(no subject)

[flemmings]

Just spent an hour reading forums under 'laryngeal spasms' which yielded a lot of conflicting information. Symptoms are always the same- tickle in throat, spasmodic cough sometimes leading to vomiting, lack of breath, watering eyes, red face- but the causes range from acid reflux to something wrong with the vocal chords. There's a pressure point one can try but like many people on the forum, the only thing that definitely works for me is sucking on a candy. (So much for 'avoid sugar' in the acid reflux category.)

However it's also avoid caffeine and carbonation. No more Pepsi, and how lucky my favourite coffee shop is closing for a week's vacation.

Bought the second Rivers of London comic y'day, the store being out- again- of vol 1. Is fine. I want to read this when it's finished. Also their version of Nightingale is not my version, and Peter is not nearly cheeky enough- though come to that, I should check how cheeky he is out loud, and how often.

Comments

[doire]

Oh, laryngeal spasms are nasty. I had them sometimes while laughing. I never found the supposedly comforting notion that if you actually lost consciousness the spasm would stop helpful.

It did progress to what you describe, the tickle as warning, becoming unstoppable coughing and on. My GP gave me told me to use pholcodine for a couple of months. It's an opiate that damps down the cough reflex (and the vomiting reflex) and the theory is that if you don't cough for long enough your body loses the habit and is less easily irritated. Pleased to say it worked really well for me.

The main problem was buying it. It's really cheap, over the counter medication here, but it is addictive, and I kept going to the chemist to buy another bottle. By the end of the two months I was visiting far-flung shops to avoid having to explain why I was buying so much - a bottle lasts just less than 5 days so I was getting through quite a few.

Good luck, I hope you find something that works for you.

[flemmings]

Sounds like me and codeine when I used to use it regularly. It's over the counter here, but one gets known at the pharmacy and thinks there'll be Dark Suspicions. Fortunately a 200-cap bottle lasts much longer than five days.

It definitely feels like my body has got into the way of cough-reaction, so that regularly clearing my throat- as I must, given allergies and post-nasal drip- easily turns into tickle-spasm-cough-gasp. (Now I think of it, no one mentioned the explosive sneeze that often ends the attack.) But I'll try cough suppressants for a bit- am not worried about getting pneumonia as I usually am with a regular cough.