Looking for Answers

My symptoms began with a bad cold at the end of the winter, leaving me with a nagging cough that just wouldn't go away.  Spring was on the horizon and everyone said it was the worse pollen season ever, so perhaps I was developing allergies.  I had never had any problems before, but I dutifully made an appointment with an allergist, only to find that I'm allergic to nothing except dust.  I was no closer to getting rid of that annoying cough, but it might explain my aversion to housework perhaps!

The ENT doctor thought I had asthma, but that just didn't resonate with me.  I had seen asthma in family members, and it didn't look like this.  The inhalers that the ENT doctor gave me to help with the so-called asthma just made me nauseous.  His response, rather than to tell me to stop or switch the inhalers, was that I must have stomach problems, and give me a referral to a gastroenterologist.  I was not paying close enough attention at the time, but this was to become a familiar pattern; treat the symptom with a drug; address any side effects with another drug that also may have side effects, calling for yet another drug and so on, ad nauseam.

In the meantime, the cough was still ever present, making conversation difficult and forcing me to carry around a bottle of water, a supply of cough drops, and to sip on hot tea throughout the day. Cough medicine didn't work, allergy pills didn't work.

I kept looking for a doctor who could tell me what what going on.  Navigating through the medical system is not a simple task, and I didn't have iHart to help me.  It would be several months before I finally got an answer.

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