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I just read your letter and found it interesting that lying on your left side when sleeping triggers your cough. The same thing happens to me too...within 15 minutes. Do you know why? Also, I constantly produce phlegm (don't know why) so I started raising the head of my bed to about 45 degrees and it seems to help lessen the cough. Otherwise the cough wakes me up every 2-3 hours and I go through the routine of using the rescue inhaler, blowing my nose and drinking a little water. Then I fall back to sleep only to awaken in 2-3 hours and go through the routine all over again. I also have reflux and severe asthma. One affects the other and then the cough gets mixed in and it goes downhill from there. I have not tried anything yet to help the cough, but I do see a neurologist PA in November. I don't know if she will recommend the shots or drugs. Seems like everything I have tried works for about a week or 2 and then stops working. Have you read the book The Chronic Cough Enigma by Jamie Kaufman?

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Replies to "I just read your letter and found it interesting that lying on your left side when..."

Hi Babs. I'm not sure why turning onto my left side triggers coughing. It could be reflux related but I think it is also relevant that I almost always start the night on my right side and that a shift in position is enough to cause irritation within the respiratory tract. I cough if I bend forward during the day for the same reason. Initially I concentrated a lot on 'reflux' as a cause but now I see it as an early contibutory factor ... but I believe now that curing the reflux would not cure the cough. My personal understanding is that any number of things (reflux, asthma, virus - mix of all) can start a process of 'hyper sensitising" receptors and nerves in the respiratory tract and once hyper sensitised they start triggering the cough reflex for all and any reason you can imagine.... physical positions, smells, heat, cold, taste..... basically it seems your body is willing to interpret any sensation experienced in the respiratory area as something that needs to make you cough.... well that's how it works for me anyway! I also produce lots of mucus as the second step in the cough cycle. So, like you I wake up, dry cough repeatedly, then produce mucous, prop myself up in bed, wet cough, which subsides into throat clearing and then finally back to sleep... then repeat!!! I've not read the book but may try to get hold of it but I feel I know what is happening in my case. What I can't find is anyone with a sure fire way to reverse the process and DE sensitise all those nerves and receptors long term. Pregabalin worked for 6 weeks but that wasn't long enough to 'cure' it.