1st time blood n sputum

Posted , 4 users are following.

hello, tis me again, well that's 2 courses of Ciprofloxacin down my neck and no better, have a sample of sputum to take to the doctor tomorrow and for the 1st time I have flecks of bright red blood in the gunk, now that is scaring me just thinking about it never mind seeing it! Do I wait until tomorrow to see my own doctor or do I go to A+E tonight, please advise, thankyou

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4 Replies

  • Posted

    Don't panic. It maybe from coughing & you may have burst a little vessel this happens to me all the time. It may mean you have a more severe infection that may need Ivs worse case is it could be pneumonia but I'm normally very poorly unable to get out out bed, pains in my chest and breathing is bad if it is pneumonia.

    Go to yr GP in the morning and ask if you can have a chest x-ray (my hospital will do it on the same day)

    Hope this helps

    Rachel

  • Posted

    Hi David. Not too long ago I coughed up a glob of blood filled mucus. My doc said if it happened more than once to go to ER. I ended up coughing up another smaller bit of blood and went right to the ER. I was terrified. I sat there for 7 hours and was sent home and told not to worry. They said the infection can cause some blood to come up. It is still really scary. I guess it depends on how you are feeling. Ever since then I worry about whats going on inside because when that happened I wasnt even feeling my worst! Good luck to you. Debi
    • Posted

      I've had bronchiectasis all my life and I'm 47 now. I guess I've had so many chest infections since I was a little girl I'm used to seeing blood/brown/green mucus. I generally know when it's a bad infection or pneumonia as I'm normally really poorly with it. I also get pains In my chest when it's a severe infection. If you are still worried an x-ray will show up anything untoward.

      Good luck

      Rachel

  • Posted

    Yeah, freaked me out as well the first time! As a rule of thumb ... Ignore it unless it keeps coming. As Debra and pinksnugsy say, it's really common. The little blood vessels in our lungs can easily be damaged particularly for us when we've already got weakened structures in the lung.

    It's only if it keeps coming in serious quantity that you definitely need to get to hospital pronto as they will need to check if you've burst something - at this point you are at risk of dying. This is "massive haemoptysis" and is something like 100cc per day or up. To put that in perspective, that's about 1/3 of a can of coke.

    So for the moment, don't worry, remember to mention it to your doctor next time you happen to see him and relax!

    Stay well

    S

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