Violent Coughing Fit (Self-Obs.)

[Guest]

About twenty minutes ago I experienced the most intense coughing spell that I have had in years.

Trigger warning:  mention of choking.

As I am still suffering from the cold I caught at the start of this week I decided that I ought to take Mucinex rather than Flonase before I retired for the night. So, with that thought in mind I got out some capsules to take after I had finished brushing my teeth and things of that nature. The first went down without difficulty, but the second liquigel did not seem to want to slide down my throat. Every time I was about to swallow it, my tongue would reflexively push it against the roof of my mouth as if I were unwittingly afraid that I would choke. Despite my unconscious efforts to keep from doing so, it happened. On my fifth attempt or so I was overcome with the overwhelming urge to cough, and thus did so. Since there was water in my mouth at the time some of it went down the wrong pipe, and I consequently choked. Although I had expelled the water that had trickled where it should not have I continued to hack. I doubled over and "barked" raucously into my lap, my coughs resounding in my otherwise quiet room. Tears welled in my eyes from the strain I was under, and I clutched my chest as I felt my lungs burn. At the complete mercy of my body I remained hunched over, and endured the agonizing spell. My coughs eventually became so forceful that it sounded as if I were shouting them out, each one gratingly dry to the ears. Still miserably coughing, I wobbled over to the bathroom, grabbed a towel, and used it to grudgingly sop up the water that had gotten spilled and spewed on the floor. After about seven solid minutes of hacking violently the fit calmed down, and my subsequent coughs quieted down.

Even after all this time I am still hacking. As a result of the harshness of the attack I had earlier my chest feels tight, and my breath is somewhat of a wheeze. While I find both things troublesome I am simply glad to be over the worst of it. Coughing frightens me greatly especially when I cannot seem to stop doing it, so I cannot wait until I fully recover from this cold of mine. I am hoping that the Mucinex I took kicks in sometime soon, and helps quiet my cough so that I may fall readily asleep...That spell was exhausting!

[FreeFluShots]

Holy shit, seven minutes of coughing?? That's terrible! I've had really intense coughing fits like that before and it can be really scary (although honestly I like watching /hearing someone else do it, lol). Hope you can get some rest.

[Kalla]

Owch!!  That sounds like a very frightening experience to endure, I get chills just reading about that kind of choking sensation. (Which I have never experienced during a coughing fit, but definitely during panic attacks.)  Your detailed description is deeply appreciated, however.  That's the sort of thing that you never want to personally experience, but you could draw from that to write sickness in a fic or RP with amazing verisimilitude.   I hope you get some rest, and thanks for writing about this incident and sharing it here.