I couldn t sing. Over the past 11 years, Ms. Archer visited allergists, gastroenterologists, ear, nose and throat specialists, and even pulmonologists, but no one was successful in clearing the cough. Within two months, Dr. Pratter determined the cause of the condition and had the cough under control with medication. Each year, hundreds of patients with chronic cough from all over the east coast are referred to Dr. Pratter, head of the Division of Pulmonary Medicine and Critical Care at Cooper. If that treatment is unsuccessful, patients then follow a series of sequential diagnostic and therapeutic steps, each getting more complicated, until the source of the problem is discovered and the cough is under control.
Chronic cough affects thousands of people from throughout the region.
Nationally, it is the fifth most common symptom seen by physicians and is estimated to be the primary reason for 30 million physician visits a year. The most common cause of chronic cough is post-nasal drip. A cough is considered chronic when it persists for more than three weeks, explains Dr. Pratter. Some people, however, suffer from the condition for years before it is properly treated. A chronic cough can become so debilitating that it affects all aspects of a person s life.