have the Vax.

It can be serious, mainly for those with underlying issues

I am not sure its quite that way.

The whooping cough is bacteria that lodge in the throat and cause the throat to behave differently ie closing of/spasms.

A side effect of this is that if you have other COPD issues it may mean that your are more susceptible to side effects ie chest infections.

There is no treatment for the bacteria that attack you. The antiobiotics that are prescribed is only to try and prevent spread to other people. This is why it is so dangerous.

The bacteria can stay for days/months/years.

The bacteria can stay for days/months/years

Is it/ are you still contagious then for all that? I was under the impression that you were only contagious for 3 weeks after commencement of the cough.

A person with whooping cough can pass it to others as soon as they get cold-like symptoms. They can also pass it up to 3 weeks after they start coughing. If the infected person takes an appropriate antibiotic, they will not spread the germ after 5 full days of treatment.

wbo Free Member
I thought this was vaccinated for?

My brother had an allergic reaction to the vaccine when he got it as a child, so I was never vaccinated for whooping cough. Hopefully I'll not catch it!

Slight worried I may have rickets now!!

As far as i am aware thats a disease caused by nutritional deficiencies (and or lack of exposure to sunlight) resulting in low vitamin D. Unless you have a diet low in dairy and kick about in a burka* i think you'll be fine.

*Vague memory that rickets instances are higher in women in the more um conservative? islamic countries.

Small pox, TB, polio, rubella,  measles mumps etc though... Why people would take their chances with that shit over a vaccine** is beyond me.

**Except the people who can't that NEED everyone else to risk it so they can be sheltered from it.

As far as i am aware thats a disease caused by nutritional deficiencies (and or lack of exposure to sunlight) resulting in low vitamin D. Unless you have a diet low in dairy and kick about in a burka* i think you’ll be fine.

I'm Scottish......a poor diet and lack of sunshine is our national norm!!  (-:

Is it/ are you still contagious then for all that? I was under the impression that you were only contagious for 3 weeks after commencement of the cough.

Yes, three weeks after you start coughing is when you are contagious. Or 48 hours from when you start to take antibiotics. According to both my GP and the NHS website.

This is fairly clear IMO

https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/whooping-cough/

If you've had whooping cough for more than 3 weeks, you're no longer contagious and do not need antibiotics.

If you have whooping cough, you're contagious from about 6 days after the start of cold-like symptoms to 3 weeks after the coughing starts.

If you start antibiotics within 3 weeks of starting to cough, it will reduce the time you're contagious for.

Stay off school, work or nursery until 48 hours after starting antibiotics, or 3 weeks after your symptoms started if you've not had antibiotics.

Both my parents have a terrible cough and have been in for swabs today. Results in a week apparently. 86 and 80.......and Dad just had a pacemaker fitted two weeks ago after a heart attack

Both my parents have a terrible cough and have been in for swabs today.

Christ thats going to hurt his chest if he has got whooping cough. 🙁

Whooping cough starts as a 'normal' cough but very quickly turn in to a cough with the 'whoop' at the end (basically the bit where you physically cant breath).

Its been that rare in the UK that when Mrs FD ended up in hospital they were not really taking proper infection precautions, but just about every medic around came to see her because they hadnt seen it before. Everyone was just surprised how easily identifiable the whooping cough is to a normal cough. I have also never seen docs and nurses look so concerned. We though they were going to get the crash team at one point. I was quite chilled, dont worry she will breath again in a minute 🙂

The reason Mrs FD ended up in hospital was that she was getting so little sleep that her body was starting to no longer be able to cope with lack of sleep etc. Waking up every 30 minutes, day or night choking to death is not a pleasant thing to have happen. It was a discussion about induced coma and tracheostomy just to let her body recover (obviously a bit more to it than that)

Its easy to see why it kills people, no sleep, chest infections, lack of appetite etc etc.

It was a very disturbing experience, particularly early on. I was on a week's conference in the US, had a minor cough that i thought was asthma related (end of the winter, had had a 'mild' cold type illness, no reason to not travel, etc.)  Over the week i was there it deteriorated so last couple of days were severe cough but the real whooping didn't start until I was back.

I never felt like 'choking', that wasn't the feeling. You'd just cough and cough and cough and cough and cough and cough and cough and cough and cough and cough and cough and cough and cough and cough and .......... just when every bit of oxygen had left your body and you felt like you were going to pass out and die, something kicked in and you'd do the gasp / whoop at the end - and then repeat. After a while you realised that somehow, you always managed to surface just before dying and then it was no longer as distressing. Not exactly fun though, and often would end with vomiting.

After it was under control, the cough lasted ages but just became less frequent. i was back to riding relatively quickly, but would frequently feel the cough coming on and had to stop so I wasn't already gasping before getting into the process.

Swabs aren't available everywhere, so if your doctor says no, it may be because they're not available, as AFAIK they aren't in my area.

The cases I've reported to Public Health they've not bothered swabbing.

I’m Scottish……a poor diet and lack of sunshine is our national norm!! (-:

Me too but a nice pale skin can absorb a lot of whatever magic created Vitamin D. And milk and cheese etc will keep you right.

I'd be more concerned about scurvy. Classic  burger order in Scotland "burger nae shite"

Hmmm - I think I may have/had it.

Definitely the feeling of something catching my throat and then a very log coughing fit when I'd struggle to breath.  It does feel a bit like choking.

Not as bad asd it was but been going on for about 8 weeks - feel like I'm just about over it.

Very unpleasant 🙁

I've had whooping cough now approaching 4 weeks, get the occasional coughing fit throughout the day and still very fatigued.

How do you know when its safe to exercise?

How do you know when its safe to exercise?

When you dont keel over and die?

Only you can decide that. As described above the disease only effects the throat, but the side effect of that is tiredness and potential chest infections so its just all a balancing thing up to yourself.

Mrs FD has started swimming again but she can still having a coughing fit mid swim.

Wife had a very prolonged nasty cough for a few weeks, which one can only assume was whooping cough. I managed to avoid it though