Cough

Hernias are a common ailment among Americans; more than 4 million people develop the painful condition. And although both men and women develop hernias, female patients may be harder to diagnose. Doctors and patients may not realize the abdominal pain a woman is feeling is because of a hernia. Dr. Hien Nguyen, assistant professor of surgery at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, said the pain can be mistaken for other conditions with similar symptoms, such as adhesions from prior surgery, endometriosis, fibroids and ovarian cysts.

A Baltimore County teacher has been diagnosed with a probable case of pertussis, better known as whooping cough, school and health officials say. The fifth-grade teacher at Harford Hills Elementary School in Carney was sent to the hospital Monday after complaining she felt ill. The school sent home a letter informing parents to keep an eye out for symptoms of the disease, which include a low fever, runny nose, vomiting and a distinctive cough...

Each morning, Monday through Friday, I'll hook you up with reading material to skim through as you slug down coffee and slack off at the start of your workday -- that way I'll have an excuse to do the same at the start of mine.   Running it back: Mitch Atkins, making his Orioles debut and his first big league start, allowed just one run in six innings on Tuesday night, but Jim Johnson couldn't lock it down in the 4-2 loss to the Rangers . ... After several months of trying to play through a torn labrum in his shoulder , Luke Scott finally shut things down with hopes he can return in a few weeks after rest and rehabilitation.

As children, our parents take us to the doctor every year, like clockwork. As we get older, regular checkups often fall by the wayside. But they shouldn't. For adults, checkups, preventative screenings and vaccinations are vital to living healthy, happy lives. According to Dr. Carolyn Bridges, associate director for adult immunization at the Centers for Disease Control in Atlanta, numerous screening procedures and vaccines are available to adults, but they are often underused. "National vaccination rates are low," she says, "even for vaccines that have been recommended for many years.

Baltimore Health Commissioner Dr. Joshua Sharfstein and 15 other experts petitioned the U.S. Food and Drug Administration yesterday to tell the public that over-the-counter cough and cold remedies are ineffective and potentially dangerous for young children. As many as 900 Maryland children younger than 5 overdosed on the medications in 2004, the petition states. The deaths of at least four children in Baltimore have been linked to unintentional overdoses in the last six years. "Over-the-counter cough and cold preparations are neither safe nor effective for use in young children," the petitioners argue.

Q: Every time I clean my baby's ears, he coughs. Why? This may not be very important, but it's something I'm wondering about.A: A cough is the result of a complicated reflex that can start in a number of sites in the upper body, including the ear canal. Most coughs are triggered by receptors (sensing stations) in the lining of the throat or air passages. A receptor sends a message to the cough center in the brain, which sends out the many signals necessary to create a cough. The cough may clear air pathways of mucous or other obstructions.

My 10-year old developed a bad cold with fever and a hard cough last week. In general, he seems better, but he is still coughing. Now he says his chest hurts. Should I be worried?If your son's chest hurts only when he coughs, the pain is probably due to sore chest and abdominal muscles. Coughing is hard work. It can put extra strain on muscles not used to working so hard, just as starting a new sport or exercise program might.Make yourself cough as you read this, and feel how much more deeply you inhale and how much more forcefully your chest and abdominal muscles move in than they do during a normal breath.

When I was in Europe last month, I caught a cold and developed an awful cough. Luckily, a German pharmacist understood my sign language and sold me a miracle cure that cleared it up in a few days. The medicine is Makatussin, and it contains "Thymianfluid-extrakt" and "Sternanisol." It comes as drops to be put on a sugar cube or in tea. It worked so much better than my regular cough medicine that I would like to find something similar here. Is there a medicine like it? Makatussin contains extract of thyme and star anise oil. The German government has approved both herbs for colds and coughs.

Joining other retailers and chain pharmacies, Giant Food announced yesterday that it won't sell certain types of cough medicine to customers under 18 because the products have been abused by teenagers. Beginning Sunday, Giant and other grocery chains owned by Royal Ahold NV will limit sales of products containing dextromethorphan (DXM), a common ingredient in cough and cold syrups, lozenges and pills. "It's similar to buying cigarettes - if the cashier has a question, we will ask for verification," said Jamie Miller, manager of public affairs for Landover-based Giant Food Inc., which has 186 supermarkets in Maryland and nearby states.

