Are productive coughs ever often an allergy? What about environmental?

[Anjou]

Hi all.. just wondering about how common vs. uncommon it is for a somewhat productive cough to be allergy-related (or for that matter pollution related, that is, if someone's ultra-sensitive to something)? Would be interested in anecdotes and antidotes.

In particular, if chest (likely bronchial) coughs are allergy related and they *are* productive, what's a good approach to both eliminating the allergen and helping the body normalize?

 

[Brooks]

Yes it can definitely be an allergy.

As far as I'm concerned, pretty much anything you might inhale, whether it appears to be "natural/organic" or not, can be bad news. For a few autumns, before I understood what was happening, I would develop a form of bronchitis from yard work. In particular, inhaling shredded leaves while operating my leaf shredder. At that time of year they may be a bit moldy. I never sought treatment for it, but it would be weeks to clear up. Yes, a very "productive" cough. Once I understood I was susceptible, it was a matter of avoidance or very particular respiratory protection. After that experience, I wasn't surprised at how sick many of the WTC relief works became. Sorry, I don't have particular suggestions. It is possible an anti-histamine would help.

 

[Anjou]

Thanks much. (With the stuff dusted up by yardwork, if you're looking into types of things people inhale, the word 'mycoplasma' might be helpful in searching. I think it's kind of related to a fungus, kind of related to a bacteria, and can be pretty dogged about hanging on.)

 

[tropicalfish]

My son went through a series of allergy tests. Everytime he would have a major reaction the nurse would give him 2 Alka-Seltzer Gold tablets in a dab of water. He would drink it down and within 2-3 minutes the reaction would subside. I was talking to the nurse about his allergies during outdoor activities . She said to give him 2 of the Alka-Seltzer Gold tablets in about 4 ounces of water before he went outside. It worked! The allergies never bothered him.

I wrote to the Alka-Seltzer company and asked them about it. They said it can not be sold as an antihistamine but it sure acts like one without any side effects. They have had many positive reports about it.

It also works well for children with food allergies. When they start getting hyper from what they've eaten, just give them some Alka-Seltzer Gold.

I don't know what makes it work so well, but it does a fantastic job. It is packaged just like regular Alka-Seltzer but it is in a gold box. It is more expensive though. I had to ask our drug store to carry it for us.