I'm off to Urgent Care

natalie_ca

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This flu has settled in my chest and I can't shake it.

I'm not really congested, but I have a horrid cough that is sometimes dry, but sometimes not and when I'm coughing because there is something to cough up I cough until I am light headed and nearly pass out and/or retch. Plus I feel short of breath when walking short distances IE: bed to bathroom, bathroom to kitchen. My back and rib muscles are also sore, but that could be from coughing, or it may be from a chest infection.

I no longer have a fever and I've never been head congested.

At this point I think I need a chest xray and maybe some antibiotics.
 

rosiemac

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I've got the same sort of problem
I'm taking Benylin for a dry chesty cough and i'm inhaling menthol and eucalyptus because that loosens it (Wish it would hurry up though because i'm fed up of coughing!)
It took me a lot longer to do my housework this afternoon because it's making me short of breath


Here they don't like you to have antibiotics unless it's really necessary
 

strange_wings

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I hate it when this happens. It always seems like flu causes it worse than colds do, too.

Do you have problems coughing stuff up? One of the reasons this always happens to me is that I simply can't cough stuff up well enough - as I've mentioned before, Mucinex (guaifenesin) has been a huge help, but iirc you're on an antidepressant.
Maybe they'll have something else to suggest as an expectorant.


The other the reason for this happening may have to do with your asthma. Maybe it's not under control as well as you think and after this is gone you need to review your asthma treatment with your doctor. It couldn't hurt.


Hopefully all you'll need is a short round of antibiotics and you'll be better in a couple weeks.
 

mrblanche

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Dottie has had a cough since January, when we both had colds (well, I had pneumonia). She just can't shake it. On top of that, she was on a blood-pressure medicine that had coughing as a side effect.
 

strange_wings

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Originally Posted by mrblanche

Dottie has had a cough since January, when we both had colds (well, I had pneumonia). She just can't shake it. On top of that, she was on a blood-pressure medicine that had coughing as a side effect.
It's not surprising, women are more likely to get that side effect than men are. Has she been back to the doctor?
 
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natalie_ca

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Well, I'm back! I went to the ER at the hospital I work at instead of the Urgent Care. I figured the wait time would be the same, and at least at the ER there is a Tim Horten's down the hallway.

After 6 hours, a hospital dinner (yes they ordered me a tray), and a chest xray, the verdict is that I have a healthy case of Bronchitis. I was given a prescription for Prednisone 50 mg. I have to take one a day for 7 days, plus continue on my Asthma medication as I've been taking.

Given the fact that I wasn't coughing up yellow or green, I figured it was COPD related and not pneumonia. But also given the fact that I landed up in the hospital in 2004 with a severe chase of pneumonia that I had no symptoms of prior to the day before being admitted, I wasn't going to take any chances.

Besides, I work in a hospital around sick people. I need to know that I'm not putting them at risk. I'm not contagious, but I'm so short of breath to move around and I'm coughing so much that I end up seeing stars and almost throw up. So I'm taking another sick day tomorrow. Hopefully Saturday will be a better day after having been on Prednisone for a couple of days.
 

yosemite

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Susan, just a FYI, the COPD clinic I attended last week told me that drinking lots of water is a great expectorant. They also taught me how to do "controlled coughing" to help get that "stuff" up. It works.

I was coughing, coughing and coughing, getting nothing up and my ribs were getting sore.
 

yosemite

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Originally Posted by Natalie_ca

Well, I'm back! I went to the ER at the hospital I work at instead of the Urgent Care. I figured the wait time would be the same, and at least at the ER there is a Tim Horten's down the hallway.

After 6 hours, a hospital dinner (yes they ordered me a tray), and a chest xray, the verdict is that I have a healthy case of Bronchitis. I was given a prescription for Prednisone 50 mg. I have to take one a day for 7 days, plus continue on my Asthma medication as I've been taking.

Given the fact that I wasn't coughing up yellow or green, I figured it was COPD related and not pneumonia. But also given the fact that I landed up in the hospital in 2004 with a severe chase of pneumonia that I had no symptoms of prior to the day before being admitted, I wasn't going to take any chances.

Besides, I work in a hospital around sick people. I need to know that I'm not putting them at risk. I'm not contagious, but I'm so short of breath to move around and I'm coughing so much that I end up seeing stars and almost throw up. So I'm taking another sick day tomorrow. Hopefully Saturday will be a better day after having been on Prednisone for a couple of days.
Hope you get over your bronchitis soon. I've had it so many times but it was all due to my smoking. Tim Horton's wouldn't be a draw for me but lots of folks love it.


When I was in emergency in January, they ordered me a tray of food as well - they're pretty nice about that sort of thing if you've been there a fair while.
 

rosiemac

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Originally Posted by Yosemite

Susan, just a FYI, the COPD clinic I attended last week told me that drinking lots of water is a great expectorant.
I've made sure i've drank plenty as well, and today it's started to loosen


I know what you mean about the controlled coughing because my mum was taught it when she fell and cracked her ribs
 
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