{
  "id": 2557094,
  "title": "Doctors Kept Saying Cough Was Just ‘Allergies,' Until X-Ray Revealed Truth",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/08/22/doctors-kept-saying-cough-was-just-allergies-until-x-ray-revealed",
  "topic": "health",
  "section": "Health & Medicine",
  "published": "2026-08-22T10:30:00.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "Newsweek",
    "slug": "newsweek",
    "url": "https://www.newsweek.com/doctors-kept-saying-cough-was-just-allergies-until-x-ray-revealed-truth-12342206"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "Autumn, from Houston, Texas, has endured health struggles throughout her life. She was born with congenital heart defects, requiring multiple open-heart surgeries to improve her condition. Despite this, Autumn struggled with a persistent cough since 2018, initially dismissed as allergies by doctors. Her symptoms worsened over time, with green and yellow sputum, and extreme fatigue, which she attributed to her heart condition. However, her condition took a turn for the worse when she developed pneumonia and started coughing up blood. A new doctor reviewed her old X-rays, discovered something alarming in her lungs, and ordered a CT scan, leading to her diagnosis of Valley fever, a fungal infection. Autumn is set to undergo lung surgery in October to combat the infection, and a cardiac catheterization to monitor her heart valves. Despite her experiences, she urges others to trust their instincts and seek medical help, while also advocating for doctors to be more aware of their implicit biases.",
  "summary": "\"Women often get dismissed by doctors, and it's frightening and frustrating,\" Autumn told Newsweek.",
  "key_points": [],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 1,
    "also_reported_by": []
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}