2nd lot of antibiotics not working

In the newspaper this weekend "girl catches TB from her cat". Several cats, in a small area, caught TB from badgers and passed it to humans. I had never heard of this cross infection before. I am not suggesting for one minute that you might have TB gilly, just saying there are some strange things out there.

gilly please have it checked out properly, infections can be a symptom to other things, especially one that will not go away--what I am saying is that it is worth demanding that you get a scan on your chest to rule out anything that needs a different kind of treatment. Dr's get it wrong sometimes

JessM Just wanted to clarify the Vicks on soles of feet - using essential oils on the soles of feet is widely used by complementary therapists (partly because it is a less sensitive area of the body in case of a reaction), but also because it is an effective way of absorbing the oils. Although the skin can be 'leathery' it is still capable of abosrbing the oils. It's not just breathing in the Vick's vapours that can help, it's also the absorption of the essential oils contained in it.

There is an experiment that you can do to prove this (haven't tried this myself!) by rubbing garlic on the bottom of your feet and after a while you will be able to taste it in your mouth!

There will always be sceptics, who don't believe in complementary treatments, but I'm speaking as one who has allergic reactions and severe adverse reactions to a multitude of prescription drugs!

Of course 'conventional' drugs have their place and I wouldn't dream of suggesting otherwise, especially as there are times when I have to use them myself!

Thank you both. My daughter now tells everyone they should be sure to have the vaccination. One of the problems was the suggestion that people connected, through family, with epilepsy should not have the vaccination. This is now refuted I believe but too many people refused it at the time.

Thank goodnesss he is fine now DebnCreme.

There was a real scare about the whooping cough vaccine when DD1 was a baby and many of us decided not to let our babies have the vaccine. However, age 2 she caught what I know was whooping cough and I spent many sleepless nights pacing the floor with her (and was pregnant with DS at the time). The GP said she could not have whooping cough as it had been eradicated. However, the three children across the road all had whooping cough and she had been playing with the little boy. They went to a different GP practice and their GP diagnosed it as whooping cough.

Horrible DebnCreme glad he cam through it OK. Such a serious illness for newborns.
Maybe people who work in maternity units, and health visitors should have boosters as they could infect many newborns.

My daughter's baby got whooping cough at 2 weeks following a short stay in hospital when he had severe jaundice which was not picked up by the health visitors. Up until then he had little contact with anyone - even I would not go near him because I had a cold and his parents were fit.

When the whooping cough started the health visitors were told he was coughing and fighting for breath as well as being sick and their response: 'all babies posset'.

I wish the medical profession would listen to their patients as they used to instead of assuming they know best.

He is now a gorgeous two year old but for three weeks it was touch and go.

Studies of how babies acquire whooping cough consistently identify parents, and in the youngest babies especially mothers, as the most common source of infection.

I never gave having a whooping cough vaccination any thought until I was holding GD's friend's newborn brother. I found out after that my cousin's teenage son had whooping cough and I had been in contact with him.. He was severely disabled and was up to date with all his vaccinations but still caught it. Imagine how worried I felt for a few weeks wondering if I had caught it and passed it on.

Perhaps those of us that have regular contact with babies - pregnant daughters and daughter-in-laws etc - ought to be considering asking for a booster though? As Aka's article shows, the disease for us might be so mild we don't recognise it as whooping cough, but we could be putting our little ones at risk. I'm going to look into it.

Looking at the figures in that article, and taking the largest estimate of how many cases there are per year in the US, I can see why my GP has not recommended the booster to me. As a proportion of the population getting whooping cough, the number of people affected would appear to be a tiny fraction of one percent of the population. I presume it's the same here.

In short, though there is a risk, the risk is extremely small. Vaccinating pregnant women (and those who look after infants) seems like a good idea. I expect this is why the booster is recommended in the UK for those groups.

The cost for everyone over a certain age to be vaccinated would be huge. Demographically speaking, the problem is not huge.

I've been busy googling since Nightowl mentioned this and it seems to be the case that older people should check their immunity status.

Thanks, aka. I'll have a look.

gillybob, I hope you feel better soon. Your GP is right; you should take time off from all your responsibilities and rest up, as the saying goes.

Persistent cough does sound like asthma could be involved, especially if the cough seems unproductive.

useful little fact sheet on whooping cough

I know this is US based but still worth reading as I didn't realise until Nightowl highlighted it that the vaccine didn't confer life-long immunity.

nightowl: "we in our age group are all walking around with very reduced immunity and presenting a very real risk to others if we have not had a booster"? Really?

Please could you let me know how you know this? Don't take this request amiss. I am always sceptical of that kind of general statement, whatever it's about, and would really like to know more about it.

Whooping cough vaccination is now thought to last for about 10-15 years.

Please, no! Not the Vick suppository! Sounds like something to make racehorses go faster!
94% national cover but this will not be evenly spread. Boosters have never been recommended for adults until recent pregnant woman advice.
Anyway back to topic. My particular comfort drink when suffering from the darn cough was home made marmalade in hot water.
I was wondering gillibob if you might be a tad asthmatic - steroids to dilate airways can be delivered via asthma inhaler. My DH has one to take before cycling in the hay fever season (when he gets a bit of a wheezy chest).

Better still to smear it on a tissue, fold the tissue over it , and hold that near your nose. Not so messy.

Jess I think 94% takeup in infancy is pretty good, given that there are some children who will not be able to have the vaccine for very good reasons. In fact 92 - 94% is the generally accepted threshold for 'herd immunity' for pertussis so bang on target.

Measles vaccine is a different matter and not relevant here. Steiner schools are way off topic and nothing to do with the fact that we in our age group are all walking around with very reduced immunity and presenting a very real risk to others if we have not had a booster. I haven't had one, have you?

Cor, that would sting! Like the Veet for men.

Of course in France they would give it to you as a suppository (at least a bit less far to travel

Why make the fumes travel so far, though? Easier to rub it on the chest, I'd have thought.

Maybe the fumes creep up the bed and into the nose? At least the Vick will not make the soles of the feet tingle so much as they do a sore nose if they touch it.

nightowl uptake in the UK of the combined vaccine for children is running at 94%. 6% not being vaccinated in infancy is not good. If these children they then congregate in places like Steiner schools then there is the potential for an outbreak. Such an outbreak occurred a couple of years ago - a big surge of "confirmed cases" - presumably tip of iceberg and hence the introduction of pertussis vaccine for pregnant women. About half of whom are sensible enough to take it up.
The vaccine has not got less effective in recent years - it has always worn off but if you have a high enough coverage in the community then this does not matter. There are misguided people who discourage others from all vaccinations. Horrible outbreak of measles in S Wales last year was a consequence.
Sorry nonu Vick works by helping you to breathe a bit more easily when you inhale the vapours. Putting it on soles of feet has to be one of those (insert agist and sexist terminology here) tales. Soles of feet are the most leathery part of the skin and least likely to absorb anything, should you want to absorb something that is not approved as a medicine or food in the first place.