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Post by spanky3 on Jul 16, 2007 0:53:52 GMT 1
Hi everyone. New member here. I have NSCLC w/pleurel effusion. I have a terrible cough and cough a heck of a lot of mucous also. Pulmonary Dr has me on Vicodin as needed for cough. Which is basically helping especially at night for sleep. I dont like to take a lot during day because I do not like feeling drowsy all the time. I have also been put on a nebulizer w/Albuterol sulfate which I find doesnt really help a lot. Is there any other medications for nebulizer that seem to help with mucous thinning and cough? Or has anyone there found a good help for the cough all together. EVERY time I do to Dr I want to ask why cough so hard and what causes mucous but always forget. Need to make more notes. LOL Thank you all very much for any input. I do appreciate it.  |
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Post by jljenkyns on Jul 16, 2007 9:16:30 GMT 1
Hi Spanky3
I wish i could help you but unfortunatley i do not have a cough as bad as you have, I did have quite a cough prior to taking the Tarceva I know you can get cough medication that is non drowsy and you can take it through the day.It will probably be a good idea to phone your Doctor as soon as the coughing starts. We will have a look around and see if we can find anything to helo you. It will be a good idea to click on Onctalk on the front page of the site and ask Dr Jack West he is a LUng Cancer specialist and his advice if free.
jim
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Post by spanky3 on Jul 16, 2007 13:03:39 GMT 1
Thank you Jim. I do post at Dr. West's forum. Great man and the people there are so very nice. Dtay suggested I visit this site. Thought maybe someone far away may have come across some little remedy. LOL....Gave it a try anyway.
This is a very very nice site. I am in process of reading all posts. Trying to educate myself on what I can to try and understand so much. A lot of the jargon/words are so confusing and cannot understand. I was going to suggest to Dr. West at his site to have a glossary of terms somewhere so as to be able to understand .
Thank you again.
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Post by jljenkyns on Jul 16, 2007 13:18:37 GMT 1
No problem
I have just realised that you are from the u.s I agree what a great man Dr West is if only the english Doctors would take a leaf out of his book we may have a more knowledgeable NHS??
We will keep looking for you anyway and maybe the other memebers who have maybe had experience of this will reply to your post fingers crossed . Keep your chin up!!
jim
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Post by dtay on Jul 16, 2007 17:48:12 GMT 1
Hi Delighted you could pop in and join us.  My Dad had a terrible cough and his Onc prescribed a codeine mixture for him which helps a little. They said that his cough was bad as his primary tumour is located close to a main airway and it acts as an irritant - they were going to do radiotherapy at one stage to see if that would help, when he started Tarceva it helped tho. Hope you are feeling ok and I'm really pleased that you posted - its all really scary after diagnosis isnt it, and I agree with you that the jargon is often very confusing.  Take care Dawn x |
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Post by Deanne Jenkyns on Jul 16, 2007 19:38:10 GMT 1
Hi Spanky,
Just wanted to say hello and wish you luck in finding a solution to the current problem you are facing. Hope you soon manage to get it under control!
Take care
Deanne
x
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Post by spanky3 on Jul 16, 2007 19:39:30 GMT 1
Thank you Dawn. I am pleased to be here also. Starting to get my chickens in a row so to speak. Been a hard road for me but I am finally giving it my best shot. Thanks for info on cough. My cough seems in bronchi as with mucous. Doesnt seem to come from lung. My chest xrays say lungs are clear and well expanded. I think they said tumor is in right lower lobe. This cough and mucous is just so aggravating. The Vicodin helps some. Would love to find something to go into nebulizer to help. I see pulmonary Dr tom so may be something will develop there. Again Dawn, thank you for your support here and on other site. You were a help and so friendly to someone scared and feeling lost. I want to move ahead and not back.
Bless you.
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Post by phillipa on Jul 16, 2007 19:42:50 GMT 1
Hello Spanky,
Kent has/had a cough and our GP prescribed Carbosisteine and he takes Oral Morphine 5mls. The Morphine helps calm the cough and Carbosisteine brings up any mucous. kent's tumour caused his lung to collapse, but since he had surgery on the tumour last week and they cut away 3/4 of it, his coughing has lessened and his lung has re-inflated.
