... he's not *that* sick. At least not by the standards by which we measure illness. Incidentally, if there is a doctor in the house, what should I do about this hacking cough I've had for four weeks? Fairly serious.
I figured he wasn't that sick, seeing as how he was using twitter and all. I just wanted an excuse to use that image I made ages ago.... (as for your cough, http://www.webmd.com/ )
Any symptom like that which lasts for that long, you really need to see a doctor for (self-diagnosis is no substitute for having an expert examine you). That's probably the symptom for all sorts of things, from allergies to worse. (It is a very bad allergy season, though).
Of course a doctor should be visited after four weeks. But WebMD is not just for self-diagnosis it can also help you narrow down your symptoms and present them in a way that can help your doctor. For instance, is the cough active? (That means it produces pleghm or however you spell that) does it seem to originate from lower or higher in your chest? How frequently do you cough? Do you cough in bursts or just one at a time, and if bursts, how many and do they become painful? Questions like these can help your doctor out in identifying a cause. Just be careful: in america, at least, far too many doctors are just pill-pushers and don't care about dealing with the root of the problem. (My qualifications: my mother was a paramedic and a surgeon assistant; she and I deal with 3 doctors on a weekly basis for medical billing and other issues. That doesn't mean I'm anywhere near an expert, but the 3 doctors we deal with all recommend WebMD for getting patients more educated on what is troubling them)
