Been coughing for a month and a half after having the flu

[UndertheOcean]

Went to the doc 3 times , xrays , blood tests ,all negative, put on Antibiotics twice , codeine , tons of mucinex . Cough easing up extremely slowly , at the rate it was going , I thought it might last forever .

a friend tells me to try Claritin , and 90% of the cough goes away , just like that ! 1 ER visit , 2 different doctors , and it never occurred to anyone , not even me that it might be an allergy.

I was not even sneezing , my eyes never watered at all. In fact I never had allergies before this bought of flu . what gives ?

[seemunkee]

1. Damn, hope mine doesn't last that long

Been coughing for 2 weeks from a cold. I'm already takiing the generic claritin but the cough keeps waking me up at night.
Hope yours clears up soon

[Mike 03]

2. Something similar happened to me. I don't usually suffer from allergies, but this year

I have had an onslaught of symptoms, from nasal symptoms and lung symptoms to rashes and even eye issues.

Claritin helps, as do some allergy-related eyedrops. Even Benadryl has provided relief.

It's just a bad year for allergies, or at least for some of us who rarely have them.

[applegrove]

3. That is like me. I had the flu for 6 days. Then a cough that lasted for a month. I'm still sneezing

2 1/2 months later. I didn't know the sneezing was related to the flu. I thought I'd just developed an allergy to flowers or cats or something. Good to know it is just part of a bug I got.... I think that is a good thing...means it will go away one day soon... I hope.

[triguy46]

4. There is no satisfactory answer to stories of how things like happen....

except to say that humans are humans, both patients and physicians. Not as much exactitude as we would like. IMHO, I begin each bout of a cold or sorethroat as if it is allergy, usually using Zyrtec D.

I've had the same nagging cough myself after having a viral sore throat for 1 week. Ended up getting a steroid gargle mixture to kill the pain. As much as I wanted antibiotics, CBC showed no infection, I had no fever, just redness on exam. Very frustrating, but no one was to blame.