coughing and CoQ10

by nancy
(boston MA)

last year, after a bout with asthma, my coughing kept getting worse. I read somewhere that uncontrollable coughing can be a sign of congestive heart failure. The feeling of a water balloon in my chest when I leaned back on the chair scared the living daylights out of me, since it crossed my mind that an enlarged heart could easily feel like that.

I am aware that CoQ10 is excellent for heart problems, so I popped 400 mg of Ubiquinol.
Within maybe 30 minutes the coughing stopped, as did the water balloon feeling. I've been taking 100-200 mg Ubiquinol since, and haven't had either problem since.
Could you explain the affect of the Ubiquinol on my symptoms? My RN has no idea. (She didn't even know anything about CoQ10 or Ubiquinol! I shouldn't be surprised though...)

Comments for coughing and CoQ10

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Not to disregard your experience
by: Kerri Knox, RN- The Immune Queen!

Hi Nancy,

While this is not meant to disregard your experience, I do think that you are 'reaching' on thinking that you might have Congestive Heart Failure. Coughing is a symptom for HUNDREDS of different things, and unless you had a recent heart attack or have been diagnosed with Congestive Heart Failure in the past, there is absolutely not a single reason in the world to believe that you were experiencing Congestive Heart Failure at that time.

Congestive heart failure occurs when the heart muscle becomes so weakened that it is unable to pump properly. This generally occurs as a result of advanced age and/or heart muscle damage from a heart attack and generally involves far more symptoms than just coughing.

As far as the 'feeling of a water balloon' in your chest, generally people with CHF don't 'feel' the extra fluid in their chest- and an enlarged heart doesn't occur overnight and then go away after the fluid is relieved. Many, if not most people, even those who are in the hospital with active congestive heart failure, don't necessarily have an enlarged heart. An enlarged heart occurs over long periods of time and once you have an enlarged heart, it remains enlarged even if the Congestive Heart Failure is gone.

Another point is that Congestive Heart Failure occurs with a build-up of excess fluid in the heart that spills over into the lung circulation making it difficult to breathe. The 'hallmark' symptom of Congestive Heart Failure is not coughing, but difficulty breathing. Someone in Congestive Heart Failure can ALSO have coughing, but unless you had difficulty breathing, it's EXTREMELY unlikely that you had congestive heart failure. In addition, because of the build-up of excess fluid in your system anything that would have spontaneously relieved Congestive Heart Failure would have occurred along with you urinating copiously afterwards to get rid of the excess fluid that had build up in your bloodstream.

Why your symptoms went away with the CoQ10, I don't know. I'm happy that they did, but it's EXTREMELY EXTREMELY unlikely to have had anything at all to do with Congestive Heart Failure if you've not been diagnosed with it before. In addition, CoQ10 relieves symptoms of heart failure over a period of many months. It's not a 'pop a pill and feel better' kind of issue. The weakening of the heart muscle takes time to strengthen again using CoQ10.

So, while I believe you when you tell me your EXPERIENCE of the coughing and the taking of the CoQ10. I just do not believe that your conclusion as to WHY it worked or your speculation that you had Congestive Heart Failure is correct.

Kerri Knox, RN

thanks
by: nancy

Kerri,

Thanks for your comments. I didn't mention the difficulty breathing on slight exhertion, swelling in the extremities, and the worried attitude of my PA, nor the pending appointment with the cardiologist, mostly because I wasn't looking for an explanation of those symptoms, just if you had any idea why the CoQ10 would relieve coughing - which seems to return when I stop taking it, and goes away again when I resume.
Must just be a freak thing, or pure d hypochondria! How one's body reacts to different things is always a mystery!

same here
by: Anonymous

hi Nancy...it happened exactly the same to me...I have a chronic cough for I don't know what reson as I never checked my heart....but is going away when I take coq 10. I've started to take it for totally other reasons but stoping the caugh was the first and the most significant symptom I've got almost from the next day...now you put the thought in my mind that maybe my cough is not a respiratory problem as I believed but a heart problem...I'll get my heart checked but in the mean time I'll keep taking the coq10

Thanks Anonymous!
by: Anonymous

Thanks Anonymous! Makes me feel some better to know I'm not as crazy as was suggested!

Possibly
by: Anonymous

The University of Maryland Medical Center says this:

Coenzyme Q 10 (CoQ10) -- if you have asthma, you may have low levels of this antioxidant in your blood. Researchers don't know, however, whether taking CoQ10 supplements will make any difference in your symptoms.

Source: Asthma | University of Maryland Medical Center http://umm.edu/health/medical/altmed/condition/asthma#ixzz39F901iAG
University of Maryland Medical Center

CoQ10 has also been shown to help with high blood pressure, high cholesterol. This could explain your improvements and prior symptoms.

I too have seen recent improvement in my chronic cough taking a dosage of 200 mg of Coenzyme Q10 Supplements vs the 60 I was taking. I've been under a lot of stress and have some excess weight which I think personally make my cough worse. But with Coenzyme Q10 Supplements it's less prominent.

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