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Does this sound like COPD?

Posted , 7 users are following.

matthew55622
matthew55622

I posted this on another forum  as well. Sorry it’s a bit long...

I'm 34 years' old and new to this forum (although I have been on here before, a few years back).

At the tail end of last year, I caught a pretty bad cold that gave me a dry tickly cough that eventually began to subside. However, a few weeks ago I got the beginnings of a cold again, but this time with a wheezy, chesty cough that has yet to disappear. All in all, I've probably had two different types of cough for about a month now (maybe a bit longer).

The weird thing about my cough at the moment is that when I wake up I don't have any need to cough, but when I test it, there is no wheezing or phlegm. However, if I try testing out my cough a few times and get up and about, it seems to slowly translate into a wheezy (and slightly phlegmy - dark yellow colour) cough. I then go through periods during the day where I'm sitting at rest and feel my chest tightening and have difficulty breathing and I lose the wheeze and ability to produce phlegm and vice versa. It's like the cough changes throughout the day. No fever, but my cold is at the stage where my nose is constantly blocked and I can feel mucus when I sniff. I cycle a lot (around 15 miles per day) and have a pretty healthy diet, smoke very occasionally (maybe a few times a year, if that - although I try to stop that from happening by cutting down on the all-night parties these days!). I never seem to feel the tight chest and difficulty breathing when I'm on the bike; only when I'm at home and at rest.

I have been reasonably prone to colds going to my chest in the past (not always and I can't remember if any of the colds I had last year translated into a cough as well - my intuition is that they didn't).

I went to the doctor the other day and he's given me antibiotics (I've just finished one 24-hour dose), but the cough is the same and I'm a bit worried with this ongoing chest tightness/difficulty breathing and the fact that everywhere I've looked online appears to suggest that acute bronchitis should only last a couple of weeks. This has been going on for much longer....

Does it sound like it might be chronic bronchitis or something? I honestly don't know how I could eat any healthier or do any more exercise. Before I started university in September I used to run 3 or 4 times a week, as well as the 15 mile + bike rides every day, and I even did a bike tour of Holland last year with my girlfriend, so imagined I was in pretty good shape. 

Can copd still strike in spite of my exercise/diet regimen? I’m getting really anxious about the whole thing...

0 likes, 30 replies

30 Replies

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  • matthew55622
    matthew55622

    Posted

    Hello again,

    So it’s now been three weeks since my last post. While my cough has improved, it still hasn’t disappeared. I get a very tickly throat with a dry (although occasionally slightly productive) cough that can be wheezy, especially at night and when I wake up in the morning. It’s not so bad during the day.

    I’ve had an x ray, which came back normal and yesterday I did a spirometry, which was also normal. I had a CT scan done on my lungs three years ago, which was also normal.

    I’m not sure what to do now, does anyone have any ideas? Should I go back to my GP and push for another CT scan? Or is it possible that anxiety has prolonged my recovery from simple bronchitis?

    • aitarg35939
      aitarg35939 matthew55622

      Posted

      It's always possible that you've entered tge realm of chronic bronchitis and, yes, anxiety prolongs illness. Are you treating your cough with anything?

  • matthew55622
    matthew55622

    Posted

    Can it be chronic bronchitis if my spirometry was normal though?
  • matthew55622
    matthew55622

    Posted

    Nothing. My GP said that post-viral coughs can take up to 8 weeks to clear. And the nurse that did the spirometry said the results were totally normal. I didn't see the numbers properly, but they were 90, 93 and 79 (for the one that has to be 70 or higher).

    So I'm kind of at a loose end here. But you're saying I could still have COPD?

    • aitarg35939
      aitarg35939 matthew55622

      Posted

      Just because lungs are perfect or like yours pretty good doesn't mean you can't help them along. Get some good cough drops. Use a mucolytic. Drink some lung tea. There's a lot you can do to soothe your cough.

  • matthew55622
    matthew55622

    Posted

    Right, OK. Thanks.

    I did wonder if it was something to do with my sinuses actually. I have had a bit of a stuffy nose and occasionally bit of ache around the front of my face.

    • aitarg35939
      aitarg35939 matthew55622

      Posted

      Tons of good things you can so for your sinuses, too, RX, OTC, natural. Sinus issues can progress into the lungs so just like the cough, wht woyks anyone leave them untreated?
  • Guest
    Guest matthew55622

    Posted

    I had spirometer test at docs and said was on borderline with asthma symptom persisted so got sent to hospital for tests told me had emphysema and I told them about docs tests and was told there not very accurate that was 10 years ago unless there been updated still get docs test and there telling me 98% lungs function so am not sure yet hay fever tablets out chemist first good luck.
  • matthew55622
    matthew55622

    Posted

    Well, I did ask the nurse what the next steps were and she seemed nonplussed. Just said that I should tackle the anxiety and try a nasal spray. But essentially said there was nothing she could do because my results were not at all indicative of COPD. She didn't advise my using an inhaler either, because the results didn't indicate any asthma.

    When I saw the GP, she just told me that the spirometry would yield more insight, so I'm just a bit unsure as to whether to arrange another GP appointment and push for more action (is it a good thing to have another CT scan in such a short space of time? I'm aware that the amount of radiation involved isn't a good thing) or just leave it be. But it is a strange sort of cough that seems to come and go (as I say, I can go a whole day without coughing and then wake up in the morning with a wheeze that disappears within an hour).

    Could it just be a case of post-nasal drip or sinus congestion? I'm just getting a bit frustrated with everything at the moment. sad

    • aitarg35939
      aitarg35939 matthew55622

      Posted

      If I didn't know better, I'd say that you WANT to be sick. The nurse was nonplussed because she was biting her tongue to keep from saying just that, and to ask if you've never heard of cough drops, sinus treatments, millions of respiratory-beneficial teas. Every cough is weird and idiosyncratic: I don't cough in the morning and i've got 2 serious lung diseases. Some people only cough when they lie down. And as I and several others have mentioned this to you before, I am done. I think you either want to be sick or you like poking at us. Have a nice life.

  • Guest
    Guest matthew55622

    Posted

    Try nasal spray or hay fever tablets coz the tablets can cure ur nasal if it persists ask 4 a spirometer test at hospital there more accurate than docs.
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