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[history_grrrl]

Heeheehee. Sure thing, tee_bee; have a swig. <giggle>

[history_grrrl]

Well, the cough suppressant with hydrocodone was kind of a bust; at most it lets me sleep for a 2-hour stretch (which is better than 20 minutes, but still). It's really supposed to work for a dry cough, which this is not. The only thing to help consistently has been the antihistamine-decongestant thing. I wake up with clumps of sleep stuck in the corners of my eyes, but I can live with that. This morning I hit a record: slept from 3:15 to 8:45! I pray this will be over by the time I head for the UK; I'm a little nervous about some border person thinking I have swine flu and not letting me on the plane.

[always_seeking]

Oh my goodness!

That sounds exactly like what me and my son have. I've also been doing a lot of yard work lately.

My poor son (almost 2 years-old) has the sleep so thick in his eyes that he can barely open them in the morning. They almost seem to be stuck together.

We both have this terrible cough... and it just seems terrible.

I spoke with my pharamcist, told him my symptoms, and he recommended something behind the counter for me. After I told him I was still breastfeeding, he quickly told me that the only thing that I coud get was plain Tylenol and an over the counter sinus decongestant.

We're both still coughing...

[biomancer]

I got to this one late... but perhaps this will help anyone else who reads this thread.

(1)  Dust can bring lots of different kinds of infections.  Some molds (that you might encounter in a damp basement or leaky attic) can cause a fungal pneumonia.  Many viruses that infect both rodents and people can be inhaled from dust - in my region of the world, hantavirus is carried by field mice, so inhaling dust with mouse crap in it can lead to hantavirus infection. 

(2)  Just because you get something diagnosed as an infection doesn't necessarily rule out the possibility that you might also have asthma or allergies or both.

(3)  If the antibiotics don't make a significant difference within 3 days, get back to the doctor.

[history_grrrl]

Good info, biomancer. For the record, although I am better (I can leave my house now to run errands without keeling over 15 minutes later), I am still hacking away. Still waking up about every hour and a half from the cough. I went back to my doc on Friday and he just said it has to run its course. I know he's right -- I have no other symptoms at this point -- but I cannot stand this. On Wednesday I will be on a plane overnight for seven hours. What if I wake up the rest of the passengers with my cough? Will they throw me overboard? Sigh.

[southerntransplant]

I hope you get better soon. Last time I got sick was at the beginning of last semester. It was so bad I had to find someone to cover my classes. I eventually got better enough to teach but the cough lasted forever - probably a month. Some of my colleagues have had the same experience. I guess in a place like a university with a lot of close proximity, infections zip through like wildfire.

It didn't feel like a cold or knock me sideways like the flu can, but the lousy part is that it just lingered...

Hang in there.

[tee_bee]

Well, the cough suppressant with hydrocodone was kind of a bust; at most it lets me sleep for a 2-hour stretch (which is better than 20 minutes, but still). It's really supposed to work for a dry cough, which this is not. The only thing to help consistently has been the antihistamine-decongestant thing. I wake up with clumps of sleep stuck in the corners of my eyes, but I can live with that. This morning I hit a record: slept from 3:15 to 8:45! I pray this will be over by the time I head for the UK; I'm a little nervous about some border person thinking I have swine flu and not letting me on the plane.

For what it's worth, if this is allergies, you will find the plane ride to be bliss: filtered air! I was a white-knuckle flyer in college, but my greatest joy in the spring was flying home to Anchorage from a highly pollenated Pacific Northwest. Three hours in the plane and I felt so much better. Eight or more might even be better. And, presumably, if you don't get better in the UK, you either have the same allergy there, or it's something else. Good luck--I know how bad this can be. And don't overload on decongestants--they are not like antihistamines: they can really wire up some folks. When in college I didn't know better, took a bunch for my allergies, and studied for about 36 hours straight. It wasn't fun--be careful!