the county health nurse called me

Marynb said:

Sandy
Sandy,

That is so odd, isn't it? It is so contagious. Did they ever treat you for it? Wondering why your doctor would not have contacted you directly? I would have thought that they would have wanted to quarantine you and treat you right away to prevent the spreading of such a dangeerous disease.

I hope you are feeling better these days! Wondering how lng someone is contagious? Did you call your doctor?

Treatment
Yes, my doctor, when I called him and told him I was sick prescribed a Zpack and prednisone. This is because, I find out I have a condition called bronchiectis or something like that. Oddly, he never explained this to me before, but I am sure it is the same condition my mother had, which looks like pneumonia on the ct scan. So anytime I get sick even the slightest, I am supposed to call him and do what he says. I took the medicine and a week or two later, I called him again because I was still coughing. That time, he had me come in and took the blood test and put me on more QVar, which I am always supposed to take when I am sick, I guess and go off of it as soon as I am better. He prescribed another round of the Zpack but I refused to take more prednisone because of the side affects and I really felt it wasn't asthma since it was more in my throat. I never heard from him about the pertussis. Some of this was the confusion around the storm - "super-storm Sandy". O my gosh what a mess. But I am thinking this was not good but it is the way things work. By the time I found out how contagious I was, since my doctor had told me even the last time I saw him, "I am calling this asthma", (before the CT scan from MSK said it was pneumonia). When I went to see him, I believed it was for the last time since his communication is so poor, but when I saw his friendly staff and he actually talked to me and explained to me what is going on, I hate to say good by. But I can see doctors at MSK now and I guess that's where I am going next time for a lung treatment. (This doctor is a pulmonologist who I have been seeing for years). It's hard, isn't it, to change doctors? Especially ones who have become so familiar.

kirby77 said:

Pertussis is whooping cough, and the same thing happened to me
Several years ago, public health was at my door and notified me of the same thing. I felt like Typhoid Mary. But the truth is I had been coughing for weeks and months, and the past two physician visits I insisted that I recieve a blood test for pertussis, and was given Azithromax twice(which is the treatment for whooping cough.)
Luckily,none of my co-workers came down with it, we work in a confined space so there was opportunity. Whooping cough is on the rise, seen more often in children but now seen in teens and adults at greater frequencies. Adults don't usually have the hallmark "whooping" cough that children do, so it's not the first thing providers think of.
Vaccination is available, and should be considered. Thanks for bringing this topic up.

Also I can't imagine having a persitent cough now, especially since even a sneeze may trigger the urgency to rush to the toilet to save myself from embarrassment.

ha, ha!
That's exactly how I felt, like Typhoid Mary!

I am sorry about the urgency problem. A pelvic physical therapist may be able to help with that. I think that is a real quality of life issue you have. I hope it will subside. I have some toilet issues too, mostly urinary. Psyllium Husks have saved me. My Colo-rectal surgeon said we can't do better than that or near as well, no matter how much fiber we try to have in our diets. The quality of psyllium husks is much better. (Pardon my spelling). Like Metamucil.