Chronic cough usually benign

January 9, 2011 By

DEAR DR. GOTT: I am a 19-year-old female and have had a nonproductive cough for 16 months without any other symptoms other than some slight drainage down the back of my throat. I have kept food and cough diaries and cannot find anything that triggers it. I cough when I sit, stand, laugh, after strenuous exercise and around smoke; it seems that I cough all the time.

I have seen my family physician, a nurse practitioner, an ENT, his PA, a pulmonologist and his PA. I have been diagnosed with bronchitis, hiatal hernia, asthma and heartburn. None of the medication given for these diagnoses has worked. I’ve been on Symbicort, Spiriva, codeine, Prilosec, Zantac and one other that I can’t remember the name of. I had to take it for five days for what they thought was bronchitis. I had a chest X-ray done in July 2009 without abnormalities. There is nothing wrong with my vocal chords, either.
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Smoking habit is harmful

February 7, 2010 By

DEAR DR. GOTT: Please write an article on smoking.
DEAR READER: Smoking is the most common form of drug addiction in the United States. In fact, according to the American Cancer Society, studies have determined that nicotine in tobacco products is as addictive as alcohol, cocaine and heroin. Cigarette smoke is a complex blend of such chemicals as cyanide, formaldehyde, acetylene, benzene, methanol and ammonia. Using any form of tobacco causes the combination to reach the brain within seconds, where it works on the central nervous system to provide a seemingly pleasant, relaxing, satisfying sensation. Furthermore, those enjoyable effects wear off rapidly, so the smoker reaches for yet another cigarette or nicotine-containing product to maintain that euphoric “high.” And so it goes. [Read more...]

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