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Chest infection - utter nightmare.

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Fizzi
Fizzi

Started with a cough 4 weeks ago. Developed into a chest infection. Have coughed so badly I also have laryngitis and have been 3 weeks now with total voice loss.  To complicate things my normally mild asthma has flared up so I now have to use a nebuliser. Also complicating things are the laryngeal spasms I get from coughing which literally closes my windpipe.

I am currently coughing up white frothy sputum. The pain  in my chest from the middle to right round the back on one side is severe when I breathe or cough or move about. I have had 2 lots of steroids and am on 2nd lot of antibiotics but 4 weeks in I am no better. The violent coughing fits are distressing and to be honest it is getting me down. I have been to the doctor seven times and he seems only concerned about the asthma which in itself is under control. A chest X-ray last week has excluded pneumonia and sputum test has not shown up anything. I have not been able to work or sleep or even lie down. I am back to the doctor tomorrow for another sick note but my employer is wondering why this is taking so long, as am I. I have never been so unwell and each day shows no improvement. I have been using steam inhalation so but make no difference. I am at my wits end with this. The throat can't heal till the cough stops and being unable to speak at all is getting me down. Not sure what I am after here but is anyone else going thru this?

0 likes, 5 replies

5 Replies

  • helen50835
    helen50835 Fizzi

    Posted

    i am very similar i was like you at beginning of April it took 6 weeks before i began improving i am by no means better yet as 6 week ago my ankles began swelling i am now at the stage where my whole body is swelling i am very short of breath and have been referred for a heart scan i am doing between 37 and 41 breathes per minute and am shattered to be honest x

    im sorry to hear your suffering too Asthma is another problem to contend with for you too x

     

    • Fizzi
      Fizzi helen50835

      Posted

      Hi Helen. I at week 4 and really sympathise with you. I went back to the doc this morning to find my chest xray clear but they think I may have heart failure!!! The doc has referred me for blood test and ecg and says he is not worried - at the moment. He has given me  3rd antoibiotic to try and some water tabs to pee out excess fluid. Are you still coughing? The cough is the BIG issue for me - and the doc cannot say why I'm still coughing. He has ruled out pleurisy even though I have the pain for it - says the pain is the strain of coughing. It may be worth asking you doc about asthma? I have mild asthma which has also been affected and was given a nebuliser and a 2 drugs to inhale. They do loosen the chest and you only need to have them when needed. 

    • helen50835
      helen50835 Fizzi

      Posted

      i had 3 lots of antibiotics 2 weeks of steroids painkillers etc i was still coughing upto week 6 then went quiet for a week it is a different cough but not a nagging cough more like something stuck in my throught which is tight as is the chest my oxygen level on thurs was 97 blood pressure up and breathless doing between 37 and 41 breathes a minute just sat i feel like im going to burst not had any water tablets at all x

       

    • Fizzi
      Fizzi helen50835

      Posted

      Had another really bad night last night with coughing. Just coughing up white froth and choking where my throat ges into spasm. Chest xray has shown signs of heart failure! Doc says he is not worried at the moment but will be having ECG later this week. Truly an utter nightmare. Hope you are feeling a bit better Helen. If you are in the UK dont forget to use the practice nurses who I find are good. I had blood taken this morning and asked them about compression socks asmy feet are swollen. She has booked me in for something called a Doppler? and to be measured for stockings. Mght we worth you asking for this too?
    • helen50835
      helen50835 Fizzi

      Posted

      im not sure Fizzi as my thighs and stomache are also swollen its not just my feet and lower legs once ive had scans etc i will feel better im sure i feel shocking at minute but prob a bit of anxiety x

       

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