relief from cough attaks

Comment

Comment by Deva on November 1, 2011 at 10:37am

Oh darn it David. I knew it was going to be difficult to explain and certainly don't want anyone to be lead in the wrong direction. Deep breathing is excellent for everyone ! It is coughing that is different in individuals with compromised breathing. In an individual with healthy lungs a cough produces a force of around 600 miles per hour ( according to the lung specialist ). That said in the most severe of Unhealthy lungs a cough is only capable of producing about 8 miles per hour of force. As we become desperate for air during a coughing attack we tend to cough harder. It is this force that temporarily causes the airways to somewhat " collapse" on themselves. Compromised lungs can't handle the cough force if individuals will practice coughing in shorter series of "small" coughs the lungs can handle the gentler force and after a few gentler coughs become productive, help shed the mucous, and provide better relief. And again you are very correct the deep breath s are very good for us. The information herein was only meant to help those "attacks" whereby many times we almost become panicked to bring in air thereby coughing harder and harder creating not only unproductive coughs but physical discomfort as well. Oh I hope this explains it better. Best to you. Warm regards
Deva

Comment by DavidatpMOD on November 1, 2011 at 9:57am

Thanks for the comment Deva. I've never heard that taking a deep breath can cause the airways to close. Do you have anymore information about that? I would like to learn more as I have always thought it is a good idea to breath deep but it's also good to try to get all the air out of our damaged lungs. Thanks again.

Good luck, God bless and keep the faith...

David

 

Comment by Deva on October 31, 2011 at 11:48pm

I don't know if it will help but we just had a Dr attend our Thursday night lung cancer meeting. He went into a very lenghty conversation about shortness of breath and all the explanations. Bottom line is we often take in a deep breath ( often without trying to control the depth ) and with compromised lungs we actually force the airway closed, it somewhat "collapses". That said he said when it comes to coughing we need to try to do short little coughs rather than big deep coughs. The short little coughs are much more productive because they don't collapse the airways. Try to practice when your body isn't forcing you to cough and it will be helpful when the time comes that you feel that "desperate" need to cough and get air. I hope this helps. He explained it so much better. Best of luck. Thought go out to you and yours

Comment by Carolyn on October 29, 2011 at 8:10pm

Hi, I use tussionex cough medicine that is the ONLY thing that will help me when I am coughing.  It does have codiene in it.

Good luck, I hope your dad is better.

Carolyn

Comment by ms on October 26, 2011 at 9:43pm

Hi Amy,yes he has had 4 radiation treatments every week  he has been having shortness of breath everytime he has a cough attack he has tried everything so that he wont cough but nothing seams to work for his cough which are now getting worse also the shortness of breath his getting worse soon he will start on a pill called tarceva once a day 150m hopefully things will get better thank you for advice and GOD BLESS YOU.

Comment by AmyLCA on October 26, 2011 at 12:21pm

Hi ms,

Is he just starting radiation? If he had shortness of breath (difficulty breathing) and he has just started treatment, it might be that the tumor is blocking his airway. Hopefully the radiation will shrink it quickly, which may help.

 

Amy 

Comment by ms on October 25, 2011 at 10:18pm

thanks for your comment david god bless you!

Comment by DavidatpMOD on October 24, 2011 at 9:44pm

The cough should start to subside after a while. Ask his doctor to give him something for the cough in the meantime. Not sure what you mean by "loose of air". We can often get shortness of breath when we have a bad cough if that's what you mean. He may also have some anxiety issues, it's very common during chemo or radiation treatments. There are meds that can help with that also... Good luck, God bless and keep the faith...

David