antibiotic or not
Posted , 10 users are following.
I have been having a cough and a lot of mucus in my lungs lately. No fever. I don't know if it's an infection or not because I don't have the typical taste that I usually taste when I got an infection and what I get up is clear. the only real reason I'm concerned it might be an infection is because the very first time when I was diagnosed with bronchiectasis I had these exact same symptoms and all of my doctors kept saying it was probably just allergies. but when I saw my pulmonologist they decided to do a chest x-ray and then CT which then gave him my diagnosis. the doctor then performed a bronchial scope and when he took samples the samples came back with an infection. I had not been running a fever and everything I could get up which at the time was pretty minimal was clear. he treated the infection with augmentin and between that and my breathing treatments I was golden. that was back around June or July 2018. since that time I have had a couple of infections that were very obvious and again Augmentin saved the day. I've talked to my pulmonologist and he wants to wait. I don't want to take an antibiotic if I don't need it for the obvious reasons but I'm also really sick of this cough and congestion.
0 likes, 22 replies
robyn76590 amkoffee
Posted
i an confused as well, as when to take antibiotics. I was told that sputum with bx can vary in color and is not necessarily indicative of infection without other symptoms. i do not, at the present, have a cough, but when I use my saline nebulizer and airway clearance exercises, some of the sputum I get up is clear and some is not. IM not bringing up much, but MOST is clear yet some is yellow, occasionally a slight green tint. Yet I dont feel I need an antibiotic right now. DRS, even st Cleveland CLINIC , leave that decision up to me which I find frustrating. I never really know what to do unless IM obviously sick. What do you all do and what color is your sputum?
amkoffee robyn76590
Posted
I'm assuming you are not a smoker because smoking can also color your mucus . I know this because I used to be a smoker. I am not suggesting this as a means to insult you. I'm just offering that out as a suggestion as to why it might be yellow.
you are much more responsible than I am . I am so sick of using the nebulizer but I know that when I don't I get real bad. so I've been trying to use it a little more frequently.
robyn76590 amkoffee
Posted
No, Ive never smoked a day in my life. I NEVER THOUGHT Id end up with a lung problem but I THINK ALL THE CHILDHOOD infections brought it on. I am fAithful with the nebulizer because its so hard for me to get anything up. sometimes I think theres nothing to get up but the ct scan says there is a lot!
louise17255 amkoffee
Posted
Hi,
That is quite a dilemma and from the replies it seems several of us are having it. My pulmo usually suggests an antibiotic when he feels my symptoms are severe enough but I hear some patients are on an on and off antibiotic schedule without actually having an infection. I also read that taking an antibiotic like azithromycin every two months could reduce the number of exacerbations in the long run. I myself may have a serious infection with micobacterium avium (MAI) but have no symptoms. There was just a hint of it in the test results from a bronchoscopy that I took last summer. Meantime my lungs seems to have gotten so damaged that I am now on oxygen replacement. MAI is related to tuberculosis and the treatment is the same. Three antibiotics are used alternatively, two with very bad side effects. I did not think I could take it since I am already in a weakened state. Let us know what you decide to do.
With you strength.
Louise
pam81116 amkoffee
Posted
hi , I spend winter in Lanzarote as UK is too cold and damp , I am brilliant over there with the sea air. the last two times I have come back home , I have quite bad coughing all day , my consultant said it may be inflammation, as a blood test told them it was not a chest infection, he told me to just take steroids and they sorted me out, I am same again this time so I am just trying steroids again. its a if my lungs do not like the air in the Midlands.
I dont know if anyone else has had this, but it goes to show we can get chest infection and sometimes inflammation.