Scratchy throat. Any ideas?

This morning I woke up and my throat was a bit scratchy. Just thought it was from my room being so dry. But as the day went on I started coughing, progressively more and more, and my throat started getting really irritated. Now when I breath, it hurts. If you have heartburn, it's that feeling. And when I cough the pain is unbearable. I Gargled warm salt water. That didn't help. I sucked on some lifesavers and that stopped helping after the lifesaver was gone. I know that I need to go see a doctor. But I just thought I would check out yahoo answers first. If any of you have any ideas of what this might be, please let me know, also, if you have any advice on how to make the pain go away, it would be MUCH appreciated.