Persistent cough making it difficult to sleep

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I thought it was just the dryness, but now that it's moist again I don't know. I get these effing coughing fits where I'm coughing so much, it feels like I'm about to throw up. If I lie down, it often gets worse. If I get up and move around, it gets worse. It seems only staying in a sitting position helps at all, and even that is not perfect. Of course, this doesn't fit with the way I like to do things--I generally don't sit or stand still unless I have a choice. I usually prefer to either lie down or to be moving around. If I get too excited about something, I also cough. Ugh! I cannot abide this!

I can sleep if I take like Benadryl or I get exhausted, but I'll wake up just a few hours later coughing up a storm. I've tried multiple things, such as repeated showers (at one point I took like 10 in 2 days!), though now that the dew point has gone back up it's no longer an issue; taking generic guaifenesin; and drinking lots of water. What should I do? I've gotta go back to work tomorrow, but it's going to be like impossible to sleep!

Have you ever been tested for asthma? I suffered with coughing, on and off, for about 20 years. It's only recently that my doctor has considered that the cause is post-viral asthma. Each time I get a cold, the cold clears up, but I'm left with a lingering tickly cough for weeks on end. I remember seeing the doc about it years ago, only to be told that I just had a virus, even when I explained I had been coughing for months. Eventually, I had an episode when I woke myself, due to wheezing. I got such a scare that I went to see my doc and he confirmed it was asthma.

Is it winter where you are right now? If so it could still be dry inside your house despite being humid outside. Do you have a hygrometer (a device which measures the relative humidity of the surrounding atmosphere) to confirm whether this is the case or not?

What MoP said might also be possible. I have asthma and I wake up having coughing fits just like the OP described too; they're really rather terrifying. My inhaler usually brings them to an end within 20 mins or so but for those 20 mins the phrase "mortal terror" would not be an overstatement to describe how they make me feel.

Too much coughing could lead to something worse. I think you shouldn't go to work for a day or two. And go to see your doctor instead.

I had asthma till I was 18. I sometimes needed to sleep on the stomach and with my head resting on an extremely thick/high pillow. That allowed me to breathe a bit better.

Are you taking any medication? I had a cough for several months which turned out to be a side effect of some high blood pressure medication I was on. The doc switched me to a different medication and the cough disappeared within a few days.

I have been wheezing off and on, so I will go see the doctor, but will refuse any of the expensive tests they want to do. I know there are cheap asthma tests.

I remember as a kid wondering if I had asthma, even obsessing on the topic a little, but no test ever confirmed it.

Maybe an infection like an Bronchitis? I already had two times a bronchitis, without that typical flu symptoms, but simply nothing else but a very dry coughing, in an amount, that I already struggled with breathing. The treatment was as well ok, so something for "fluiding" the lung, some medication, and to stop the endless coughing some good old "Wohoo, look I am smiling from ear to ear!" codein drops. (Didnt know them before, but as occasional pot smoker, I got suspicious about that mechanical grin. ^^)

But you should definitly visit a doctor, if its a bronchitis or a pneumonia, then parts of your lung can be permanently disabled, if it does not get treated. (But my pneumonia was actually rather wet, but dont know, if that was normal or not.)

How to get rid of a cough

1)brush and floss teeth
2)rinse mouth with water several times
3)use alcohol based mouthwash(make sure to gargle in the back of your throat)
4)wait 15-20 minutes, and then rinse mouth out with water again at least 5 times
5)repeat everyday until the cough completely goes away

This is assuming the cough's source is from a head-cold btw.

I find that taking a very hot bath helps me a little bit (although I always feel sleepy afterward). I dealt with horrid coughing not too long ago, and that wasn't fun.

Nyquil works for me.

Well, I could get one of the prescriptions, the antibiotic. But I couldn't get the cough medicine, because the pharmacy could not read the handwriting on the prescription. They said they called the doctor's office and left a message. After a while, I called the doctor's office and asked them what the hold up was, and the office said they never received a phone call from the pharmacy. I'm a bit pissed here cuz I wanna take my cough medicine and get to sleep. The doctor's office tells me, well, you can try calling the pharmacy and clearing that up with them, but I'm over here thinking, WTF? This is a communication breakdown between the pharmacy and the doctor's office; I can't clear up anything because even if I give the pharmacy the name of the prescription they can't fill it without confirmation from the doctor's office. I tell the doctor's office that the pharmacy is spreading lies about them, by claiming they leave messages and the doctor's office never gets back to them, and asked them what they would do about it. The doctor's office said they would send an "urgent note" to the nurse, but that was the extent of it. This was 30 minutes ago. I have not heard anything from the pharmacy and it is now "after hours" for my doctor's office so I can't speak to them anymore today.

God damn it all!

Finally got the medicine--tessalon perles. What a weird effing name for a medication. Anyway, I finally took one, so I'll get to see how it works.