Quote from toddlisa:

Hello everyone. I have been fighting a chronic (often "constant" actually) cough for several months. I am a 40 year old male. Have had sinus and chest CT scans which were okay. Have tried numerous medications such as various antihistamines and things for GERD. Nothing helps. I recently went through a PFT and it was okay. They then did a methacholine challenge test and, in the very last segment, I showed with some asthma.

So, obviously, I have some asthma and now I am being treated for it with Singulair, Advair and Albuterol. Well, actually, I had tried all of these meds earlier in the winter before the asthma tests and they didn't help. My concern, though, is that the cough is not due to asthma.

I do not have any wheezing or chest tightness of shortness of breath. The only thing I have is a cough and oftentimes huge amounts of sinus drainage. It feels like the cough originates with a tickle in my throat which is prompted by the sinus drainage.

My question -- does cough variant asthma result in an almost constant cough or does it come more with an attack as a response to an allergen or cold weather?

My cough is actually better at night duirng the day. it also got better after I'd been on prednisone for a couple of weeks. The Advair and Singulair do not seem to help. I have taken Albuterol and also Primatene Mist when I was having bad coughing spells and they didn't help the coughing at all.

It also seems like, since I didn't show asthma until the last round of the methacholine challenge, my asthma is probably minimal and it seems hard to believe it would result in a constant cough.

Anyway, does this sound like CV Asthma at all?

Thanks for your help.

I have CVA & it's usually a chronic cough exacerbated by allergens, triggers & sometimes weather. I am a gymnast(I just finished my last season) & I didn't know that I was as allergic 2 dust & mold as much as I am & I was around 10-15 year old mats that have 10-15 years worth of dust, diseases & mold from sitting in storage, often getting wet in a warm place. I kind of thought something might have 2 do with that when (we have a couple huge crash mats about 4 ft tall, 4 ft wide & 8 ft long, old, everytime u land it brings up dust)everytime we put the huge crash mats up 4 me 2 use, I would cough cough cough to no end. I had so many problems during gymnastics season, constant terrible cough, pneumonia once, bronchitis twice in one season, several asthma flares..went from having almost mild persistent asthma 2 severe asthma & had 2 do nebulizer treatments daily, 2 pred bursts..
Now, it's been about a month & a half since I've been done with gymnastics. I haven't gotten sick once, no serious flare ups, severe cough only at nite, not nearly as often.. I have come 2 the conclusion i'm allergic 2 dust & mold..as well as I do have exercise induced asthma. The combination almost put my life at risk several times.
And yes, it is worse at nite, symptoms worsening at nite/morning is typical of asthma. It's both, intermittent and persistent..but that depends on the kind of asthma u have.
Your sinus CT's could be ok, but you could still have an allergy problem or some kind of drainage issue..you should talk 2 your doctor about using a steroid nasal spray to help with that. The prednisone prolly decreased the allergic reaction. You might also ask about Atrovent for your nose(can dry up your nose so its not drippy & int he back of your throat) or Nasalcrom. I personally find a nasal steroid spray only is effective with an antihistamine. You may need a combination of meds & u may have 2 play around with the diff combos until u find what works!
Hope this helps!=)