Suffering from cough
Professor of Medicine,
University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), USA
Q: My wife age 47 has been suffering from cough for the last 4 or 5 months. Consultation with known doctors & medical checks including CT scan at Hinduja hospital,Bombay diagnosed this to be an allergic cough. Use of inhalers was what was recommended. (Salbutamol/Ventorlin).However the medication did not prove very effective & after consulation with a Pulmonologist here in Saudi Arabia stronger inhalers (Pulmicort turbohalers)were prescribed.The conuslatant doctor here also diagnosed problem as an allergic cough with quite a number of cases having been reported in this place. Anyway the problem she complains about from recently (say a week ) is about a pain in the right side of the neck ago. This pain is acute and even touching the area causes severe pain. We are too wary of consulting doctors here & would like to have some opinion as to waht you think? This pain is of a peculiar nature (quite different from the usual migraine attacks she has or normal head aches anyone gets). It is some kind of a very severe burning sensation. We are due to return to India in a couple of weeks & would like to know whether we can wait for a couple of weeks to undertake investigation at home.
A:I am unwilling to answer this query since there is the possibility of an acute dangerous illness, such as subarachnoid hemorrhage. Patients with major, potentially life-threatening illnesses need to be evaluated locally so that appropriate essential tests e.g. CT-scan can be carried out, if indicated by the findings of an M.D. locally.