OT: Can use some workplace advice

I would have done the same thing! Betty in WI

No, you didn't step over the line. People sometimes forget or don't realize how their illnesses affect those around them. People often forget that cubicles aren't sound proof booths.

I think you were much nicer than something I observed once. An employee in the office had the worst BO in the world. Really, really, bad. He walked into his cube and found that someone had left him a brand new can of deodorant. Poor guy. It was rather embarrassing for him since everyone knew what present had been left for him.

marcella

You very possibly have saved her life. It could be that the manager did already know about the health problem and was hoping it would go away. Way back before the earth cooled, I had a major bout with pneumonia and continued to work. I really did think it would just wear off. If my Mom hadn't forced me to the hospital, it probably would have killed me. I'm glad you spoke up. Polly

I would have raise this with the co-worker before going to the manager.

I have suffered from a bad, recurrent cough for years. It is the result of post nasal drip (which was only figured out recently). It's managable now, but was terrible when we didn't know what it was.

-Irene

now i'm curious as to what caused the post nasal drip? then what did you do to manage it? jeanne

I had the same post nasal drip cough. Offer her some sinus or allergy medicine (over the counter) She may be allergic to something there. It also took me years to find out what was causing my cough. You also have the right to complain especially if she has tested pos. for TB .

Vikki in WA State

I have suffered from a bad, recurrent cough for years. It is the result of post nasal drip (which was only figured out recently). It's managable now, but was terrible when we didn't know what it was.

-Irene

I thank you all for your help. I talked to the co-worker in question today, and we have worked out a compromise. She will ask her physician for advice, and I will supply her with coughdrops that can't mess up any of her current medication. Her current budget is so limited she is denying things to herself in order to provide for her children. (Most of us have been there at one time or another!)

BTW, my manager declined to intervene other than making sure that my co-worker had complied with the annual chest X-Ray ruling (and I knew she had, as we both go at about the same time). Irene and a couple of others were correct, it is a post-nasal drip problem compounded by allergies and the fact that she is unable to take most allergy medications because of other medications she currently takes for high blood pressure and depression.

Let's face it, Tucson is no longer a haven for allergy sufferers. If you didn't have allergies before you moved here, you will have them after a couple of years!

Again, thanks to this wonderful group for help on a completely OT subject. You are so kind to help out a fellow quilter in such a situation, and to give me the courage to confront the situation directly but tactfully.

And I dearly wish you could all be here this week....the scent of jasmine and orange blossoms is positively intoxicating!

Carolyn,

Running late on this but then I have been being late for ages now. You mentioned blood pressure med's, could it be that she is taking that class of BP meds that cause a cough? My mother was on it when she first went on BP meds and it about drove us both crazy but bless her heart she was miserable and I have a sister on that class now, but due to her heart disease they have to leave her on this class and she sometimes throws up with it when she gets to coughing bad.

Jacqueline in KY Jacqueline in Kentucky, USA

to reply leave out the nopam in snipped-for-privacy@nospamgmail.com snipped-for-privacy@nospammountain-breeze.com

I can speak from experience as I've had a nonproductive cough for more than

20 years. It annoyed everyone, but it never got to the point of vomiting until . . . three years ago when I was diagnosed with pulmonary edema which is incurable and terminal with a longevity of 4 to 6 years from time of diagnosis. The cough is now worse, the phlegm is harder to remove, and at times I cough hard enough to gag (twice vomiting). Even using Advair, cold winter air is terrible and last month I had a bad case of bronchitis for three weeks and still have not totally recovered my voice.

IF she will go for a chest x-ray, she may be surprised at what is found. It may be something that is incurable, but manageable for the next few years. It may be something that can be stopped very easily with the right medicine. It may even be an attention-getting device. Whatever the cause of her cough, she needs to get it checked out thoroughly.