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Hi all,Interesting how unique all of our journeys are and how similar they are - thank you all for sharing your knowledge, experiences, and compassion!
TL;DR - I think mom coughs to signal discomfort, stress, pain, illness, anxiety, etc. rather than the cough being a symptom of a cough problem (i.e., GERD, post nasal drip, allergies, pneumonia, cold, aspiration).
My mom is 86, has stage 5-ish dementia, is just back from a 5 day hospital stay for pneumonia. Her recent medical journey began with a UTI (to ER, discharged with abx), back to the ER 4 days later b/c of a chronic dry throaty cough for about 5 hours straight - there they discharged her with abx to treat for pneumonia, although her lung was clear mostly.
She came home and just continued to cough for another 1.5 and declined and was so weak and uncomfortable, praying for help. I thought we were waiting for the antibiotics to kick in but brought her back to the ER where she was admitted. She coughed ALL NIGHT LONG - but not a pneumonia deep cough - more of a tickle in her throat cough.
No tessalon pearls, robitusson, cough drops, etc. could stop this cough.
After carefully observing it seems the cough is a response to something else - whether it's b/c she needs to be cleaned, or needs a tums. I've tried discussing with folks but she keeps getting prescribed cough treatments that mostly don't do anything to limit her cough.
Anyone else have this experience? Is this a thing? I read one forum question like this in the past and wonder if others have this experience.
Mom is home now, has 24/7 care, and I am glad she is in her home rather than at a facility. When we leave the house now she starts coughing and it lessons when she gets home.
Thank you all for your support and insights!Lindsay

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Lol. My husband clears his throat loudly and coughs to make noise to get attention! He suffered a stroke and traumatic brain injury 10 years ago, and is not able to communicate very effectively. Sometimes he just needs attention for a diaper change, or to get up, or whatever it is, and will go into a loud throat clearing, if it goes long enough, he'll even make himself throw up.

I hope your mom is not suffering from a relentless throat tickle. But, honestly, she may just have trouble expressing her needs, and the cough is something she can do. You just have to go through a list of things she may want or need, and try to make her comfortable, because she has lost the ability to identify or say what she needs. She may not even know what it is she needs, she just knows she feels uncomfortable or wants something.
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LindsayS: Pose your question to her physician.
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I've known people that get a cough and can't get rid of it for months on end. This has happened to me more than once. In at least one case I lost my voice for over a week as well. This will happen to my healthy husband for months on end.
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Bronchiectasis develops as some people age. You might look into it.
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Interesting! My mom gets the same cough, on and off and I never thought of it being a way to communicate. She stays up all nigh talking to dead relatives, calling for help and counting. On nights she doesn't do that, she coughs! All night long. I've tried everything too, sometimes a prescription cough syrup works, but most of the time it doesn't.
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My husband is the same. I think it's a failure of his swallow muscles. I think it's a degenerative condition for ALZ patients.
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My dad coughed with a vicious, hard to bear (for everyone) cough every day. He mostly coughed after eating. The hospice people said not to give him crumbly things like muffins (he had a sweet tooth). That seemed to be the culprit. But he also had COPD.
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I mean, she just had pneumonia. She's going to have a cough for a while. Potentially months.
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Why would you accept a prescription for antibiotics if her lungs were clear as you stated? Taking antibiotics when there isn't a true infection just sets them up for antibiotic resistance.
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LindsayS Nov 2, 2025
Hi KellyGirl - docs saw a "tiny effusion" and said they were treating for pneumonia - 2 days later, she was back to the ER and had "significant pneumonia" in her right long - so it developed very very fast and the oral antibiotics weren't effective after all. She was on abx already for a UTI, and added doxycycline to cefpodoxine for the pneumonia.
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Is your Mom on high blood pressure meds. If so, did the hospital make a change to her present one or add a med. My Mom was sucking on cough drops after a change to hers because of a tickle. When she told the Dr. he changed her back to her old one. I just read that ACE inhibitors are the culprit.
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LindsayS Oct 31, 2025
Hi JoAnn, Nope she was not and is not on any blood pressure meds, or other meds. Plus, she is on GERD meds. We are glad for cough drops! Thank you for replying!
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Get a hospice evaluation for mom. Pain killers tend to get rid of throat tickles, if thats what is bothering mom, and can calm her down in general too. My mother had advanced dementia and coughed a lot, and hiccupped to wake the dead. I think the esophagus muscles weaken, leading to lots of coughing and throat noises in general. Comfort care is a merciful thing at this stage of the game, for all involved.

Best of luck with a difficult situation.
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LindsayS Oct 31, 2025
Thank you Lealonnie - we indeed have the hospice team in and are working towards that - the pain killers suppress the cough, but the cough is also a form of communication of her needs, so it's an interesting challenge!
I agree that comfort care is a merciful thing <3
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Thank you Fawnby!

Definitely there can be something around her moving around more and exercising her lungs - but we do that inside also. And she gets the cough inside also, it's just the being away from home results in more coughing.

She is not on an any beta blockers but good thinking. She is on donepezil which I wonder if its involved. Although in hindsight, I feel like Mom has had a cough for many years - and it was just a thing she had with no real explanation.

We are definitely open to finding some sort of help for Mom b/c like your family member, the coughing is exhausting for my poor frail Mom!
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Fawnby Oct 28, 2025
Lindsay, my DH took donepezil for years but never had a cough from that. He'd go outside to commune with the plants, and then when he came in, he'd have allergy symptoms. Loratidine took care of that. You might try mom with loratidine (Claritin, OTC available) just before she goes out. There's a version that dissolves in the mouth, so it's easy to administer without a lot of explaining.
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I have known two people who cough when speaking about something that makes them uncomfortable. I don't think they even knew they were doing it, but it was a definite "tell" there was a problem hidden in what they were talking about.
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LindsayS Oct 28, 2025
Interesting! Thank you for sharing! I've read about the vagus nerve being stimulated with stress, so this makes sense!
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Aw, this is rough! Coughs are so annoying. Poor lady, and poor you!

I have no medical background and am not aware of this as a “thing” but I think you may be onto something. Does she take anything for anxiety and if not maybe that’s worth trying? Also acid reflux can cause chronic cough without a lot of other symptoms, apparently. Maybe that’s an avenue to look into?
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LindsayS Oct 28, 2025
Thank you Snoops! Mom does take medicine for anxiety and also has medicine for acid reflux (omeprazole).

The challenge I'm finding is that she coughs when she has pain or bodily discomfort so while the anxiety medicine can help suppress her cough, it's like some serious observation and detective work to get at what is exactly the issue - and when I ask her and palpitate her as to where she is bothered, she says she is fine! Yes, poor mom! And I just want her to be comfortable <3
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I assume she's been tested for Covid? If not, she should be.

A cough can be a symptom of so many things! When you leave the house and she starts coughing, do you think it could be from the change in position, such as from half-reclining in bed to sitting up straight in the car? I have no idea why this would cause a cough but have seen it happen.

Is she taking metoprolol? It's a beta-blocker that can cause narrowing of airways. This can cause a cough, shortness of breath and perhaps other symptoms resulting from narrow airways. A family member of mine took this medicine and coughed about every three minutes for months. He refused to call his doctor about it and wore himself out coughing! Not to mention his wife couldn't stand to be around him. He had a history of asthma.

I'm not a medical person but decided that these things are worth mentioning because I've observed them in sick people that I know. A doctor might not investigate before reaching for the prescription pad to prescribe cough syrup.
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