Dear Linda,
I doubt that you actually tore or are continuing to tear your abdominal
muscles; although it is possible to "pull" or "strain" them with overly
vigorous coughing. I once met a fellow who apparently lacerated a vocal
cord with during a severe coughing fit. The transient forces generated
within the abdomen during a cough can be very pronounced. Blood pressure
may even double, or [rarely] triple very briefly. Vigorous coughing is
definitely bad for singers, IMHO.
So, apart from the obvious, which is to be sure to hold a firm pillow over
the tender area while you cough. I recommend you do all you can to reduce
the force and frequency of coughing. Drink gallons of water. Use
mucolytics (guaifenisin 1200mg twice daily). Use cough suppressants if
necessary; but not to the point of completely suppressing the cough. For
these I recommend Tessalon Pearls, a non-narcotic cough suppressant. When
the urge to cough comes, try to break that one big satisfying,
goober-clearing cough into a rapid-fire series of very small coughs.
Humidify your environment with a vaporizer. For the dry cough, it also
sometimes helps to wear a surgical face mask, probably by keeping the air
around your face warm and humid. You can buy these at any pharmacy.
Hope this helps. By the way, I *am* a medical doctor, although I don't play
one on TV [unless you count a couple of surgical teaching films].
GWendel
[tenor]
At 05:05 PM 1/26/01 +0000, you wrote:
>
>So what's the problem?
>
>I think that during the first couple of days when I was coughing almost
>non-stop and very hard indeed, I pulled, or even tore, an abdominal
>muscle. Is this possible? Latitude about 2 inches above the navel,
>longitude about 6-8 inches to the right. One of the muscles which you
>use as a cough reflex, and also to laugh, which is unfortunate because
>it's my hobby 8^> Now that the cough is clearing up, the urge to cough
>is less frequent, but when it comes, I _have_ to cough - and I can't
>because it is really _extremely_ painful. I can feel that there are
>great armfuls of glop in the base of my lungs asking to be released
>(sorry if you were eating) but if I cough properly it feels as though
>the muscle in my side is tearing even more. The result is that when that
>tickle arrives it strikes terror: either suffer a nasty pain or perform
>a silly ineffective little string of half-coughs which are going to
>achieve nothing. I've tried holding my side, curling up and bending
>double, putting a hot-water-bottle on the side, but nothing works.
>Meanwhile I'm just drinking lots of water and praying the amoxycillin
>will get it before it gets me.
>
>Does this strike anyone as familiar? Can you pull or tear a muscle by
>coughing? Will I make it worse by letting myself cough, however painful?
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