Hi Joann - I'm glad to hear your cough has decreased, but you are correct - you need to keep doing it to clear your lungs - hard advice when you hurt!

Coughing can cause inflammation and pain outside the lungs that can feel like lung pain. One type is pleurisy, inflammation of the pleura, the tissue around the lungs. This is usually felt in the lung area and can radiate to the back and make it extremely hard to take a full breath. Another is costochondritis - pain/inflammation of the cartilage that attaches your ribs to the sternum. Coughing and sudden intake of breath are very painful, but sometimes you can breathe in slowly and carefully to draw a full breath. There are undoubtedly other causes too. Your PCP is a good person to diagnose it.

I have gotten both at different times from excessive coughing. Both were treated with pain relievers, and in the case of pleurisy a short course of prednisone.

Sue

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