Any chance I have whooping cough, or is it just some unresolved thing?

[Anonymous]

16 years old male

In early October 2014, I had a mild cold and then after that I was coughing about 20 times a day, hard... then it reduced to about 5-15 times a day and on October 23, 2014 we went to the doctor again and she gave us the 5-day antibiotics and said that we could try to treat it with nasonex first. We did, and since then, it has reduced to 2-5 times per day (more like 2-3 now), but it still hadn't completely gone away and in these coughing fits, I usually have a few coughs, in between, I may breathe in rapidly making a noise and sometimes gag. Now two days ago, I finally started the 5-day antibiotic (az... something). Today will be my third day of taking it, and I am still down to about two times per day. But I noticed today, for the first time it also made my stomach ache...

Do I need to do anything else other than finish the antibiotic and expect it to diminish to nothing gradually?

Is there a chance I have whooping cough? I mean, my coughing "spells" don't really last for more than a few seconds, but they are strong coughs and sometimes I do end up gagging and as I said, "Breathe in really fast as a result that makes that sort of noise," and often it does mildly cause chest discomfort.

[kelly173815]

I had whooping cough when I was 15 - it was much more severe than this - I would cough all day untill I was throwing up - antibiotics did nothing, I was at a stage that I was taking 30 pills a day, and it did nothing - it lasted 4 months until they realised it was whooping cough and not just a chest infection :/ went away 3 weeks later after they gave me the proper stuff to treat it

[Asker]

That sucks...

So, I should be fine, right? I definitely don't have it (because I heard that symptoms can also sometimes be quite mild).

[kelly173815]

Well, I'm not a doctor, this is just my own personal experience - why don't you ask to have a blood test done if you're really worried about it. But it seems like your symptoms are lessening with your medication, so I would finish that course before you try anything else

[Asker]

"Adults and teens with whooping cough may have milder or atypical symptoms, such as a prolonged cough (rather than coughing spells) or coughing without the whoop."

kidshealth.org/.../whooping_cough.html#

[Asker]

That's what I will do... if after a week it doesn't go away, or if somehow it gets severe, I may do that.

[kelly173815]

Yeah I didn't have the whooping sound when I coughed - and the prolonged cough is exactly what I had - it wasn't just small fits, I would cough almost all day - with some fits inbetween that would make me throw up. And well I obviously had it longer than 3-4 weeks

[Solenn]

if it's a whooping cough it will just disappear on it's own, the purpose of the antibiotic is just to lessen the period of time you will be suffering from it and also not to infect other people. it's common to children but not to adults. if you go back to the doctor again ask her if it's a whooping cough or not. if it's not a whooping cough ask her about asthma. :)