The cough started seven years ago in the winter. At first I thought it was related to a persistent cold. Looking back, that may have been a trigger, but certainly not the cause. I’ve been looking for this for more than five years – and neither my medical studies nor my medical experience have helped me much. When the cough persisted for a few months, I thought of something family-related. My mother has been coughing all her life, and my grandmother grew old with it.
The attacks became more and more violent. Sometimes they didn’t want to end, my face turned red, tears ran down my cheeks, and sometimes I felt like vomiting. Then people were afraid of getting infected from me. My voice often broke in choir. I was afraid of situations in which I had to speak freely for longer. Once I was sitting in the guest panel on a talk show when it happened. “Mr Albrecht, do you have to cry?” asked a visibly perplexed moderator who had just asked me a question. I was just desperately trying to get the coughing attack that was coming on under control.
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