Those affected can have a dry cough for years and not know what is causing it. Our author also discovered that the cause of his symptoms was not in the bronchi or lungs, but somewhere else entirely.
This text comes from the stern archive and first appeared in March 2024.
The cough started seven years ago in the winter. At first I thought it was related to a persistent cold. Looking back, that may have been a trigger, but certainly not the cause. I looked for it for more than five years – and neither my medical studies nor my medical experience helped me much. When the cough persisted for a few months, I thought it was a family problem. My mother has had a cough her whole life, and my grandmother grew old with it.
The attacks became more and more violent. Sometimes they would not stop, my face would turn bright red, tears would run down my cheeks, sometimes I would feel like vomiting. Then people would be afraid of catching the infection from me. My voice would often break in choirs. I was afraid of situations in which I would have to speak freely for long periods of time. Once I was sitting in the guest panel of a talk show when it happened. “Mr. Albrecht, do you have to cry?” asked a visibly perplexed presenter who had just asked me a question. I was just trying desperately to control the oncoming coughing fit.