@mjm3 you know what really helped me because I have blood pressure spikes too, primarily from the anxiety regarding whether the thing was growing, (so I have been my own worst enemy at times). Someone on here told me to breathe in through my nose 4 seconds hold my breath 4 seconds and breathe out through my mouth 4 seconds and start all over again. this activates your parasympathetic nervous system and lowers both your blood pressure and your heart rate (if the spike is indeed a result of anxiety). The spiking blood pressure is much more dangerous than the coughing, but even that probably won’t increase its size. Your aorta is designed to take a lot of pressure and be quite flexible. I felt better after I got my second and then my third CT scan and it hadn’t changed so now it’s been three years at 4.2 or 4.1 depending on who measures it. I did have a blood pressure spike myself and my 3.5 root measured 3.7 on an echo …
I’m hoping that’s just an anomaly of the measuring but I get another CT scan in April.