To Cough Or Not To Cough, That Is The Question
I was watching a segment on the Dr. Oz show with my co-workers on Silent Reflux. Dr. Jamie Koufman , one of the nation’s leading authorities an acid reflux disease joined forced with the Dr. Oz show to set up a free silent reflux screening including scoping in a major shopping mall in New York City. The scoping was available to anyone walking by that suffered from a list of common symptoms. This was a clever way to prove the point— people with reflux, particularly those with silent airway reflux, are profoundly under-served and often don’t know that they have it.
Silent Reflux is becoming known as a Silent Killer because it can lead to some pretty ugly stuff including cancer. The people interviewed talked about being diagnosed with asthma and allergies and using pills, nasal spray and puffers with little effect. They each got to see the colorful images of their larynx from the scope revealing thicknesses, redness and oddly shaped larynx indicating that they were a reflux sufferer.
Right after the Dr. Oz segment, most of my co-workers turned to me and said, “Hey Hulamonkey, you need to do that, you need to get scoped.” I knew I had a chronic cough, but I didn’t know everyone knew I had a cough. I had a coughed for the past 25 years, but never gave it much thought. My Dad always coughed. Coughing was ‘in the genes’ because neither of us were smokers or drinkers or overweight. It could have been allergies or maybe just a touch of asthma. I have been to several doctors over the years who agreed. I too had been instructed to take allergy medicine, use nasal sprays and even had a puffer for those times when the coughing went on just a little too long.
So – I made an appointment at the new Koufman Reflux Center . . . stay tuned!
And while you are waiting for me to let you know what happened, you can watch the Dr. Oz episode I watched.
Enjoy!
HulaMonkey
Follow @HulaMonkey
Dr. Oz Episode – The Silent Killer: America’s Fast Growing Cancer