Back a few years ago, a friend of mine developed a rather severe cough. This cough would come in 5 minute spells several times a day. Once the spell was over, he was fine. But during the spell, he could hardly breathe.

Since he never had a spell in the doctors office, the doctor assumed that the cough was caused by his blood pressure medicine. So, the doctor tried several different blood pressure medicines but to no avail. Finally, the doctor took him off of all blood pressure medicine but the cough still persisted. Perplexed, the doctor started down the allergy road.

Fortunately for my friend, he had a coughing spell in front of the doctor. Seeing the violent coughing scared the doctor so much that he decided right then and there that this was no allergy and that it was something bigger than a medication problem. The doctor would not even let him leave the office until he was sure that the coughing was under control. The doctor even sent out for lunch for the two of them as he reviewed all of the symptoms. After conducting some tests and getting the lab results back, the diagnosis was in. Pertussis!

Both the doctor and my friend were shocked. After all, my friend had been vaccinated against Pertussis as a child so why would he be getting Pertussis now? My friend concluded that he must have been exposed to it while in Canada several weeks earlier. But what both the doctor and my friend missed was that fact that someone who had been vaccinated still came down with the disease as an adult.

In checking with the CDC, they noted that there is no life long vaccine against Pertussis. In fact, the vaccine that most of us 50ish people received has an effective immunity duration of only 5-10 years. After that, we are all susceptible to Pertussis. And given that fact that the medical community seems to be in general denial that it still exists, means that it may be more common than we know. In fact, my friends doctor could not diagnose the disease until he ran a simple lab test. And had he not witnessed the violent coughing spell, the complaint would have been dismissed as environmental.

Now, according to the CDC, Pertussis can have varying intensities from extreme, as in the case of my friend, to mild. And Pertussis was not even suspected until my friend actually had an extreme coughing spell in front of the doctor. So my question is that if an extreme case of Pertussis is dismissed by the doctor as a problem with medication, what about a mild or moderate case of Pertussis? The person sitting next to you that seems to cough all of the time could have a mild, undiagnosed case of Pertussis.

A co-worker of mine complained of have some sort of cold that seemed to hang on for weeks. His main symptom was periodic coughing spells. Several weeks later, I too came down with similar symptoms.

I would have coughing spells that would last for maybe 15 seconds and then I would be fine. At times, the coughing would be so violent that my ribs would hurt. Thinking that this would pass after a few days, I did nothing. Finally, after 2 weeks, I went to the doctor.

The doctor looked down my throat and listened to my chest and then announced that I had a cold. But according to the CDC, Pertussis can only be confirmed by a lab test and not looking down a throat or listening to a chest. Besides, a cold doesn’t last for 8 weeks. If I had pushed the issue, I am sure he would have suggested a change in blood pressure medicine. The bottom line is that Pertussis is not considered to be an option unless the doctor actually sees a severe coughing spell.

The doctor gave me some prescription cough medicine which worked really well. One teaspoon of that stuff and I was asleep in five minutes. Unfortunately, it only lasted for about 4 hours and then I would start coughing again.

Besides my ribs hurting from the coughing, I was also suffering from a lack of sleep or should I say a lack of restful sleep. Every time that I would start coughing, it would disturb my sleep. While I seldom woke up from the coughing, I was still not getting a restful sleep as a result of the coughing.

All in all, my “cold” lasted for almost 8 weeks. Upon checking the Pertussis web site, I had the classic symptoms of a mild case of Pertussis; bouts of coughing, producing thick mucus and last about 8-10 weeks.

My conclusion is that :

1. Pertussis is much more common than most people realize.

2. Mild cases are almost never diagnosed.

3. Severe cases can not be diagnosed without a lab test.