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Viral infection to the lungs and brain?

Posted , 4 users are following.

swckv
swckv

After my mistake (HIV scare) I have all these symptoms: heart wall pain, chest wall pain, radiating pain to the whole body, and headache, and cough and sputum.  I X-rayed 6 times in 6 months and doctors can not see what is wrong with me. Do I have a virus going inside my body? A viral infection? If I did sputum culture test and it keep failing, is there another test I can do to find out if I have infections?

0 likes, 28 replies

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  • Vee2
    Vee2 swckv

    Posted

    I guess it would depend if you have an existing diagnosis of a lung condition or not. 

    If you think you have copd, or wanted to eliminate that possibility, you could ask your doctor for;

    - a spirometry test

    - repeat sputum test (if you can provide a sample)

    - ask the doc to listen to you lungs (infections in the lung can be heard through a stethescope)

    People with copd can of course get viral infections, cough, get chest pain, lung infections and anxiety but so can people who don't have copd.

    Your symptoms don't shout out copd I wonder what makes you think it is copd?

    Are you smoking? have others in the family with a genetic lung disorder, if so worth checking for COPD otherwise, I would be advised by what you doctor says, he has your medical history and the results of any tests or xrays.

    You could also ask for a cardiac check.

    I guess your symptoms could be the result of a viral infection for which your doc would prescribe the appropriate medication.

    • swckv
      swckv Vee2

      Posted

      The xrays keeps telling me that my lungs are clear.  Echo comes out ok too. Any other test that can dectect lung infection? MRI?
    • Vee2
      Vee2 swckv

      Posted

      So do you not accept that your lungs are clear?  If this is the case you need to go get a 2nd opinion wotj another medical professional.

      If you think you have a lung infection:-

      - repeat sputum test (if you can provide a sample)

      - ask the doc to listen to your lungs (infections in the lung can be heard through a stethescope)

      People with a lung infection don't need a CT scan or MRI scan to confirm it.

       

    • swckv
      swckv Vee2

      Posted

      Yeah, the lab keeps saying my ssample are contamination, so I might require a bronchoscope to see the inside of the airways and lung. Bronchoscocopy could work?

    • jude65855
      jude65855 swckv

      Posted

      You don't need an MRI to diagnose a lung infection and you've had x-rays which say your lungs are clear.   I don't understand what this contamination of your sputum samples is about:  sorry, but it just doesn't make any sense to me.   

      I would think the x-rays were not to check for infection, because there are much easier & quicker ways to do that (ie an ordinary gp or practice nurse with an old fashioned stethoscope), but to check for anything else which could be causing the problems you are having.

      Maybe you need to accept what you're being told:  that you have no lung infection.   There must be a way of providing an uncontaminated sputum sample:  if you're being told all previous samples were contaminated you need to ask how, with what, and by whom ....

    • swckv
      swckv jude65855

      Posted

      Contamination told by nurse many times with spit. I am still coughing for months and muscle pains, chest pain. If bronchoscope can do it I will.

    • jude65855
      jude65855 swckv

      Posted

      So you can't have spit in a sputum sample???? I've never heard of that before.
    • jude65855
      jude65855 swckv

      Posted

      That sounds worth a try given that you have no definite answers from anything else that's been tried
    • swckv
      swckv jude65855

      Posted

      Yeah I know. I will give bronscoy a try.
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