Chronic Coughing During Pregnancy

I have gone through this with each of my pregnancies, it is annoying but nothing much can be done about it. My DH says we don't need a pregnancy test just watch for me to cough uncontrollably for a few weeks and we know we are pregnant! Read up on Pregnancy Rhineitis, this may be what you are suffering with, most pregnancy sites have lots of helpful suggestions for relieving this, I use babycenter.com Hope you find some relief!

Respiratory infections are really common during pregnancy. You probably need to see a regular doctor about that. Your OB only knows about pregnancy conditions.

E.

Go and get checked out. Could be pleurisy, fluid around the heart, etc. You never can be too careful :)

Well maybe I'm the only person who thinks this, but that seriously sounds very wrong. I would go see your general practitioner or a pulmonoligist, there is no reason you should be coughing so hard your up all night vomiting.
I never had a problem like that while pregnant and maybe it is just more secretions than normal, but it does NOT sound normal at all to be in that kind of discomfort and vomiting every night.
Please go get a second opinion, you should be able to rest at night!

I am pregnant with my second child, and for both pregnancies have had to deal with a chronic cough morning, noon, and night. My first OB had me see an ENT specialist who diagnosed me with LPR, a type of acid reflux that does not produce heart burn. It does, however, produce a great amount of phlegm and this real stretchy, sticky clear junk. This makes me vomit often. I am taking a low dose of Nexium and I tried Protonix for the first pregnancy. I didn't want to take meds. but I was coughing so much and spitting up junk that I would have had to quit working. It was really gross, and still is sometimes. Do you have a hairy throat or mouth feeling? This sensation is also part of LPR, which luckily is taken care of by the meds. I still get days where I cough so much I can't breath and I have to sleep upright in a chair. I am now 6 months pregnant. I cought for 9 months straight, and it's hell. I feel bad that you are also dealing with a cough. People are constantly asking me if I am o.k. It's embarrassing. I tell them, it will last until I have the baby. Pregnant woman get GERD or LPR because the hormones cause the sphincter muscle, which keeps acid down, to weaken. The acid gets up. LPR occurs when the acid is very high up into the larynx. Your voice can be raspy and it is difficult to sing. I couldn't believe that hormones were making all of these strange symptoms happen. My bad luck to have the issues for both pregnancies. For your sake, I hope your cough doesn't last the entire pregnancy. If it does, just think, your not alone, and you can safely take meds. Ask your doctor. Good luck!

Interesting.. I just went to the Dr about this yesterday.
I am 33 weeks along and the coughing was keeping me up all night, plus I have a 10 month old and was feeling like my last few wks of sleep were being ruined.
My Dr said tht I do not have a bacteria or virus from what they could tell and insisted they are allergies.
She said the constant secretions from the nose into the throat make it irritated therefore, causing this cough attacks.
They also told me Robitussin and tylenol allergies BUT not in the 1st trimester. At 15 weeks, I'd wait a few more weeks to take those since they can apparently cause defects or problems with the formation in the first months...
Sorry you're so misserable but at least its nice to hear others have the same problem so it explains my own symptoms....

I also suspected allergies cos no one else in my home have gotten remotely sick and they simply don't suffer from allergies..
A.

I'm 18 weeks and in the middle of this right now. I, too, think it is just a raging bad allergy season. Mine will settle down significantly if I take 1 tsp of Benadryl. Maybe your OB will let you do that?

I know there have been respiratory viruses going around lately. I had one that made me so congested and cough really bad. I have also had very bad allergies--this has been the worst season in like 11 years for seasonal spring my allergist said. I haven't been able to take my usual Allegra for allergies, so I am on just Claritin. It helps some. You might want to see your general physician just to rule out a virus that has lead to an infection. It's true that you do have more secretions when pregnant, but if you get sick (or allergies) on top of that, it makes it much worse.

I had the same thing when I was pregnant with my son who's now 3. Started out of the blue and lasted (not quite to the point of throwing up) until I delivered. They actually put me on antibiotics at first to make sure there was no infections-I was NOT happy about that. I was told to use a humidifier in my room when I slept and to take Robitussin, I think just the cough suppressant one, at night so I (and my DH) could get some sleep. It seemed to help and actually seemed to make the day coughing not as horrid too. Good Luck!
A. D.

My sister-in-law just went through this. Hers was so bad she was having Braxton Hicks that wouldn't stop, and ended up in the hospital. She is only about 16 weeks along. They put her on cough medicine with codeine, because it is safer to take the medicine than go into labor right now. I think she also has been taking Robitussin when she has to be awake and functioning. Because it is affecting you so much, I would ask your OB if you could try an OTC cough syrup. If he doesn't like that idea, you might just try to keep a cough drop or hard candy close by all the time to see if that will stave off the coughing fit.

Hi! It's safe to take robotussin during pregnancy. You have to get plain robotussin though, no letters in the name. It may help to control it.

I would go to my family Dr. and ask he/she what i could do.