In China they call it the '100 Day Cough'. Here (
cough!) it's called the 'Whooping Cough' and the vaccines protection wanes after 10 years. Mine was in 1951. Our three dogs have it (they call it 'Kennel Cough', but it's actually the same virus). Only 50% of adult cases actually do 'whoop', describing the (
cough!) (
cough!) (
cough!) (
cough!) sudden admission of fresh air after an inense bout of coughing (
whoop!) There is no fever, just this horribly annoying cough. The bad news for this blawg (
cough!) is that both Nikki and I have it and will probably drag it into the New Year. We tried everything to make our lives better to no avail. This is a bad, insidious and practically invidible bug. So may you be warned:
- There will be fewer postings by (cough!) myself for the coming month.
- Don't be idiots like us. Get a g*ddamn vaccine! out of 30 million cases last year, 300,000 people died useless deaths.
- Stand back from the monitor while you read this. We are (cough!) contagious on a sliding scale for the first 21 days.
How do I know all this FOR SURE? From another blogger, a family doctor who over 25 years has studied the affliction. Dr Jenkinson brought us light and peace to our worried mind thanks to his wonderful blog on the subject,
one you can view here.
- BUT WAIT...I am writing this important change of opinion 6 monts later (Feb 2008). It took a good two months for me to get over it. ALL the F**king English site NEVER explain properly what happens in whooping cough. They keep you in the dark and take your money, as the good doctor does if you want to know more. I had to go to France to get concise explanations of the action of this virus. Here it is: in the first few days of this affliction, all the ciliae (fine hairs in your lungs that expel out mucus, like with a ratchet action, all hairs pointing to OUT and preventing mucus from sliding back in), ALL CILIAE ARE DESTROYED, the virus delivering 4 powerful toxins acting, one a super-glue to make the virus stick to the hair, and 2 others paralyzing the hair, a fourth one killing the hair. IT TAKES 100+ plus for you to regrow these and have the capacity to expel mucus spontaneously, without going to the extreme acrobatics of clearing your lungs. NOTHING YOU CAN DO will make you feel any better, not even sending money to the good doctor. Wait it out and tell your friends to be vaccinated. You wont need it for a few years. And...it feels damn good to be with a good crop of new pulmonary hairs. Good luck. There are no sequels. Bordetella is a bad monkey. Maybe its true they have the best health care system in the world in France. Anglos consider medicine as a business. Like with politics, sex, religion etc...
Since nearly 500,000 people have already seen his 'Whooping Cough' blog, I need to salute and thank this fine VERY USEFUL gentleman by posting his photo here. (
cough!)
10 comments:
HI thanks for your post...I think you missed the point of my post.
The problem is that small dog breeds are getting something called collapsed trachea. They are finding that it may be related to the actual bordatella bacteria.
There are many people that will not have their dogs by this time next year as a result of this cough, which does not last 100 days, but the rest of their life..and then kills them.
This is terrible and not a good prognosis for our traditional family get-together over Christmas. How long does this thing run?
Everyone is fine here, except for poor old Max (my son's yellow lab) who has just been diagnosed with bone cancer with two months or so to live.
Paul and I are 68. Should we really get a whooping cough vaccine?
Yes Camille, it is promoted heavily for anyone, actually, as there have been some epidemics (Kansas City MO etc..)
And Pawhealer, if a little dog with collapsed trachae has kennel cough, it's much more of a strain on his heart and lung. If it's a 2 pound Yorkie and he is given the wrong vaccine (there are several versions of it, very different. The best and safest ones are much more expensive), there could be a fatality. From what I have gathered it seems that when given erytromycin in the very early stages, somehow the episode is much shorter and damaging. They dont really understand well why an antibiotic could have this beneficial effect on a virus!!! Some vets prefer this to a vaccine for the tiny ones.
We live in Massachusetts, USA and after three weeks, including one hospital trip, four doctors visits, and many, many nights of constantly interrupted sleep, we finally got a diagnosis of whooping cough for my 12 year old twin boys.