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Post by dtay on Jul 16, 2007 20:34:30 GMT 1
Love your attitude - knock it dead !! I am proud of the way you have moved forward in the past few days.More to the point tho, you must feel very proud of yourself !! I totally appreciate how terrible it must be for you coping with all of this on your own - but I think you are really doing great. It's natural to feel down and let things get on top of you, never apologise for that - you wouldnt be human if you were tough and brave all the time !! Everyone here understands how you are feeling and we are all here for you as friends. Thinking of you and hoping all goes well tomorow
Love
Dawn xx
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Post by phillipa on Jul 17, 2007 12:44:03 GMT 1
Sparky,
Kent's tumour is in the same place as yours, only it caused his lung to collapse. Nebulisers didn't help at all. Cutting away the tumour has helped, for the time being
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Post by norfolkbirdie on Jul 17, 2007 23:30:47 GMT 1
I was just reading through these posts and thinking isn't it weird how tumours can be in same place in different people and cause such a difference in presenting symptons?? Dave's was in rt bronchus in lower/middle lobes and had collapsed lower lobe but he had no cough, worst sympton was feeling generally crap with back ache,weight loss and night sweats. It's no wonder this disease is so hard to detect /diagnose early when people present with a variety of symptons, hey we started off with a kidney infection diagnosis?
Ros
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Post by phillipa on Jul 18, 2007 17:40:27 GMT 1
The only other clue we had apart from the cough was the clubbing of kent's fingers. he still has no other symptoms apart from the weight loss and this has been only in the last few months.
You are right Ros, the symptoms described in all the brochures do not apply to everyone
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Post by spanky3 on Jul 19, 2007 1:25:16 GMT 1
Pulmonary Dr. has decided to keep me on Vicodin for my cough. It does help, especially at night. Just give me a decent night sleep and I will be happY!!!!!!! I take a whole one at bedtime and take half during day. The half during day is because it makes me too dopy. This is the first time in my life I have taken such a drug. The first day I took it, I took whole pills and it felt like the floor was slapping me in face!!! LOL...forget that. Thats not me. I dont want to be dopy like that. Its just that it is such annoying cough. and embarassing at times. I cough so hard I almost gag sometimes and do and naturally wet my pants!!! The hard coughing is dry and bad. But afterwards, when I cough all the mucous comes up. Everyone laughs at me because I carry Pepsi with me. When I start coughing hard I take a couple sips or gulps and it seems the carbonation quiets the harshness of the cough. Nebulizer isnt helping but I am continuing to use it regularly as with an inhaler. I feel fine, no pain or anything. Just annoying cough and fatigued. I was to start a clinical trial but today they told me I cannot because of my heart. So I should start regular chemo next week sometime barring no setbacks again.
Thanks everyone. I need to also look up a lot of info on nutrition. I want to eat right and keep body going. My recent blood work they say is perfect so far. Thank goodness.
I want to thank all of you for being so kind and thoughtful. Bless you all.
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Post by Deanne Jenkyns on Jul 19, 2007 17:15:47 GMT 1
Hiya Spanky,
sorry bout the trial, lets hope the chemo blasts the tumour to kingdom come! I am glad that you are pain free and are feeling OK. good that you are looking into nutrition. Your medical care provider will probably discuss that with you too. Certain things are a no-no like bio yogurt for instance. I have posted some info on nutrition on here. I will go find it and give you the link. Goodluck with everything! I know all this is pretty scary just know that we are here and you can share anything you want with us and we will do our best to reassure and support you.
Love n ((((hugs)))
Deanne
x
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Post by Deanne Jenkyns on Jul 19, 2007 17:22:04 GMT 1
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Post by spanky3 on Jul 19, 2007 19:27:17 GMT 1
Thank you Deanne. Will definitely look those up. They called today, I will start Carbo/Taxol next Tues so far and barring no more setbacks. Really scared but trying to keep it together. I read of so many side effects and its enough to scare an elephant in the other direction!! LOL Hopefully mine will be at a minimum. Read about them and hard to tell which are the most common and which are not. Confusing. Thanks again for info. I am going to links now.
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Post by Deanne Jenkyns on Jul 19, 2007 19:44:13 GMT 1
I agree side affects do look scary, I remeber reading them when Jimmy was 1st diagnosed and was worried sick! They have to all reported side affects I suppose. Jimmy was lucky he said through his chemo I really hope you do too! the very best of luck to you.
Take Care
Deanne
xxx
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