What Causes Persistent Dry Cough, Fatigue And Weakness?

Posted on Fri, 11 Mar 2016

Question: Age 62 I have never had a,severe cough or chest infection before,until three weeks ago,unable to take off the shelf products because of chronic kidney condition(controlled and not requiring meds) I went to my doctor 2 weeks ago with tiredness,general weakness and a racking cough(unproductive) that I could not control.I was prescribed amoxil and a ventolin inhaler,after 1 week my condition had not improved at all,so my doctor prescribed doxycycline and a course of prednisone steroids (6 a day for 5 days,having finished the latest drugs I still have no change in my condition and I have been having hot sweats and occasionally a strange gasping sensation,should I return to my doctor,or perhaps the walk in clinic,or try and return to work and see if it improves,with time.

Answered by Dr. Kathy Robinson (1 hour later)

Brief Answer:
see doctor immediately

Detailed Answer:
Hello and thank you for your question,
This is not normal and you need to find out the cause so that it can be treated appropriately. You need a chest x-ray and possibly a chest CT scan. You have received appropriate treatment for bronchitis so if that were the problem it should have cleared up by now. Also if you have had any exposure to tuberculosis you should be tested for that as well, though if you get a chest x-ray it would probably show up there.
Especially with your kidney issues you do not want to ignore this. Please see your doctor as soon as possible.
Regards,
Dr. Robinson

Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Chakravarthy Mazumdar