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I too was originally diagnosed with GERD because of cough. When the endoscopy showed only mild signs of irritation they did a chest Xray and and voila, you need to see a pulmonologist and do some further testing. That was the beginning of the answer which turned out to be IPF (no real answer after all). I was never a smoker and never worked in harsh conditions etc. My cough is very productive in the mornings or when I get low on O2 due to exertion without enough O2. However even when it is productive it takes a lot of effort as in I cough extensively and and many of the coughs do nothing. I am going to try the Airphysio product mentioned earlier and available on Amazon and see how it goes.
I get up so much mucous each morning it’s ridiculous but if something helps do this more effectively I am all for it. I was prescribed Symbicort by one doctor but my pulmonary therapist suggested that with IPF being a restrictive disorder and Symbicort is designed for obstructive disorder, she thought I should ask another doctor’s opinion and we decided it was not worth0 the side effects and would not be likely to be beneficial.
I also get coughing spells after talking or laughing. It is very uncomfortable because you just start coughing and can’t stop even though it is not really productive in most of these cases, plus you are around other people or on the phone. I will certainly try cough drops as a solution as well.
Thanks for all the comments and suggestions,
Jim