Tuberculosis: The Cough That Never Ends
Photo by Leona Perry
I had this cough that started around Halloween of 2004. It started out like a little tickle in my throat, and I would cough rarely. Then, I started to cough on a regular basis, and I assumed I had some type of a cold.
I went to the doctor and was told they could hear wheezing in my lungs, and they thought it could be something bronchial. I was given some medicine and took that for a week. The cough seemed to go away.
About a week later, the cough started up again and it was really bad at night. I went back to the doctor, and they ran all kinds of tests. I was a little anemic, but, other than that, they couldn't find anything wrong with me. The doctor thought maybe it was a type of allergy, and put me on Claritin. She also gave me a cough medicine with a narcotic in it to take at night to help me sleep. Because of the excessive coughing, neither I, nor my boyfriend Brad were getting any sleep.
By the time the doctor actually tested me for tuberculosis, it was the middle of February 2005. When the doctor told me they were going to do the TB skin test, she acted like she was pretty certain it would come back negative, but it was kind of a last ditch effort to find out where this cough was coming from.
They did the skin test, and I went home.
When the skin test started welting up the very next day, my boss and I were looking the disease up on the Internet. The first thing that's mentioned is death, so yeah, I was scared. Then we did some more research and realized that it was contagious but treatable.
You go back after the second day to have the skin checked, and when I went back, there really was no mistaking that I was positive for TB. The skin had welted up about a quarter of an inch off my arm in a quarter-sized circle. I was immediately masked and sent to the TB clinic at the Durham County Health Dept. I was quarantined for three weeks.
I was only allowed to be outside. I was told that the disease would dissipate in the air, but if I went into buildings there was nowhere for the disease to travel, so I had to wear a mask when I went to the Health Dept.
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12 Comments:
Hey im 23 years old from cali. and i got exposed to TB like 2 years ago. The doctor told me i didnt need the medication. id only need it if i iver got HIV or somthing that slowed my immune system down. . Me being exposed will i have to keep worring about it becoming active. no one tells me any answers /..
Hey im 23 years old from cali. and i got exposed to TB like 2 years ago. The doctor told me i didnt need the medication. id only need it if i iver got HIV or somthing that slowed my immune system down. . Me being exposed will i have to keep worring about it becoming active. no one tells me any answers /..
To Jeff:
My brother-in-law was exposed at work. His skin test showed that he had signs of exposure and he was supposed to begin the year long treatment of therapy. Since then, he changed states and, although the current state dept of health was notified, he has had no treatment. 2 years later, we are all fine. We worry and get repeated testing periodically. If your Dr. told you not to worry, I would say your test did not show a positive reaction at that time and you are fine. To ease your mind, you could ask for a skin test every 5 years, or so, or ask to be tested if you cannot get rid of a cough or are told it is probably just bronchitis.
I'm 57yrs. old. I have a nagging cough. I started coughing about a month ago. I wake up at night with it. It started as a tickle now i am coughing up green phlem. I haven't been tested for tb. I never really even thought about it. I don't think I've been exposed. I wonder if it is something that should be looked into? J.W.
MY HUSBAND HAS THE TB INFECTION AND THE DR. PRESCRIBED PRESCRIPTIONS FOR 9 MONTHS. THE DR. TOLD HIM ITS NOT CONTAGIOUS. DO I HAVE ANYTHING TO WORRY ABOUT I HAVE AN 11 MONTH OLD SON. PLEASE HELP ME.
Hi Anony
if ur hubby is taking his medicines regularly for 9 months as told by the doctor no need to worry as long as he is taking it.
My Skin test was positive but chest xray was neg. Urgent care told me it was positive. Only 2 hours later they tell me oops they made a mistake its negative; this put my world in a tailspin: work, wifes work, my 2 year old. This is extremely scarry. Not really for me but for all I am in close contact with. Like family, friends and work (I work in health care). I'm also mad at the Urgent Care. Clinics and Docs offices are so busy and mistakes are made. This was only 2 hours and so much went into disarray. Even small mistakes make a big impack.
My wife is having TB, she is coughing more blood after 5 days of medication, is this normal? When will the coughing bleeding actually stops?
i had a philipino made,i did for her PPD test in sep2007,and it was completely negative...since 14feb2008,she had cold that last 1 week,then she had a cough,she described it as itchy cough,i took her to the doc,chest x ray was normal,no sound during breathing,he gave her antibotic,erythromycn,and cough syrup....but nothng better...cough still,now its 3 weeks,m so afrad,i had a made before,she had same sympypms,she had TB...WHAT IS GONG ON?
My freind works in the healthcare business she cleans hospital rooms one night while cleaning a room one of the orderlies came up to her with a mask and said I'm giving you heads up the patient that they just took out of the room might of had TB but by that time she had already been in that room cleaning and was almost done should be worried does anyone know
Im a now 15 year old boy with the thing that causes TB. I was diagnosed with that about 2 years ago. I took meds for about 9 months. But about 1 month ago in May i started to cough alot and really bad, i still havent told my mum and dad about the cough because i only cough when im laughing.
To Cynthia,
TB is an air-bourne disease. You friend should be okay if she wasn't around that patient while she was coughing.
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