I went to my physician when I had a really bad cold with a cough and asked her what over-the-counter cough medicine I should buy. She told me: "None! Get some vanilla ice cream and pour Kahlua over it." Do you know what? That's the best cough medicine I have ever had. I've told my family and friends about it, and they all agree. Your doctor's advice certainly sounds original. We have no doubt that ice cream, with or without Kahlua, tastes a lot better than cough medicine with dextromethorphan.

Now that, thanks to Tribune's diligent boffins, I can return to my regular perch here, let me remind you that You Don't Say  has many mansions.  In addition to this address, which has been in effect since February of this year, there is the original You Don't Say  site, which contains posts from December 2005 through April 2009, and posts from May 2010 through January 2012: http://weblogs.baltimoresun.com/news/mcintyre/blog/ ...

Public health officials are warning adults and adolescents to get booster shots in the wake of an unusually large number of cases of whooping cough this year around the nation and in Maryland. More than 20,000 cases of the respiratory disease were reported in the first seven months of the year in the United States, almost 21/2 times the number in all of last year, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The agency says there are likely many more cases that are not reported.

You know the story about William Faulkner at the Oxford, Mississippi, post office, don't you? Sacked for sitting in the back reading the magazines instead of waiting on customers, he said, "Good, now I won't be at the beck and call of every son of a bitch that's got two cents. "  Well, when The Sun sent me off on my [cough] sabbatical [cough] in 2009 and I set up the blog at a new location, I decided that I no longer had to be at the beck and call of the Associated Press Stylebook . So I gladly adopted the Oxford comma and suited my own preferences in other matters.

Maryland's children would be required to get more vaccines before attending school under a proposal being considered by state health officials. But doctors and state health officials said most children are already getting the shots and that they are looking to regulate the process. Under the proposed guidelines, pupils would be required to get a chicken pox booster before starting kindergarten. The chicken pox vaccine is now required to be given to babies. Seventh-graders would be required to get the Tdap vaccine, which protects against tetanus, diphtheria and whooping cough.

Mr. Robert Monroe, Schuykill, afflicted with the above distressing malady.  Symptoms-- Great languor, flatulency, disturbed rest, nervous, head ache, difficulty of breathing, tightness and stricture across the breast, dizziness, nervous irritability and restlessness, could not lie in a horizontal position without the sensation of impending suffocation, palpitation of the heart, distressing cough, costiveness, pain in the stomach, drowsiness and...

Celebrity lifestyle blogs tend to be little more than bragging and holier-than-thou advice (cough*GwynethPaltrow*cough). But Jenni "JWOWW" Farley's is thankfully a bit different. The "Jersey Shore" star officially launched her site, jwoww.com , today. Covering "Shore" news (including live chats with JWOWW, relationship advice and a pets section (!), it's an accessible look into Farley's life that shockingly down-to-earth. JWOWW calls the site "my personal venting space, therapist office and collection of things I am currently obsessed with.

Question: : I started taking lisinopril for high blood pressure in December. Soon after, I developed a nagging dry cough that wouldn't stop. I have thrown up because the coughing was so bad. I also have had blood tests and chest X-rays. They all came back negative. In desperation, I went to an ear, nose and throat specialist, who told me this kind of cough is common in people my age (50) due to postnasal drip. He knew I was on lisinopril but gave me an antihistamine and cough suppressant.

A federal drug advisory panel concluded yesterday that over-the-counter cough and cold remedies should not be given to children under 6 because of safety concerns, and found no evidence that the remedies are even effective in children under 12. The panel recommended that the Food and Drug Administration prohibit drug makers from marketing the formulations to children under 6 and require that they change the wording on labels from "Consult a Physician" to...

Each morning, Monday through Friday, I'll hook you up with reading material to skim through as you slug down coffee and slack off at the start of your workday -- that way I'll have an excuse to do the same at the start of mine.   Running it back: Mitch Atkins, making his Orioles debut and his first big league start, allowed just one run in six innings on Tuesday night, but Jim Johnson couldn't lock it down in the 4-2 loss to the Rangers . ... After several months of trying to play through a torn labrum in his shoulder , Luke Scott finally shut things down with hopes he can return in a few weeks after rest and rehabilitation.

Question: : I started taking lisinopril for high blood pressure in December. Soon after, I developed a nagging dry cough that wouldn't stop. I have thrown up because the coughing was so bad. I also have had blood tests and chest X-rays. They all came back negative. In desperation, I went to an ear, nose and throat specialist, who told me this kind of cough is common in people my age (50) due to postnasal drip. He knew I was on lisinopril but gave me an antihistamine and cough suppressant.