A dry cough from pipe smoking?

[tozert]

Heya fellas, I have a question concerning my health and I'm wondering if any here know about or have developed symptoms similar to mine. Basically, about ten days ago I started to develop a dry cough. Small at first, it is now getting progressively worse and my diaphragm is getting a bit sore from the force of the cough. At first I didn't think it had anything to do with my pipe, because I don't inhale. I do, however, smoke in an enclosed workshop, at least twice a day but sometimes three or four. I believe my own second hand smoke is irritating the problem, as I notice the cough gets much worse for several hours after my smoke, and slows down until I smoke again.
I know what I have to do for awhile, and that is to just take a break from my pipe. It is a prospect that I don't enjoy even thinking about. My question is, I'm wondering if my smokey workshop is causing this problem, or is just irritating something else. I can't image what else it could be, though. I don't have a cold, don't have the sniffles, don't have anything going on health wise, except for this bone-dry cough.
Have any of you had a similar experience? I don't want to see a doctor, as I know the first thing they will say is to stop smoking, even if I don't inhale.

 

[puffy]

I keep some hard candy around..In my case sugar free.

 

[haparnold]

Obviously the first step is to take a little smoking break and see if the problem continues. What kind of shop is it? If you're doing woodworking, wood dust is no picnic for your lungs either, and it can't be helped by smoking in an enclosed space.
Now I'm not in any way a doctor, but my horse sense tells me it could be from pipe smoking, but not that it must be.

 

[bazungu]

I experience something similar, mainly during winter when I cannot open the window fully during my smoke. In summer, when the room is better ventilated I do not experience any cough, and I seem to become less affected by the nicotine as well. I do suggest a break for a little bit, as otherwise it might be quite persistent.

 

[olkofri]

Yeah. Take a break from piping and see if it goes away. Give it from 2 to 4 weeks. Ouch, yeah, I know.
I too smoke in an enclosed environment: my car. Even with windows rolled down I still get some of that, ooo, dreadful 'second' hand smoke. I don't have your symptoms, though.
Take a break from either pipe or workshop and see how it goes.
Of course, if symptoms continue in spite of no pipe do see a physician. Unless you're in Canada, in which case you're much better on your own, unless you're collapsed on the floor and need to be picked up by ambulance.

 

[cossackjack]

tozert:

Have you had a TDaP (tetanus-diphtheria-pertussis [whooping cough]) vaccine? If not, maybe you ought to see your doctor. Yeah, you'll be told to stop smoking, which is wise advice when one has respiratory symptoms.

Pertussis (Whooping Cough) in adults often presents as a nagging, indolent, dry cough, but not necessarily paroxysmal & accompanied by whooping inspirations like in children.

It is treatable with antibiotics, though the cough could persist for weeks after treatment.

 

[mso489]

Another vote for taking a pipe smoking break. After you've given that a chance for a week, and if you're still coughing, see a doc, just to get on the road to recovery. Could be something simple like an allergy or something else in the closed-in space. If your muscles are sore from coughing, you want to stop it.

 

[sablebrush52]

If you're smoking in an enclosed space, you're inhaling. Your smoke doesn't magically disappear through a dimensional portal into an alternate universe. It's in every breath that you take. Whether the smoke you're inhaling is responsible for your cough is another matter. But taking a break for a month or so isn't a bad idea. It will give your lungs, throat, and mouth some time to recover. Hopefully you're a good cook or know one, because your sense of taste will also improve.

 

[jpmcwjr]

I'd stop just long enough for the cough to abate, whether a day or a month, and then not smoke in any place without good ventilation.
Good luck! Please keep us posted.

 

[zack24]

Everyone has a different level of smoking they can tolerate- for me, it's a bowl a week. Any more and the chest feels a little tight and my cycling speed takes a hit. Persistent coughs are no good- I had a mildly nagging one for a year, thought it was smoking, allergies, dust in the shop, drinking straight bourbon. Turned out to be a tiny steakbone I had inhaled- caused a massive infection and led to major lung surgery. Don't avoid going to the DR.- bad things can happen....

 

[mso489]

zack, I didn't realize you'd lived with that steak bone for a while. I inhaled a gold crown the dentist was installing, but the whole thing played out over several days. I didn't choke, so we thought it had gone down through my digestive track. But then I did't breath right. An x-ray showed it bright as the evening star. A deft thoracic doc fished it out with me under sedation. He said it went down the other bronchial tube but he caught it there. When I regained consciousness, he rattled it triumphantly in a pill bottle.

 

[zack24]

he rattled it triumphantly in a pill bottle

...so did the Dentist charge you for the crown he installed and the one you swallowed???

 

[olkofri]

Oh, man, just when I thought I couldn't possibly get any more hypocondriac and paranoid, I had to read your horror stories, guys... 8O

 

[jpmcwjr]

he rattled it triumphantly in a pill bottle.

...so did the Dentist charge you for the crown he installed and the one you swallowed???

If it were my dentist, the answer would be "both".

 

[crazyhog]

Definitely take a break and if it doesn't improve, go see a doctor. Yes, like others have said, if you are smoking in an enclosed space, well that's about the same as inhaling. Also, if you can smell the smoke, you're inhaling. Also, just having the smoke in your mouth, can cause irritation. It can cause throat, mouth and tongue irritations. I remember several years ago when I was over puffing, my voice began to become horse. That scared the hell out of me. I stopped for months and now only smoke 1 small bowl/week and only outdoors.

Good luck.