What made this particularly frustrating was the fact that I had brought up the idea of the disease to the doctors over a week ago, and my kids were not immunized against it, and the dr's knew that - but they just didn't believe me when I described the severity of the symptoms. The boys were not very "sick" when we visited the doctors. In the last three weeks the boys were tested for strep (negative) and diagnosed with allergies (dog and pollen), sinus infections and "cough" (what the heck does that mean!). They were given an Albuterol inhaler, a Flovent inhaler, Singulair pills, Robitussin cough syrup, codeine cough syrup, over-the-counter Sudafed (decongestant), Rhinocort nasal spray and a pill called Hydrocodone to knock them out at night to help them sleep. We also tried homeopathic Phosphorus 30C pills. And we went out and got an air-purifier! I am sure you are not surprised that nothing worked - not even the Hydrocodone.
Then the school nurse called (for the umpteenth time) and really encouraged me to look into whooping cough again. I found your site and got the courage to go back to the dr's. I told the nurse and dr that we were NOT GOING TO LEAVE the office until they heard one of my kids have a "whooping session". Well, after about 35 minutes one of them launched into a particularly dramatic spasm with the coughing, whooping, red face, loss of breath, sticky foamy saliva, vomit and all. They almost couldn't believe it, because otherwise, my child just looked and sounded a bit under the weather. I said "See, I told you! This is what has been keeping us up at night for weeks! This is why I have been afraid to leave their side because I thought he would choke and die!"
Anyway, that's our story. Thanks to the informative site by Dr Jenkinson. It was clear, interesting and put my mind at ease. I am sure we have many more weeks of whooping - but the boys were put on Zithromax and the school is going to let them go on their BIG 6th grade overnight field trip next week. And our doctor assured me that they won't stop breathing!
PLEASE MAKE SURE PEOPLE KNOW THAT THE KIDS CAN SEEM "WELL" IN-BETWEEN BOUTS!
I know you cover this on the site, but it cannot be reiterated too strongly. This has been a truly amazing experience...with the irony that it took a school nurse and a Mom to get the doctors to listen.
I am going to take a nap!
PRoblem is not even the good doctor explains how the cough can last so long: here iit, from a French site, concise and clear and in-depth. Wanglophone sites just bla-bla too much and dont go deep enough.
The bacteria attacks ONLY the ciliae of the breathing pipes, those miniature hairs that oscillate and push the mucus out of the lungs. They do so by releasing killer toxins that paralyse those and kill many. It takes forever to regrow these and have normal evacuation from the lungs of mucosities. Other todins produced include one that is like a personal 'Krazy Glue' to make the bacteriae attach solidly to the ciliae. Nice creature, right?
This sounds very much like a virus that my son has been suffering from for a few months!!
After being examined by a doctor, they even considered his anxiety issues as a source of the cough!!
Now, I have it too... My question is... If we both (plus my husband and daughter) get a whooping cough vaccine after we show symptoms, will it help? Or, does the vaccine have to be administered before the virus is contracted??
Also, our Bichon has started wheezing again... She hasn't done this since we stopped feeding her beef products... I know she has had a Kennel cough vaccine, but I don't know if it's up to date...
Can the vaccine catch it, if it's at an early stage?
No for the vaccine, but they found out that an early round of antibiotics (erythromycin or the other more expensive one ) can reduce symptoms and certainly contagion if taken on early enough. But this is often difficult to do as the first critical three days are often misdiagnosed.
My two boys and I have this cough. The Dr(s) seem to refuse any idea that it is the 100 day cough....I think they are in denial or perhaps if they do identify it they have to do some extra work reporting it, I don't know but it is frustrating! The bit about killing off the little hairs is a bit alarming specially as it looks like it takes for ever for them to grow back. I tried jogging but for the last month have to stop many times to avoid coughing and throwing up. For years I have been running 3 miles a day regularly no problem, but now look like 100 a day smoker who can't even run for 5 mins. How long will it take to make a full recovery, if at all?!? Anyway maybe there other people with tthe same story out there.....I wish you good luck. PS. my boys are oblivious to the frustration and just carry on coughing with out worry....Oh to be young again!
Your reaction is so typical...It feels like it will never be like before, when you could run 3 miles a day with no problem. But amazingly your new crop of hair will make you forget the whole incident and maybe entertain this thought: What if this was nature's way of replacing a crop of tired old ciliae? I am saying this because I can run better and longer than before my 100 day cough episode.
Excellent! Brand new more efficient cilia....that will make you feel better than before. This is what the docs should promote, not avoidance of the issue. Cheers.
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