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OP: I wonder if you might have developed bronchitis, with all the coughing and chest congestion which are still causing you so much discomfort. Please, please, call the doctor. If what you cough up is greenish or brownish, call right now. Bronchitis can be very serious and can precede pneumonia.
Is the pain from coughing from the sore throat or does it feel as if you've strained your chest muscles? If it's the first, try an analgesic OTC throat spray for short-term relief. Sucking on ice cubes may also help. If it's the latter, you may have pleurisy or may have even cracked a rib - or it might just be sore muscles. Holding a pillow to hour chest while you cough can help brace you against the painful "jarring" sensation. Ibuprofen can ease muscle soreness, too, as can a hot shower, but time is required to heal muscle strain.
Do you have any fever? If so, again, contact the doctor.
Don't count on running or jogging until you're completely over this thing. Walking should be okay, but avoid being outside in cold temperatures for very long. Bundle up when you do go outside, as you may find that you feel the cold more as you convalesce than you do when you are completely well.
I am feeling a lot better today. However, there is some lingering cough. It looks like dry cough. I have a slight pain on my body at the end of the chest near my right arm pit. Could it be from coughing? Would ibuprofen work?
I am feeling a lot better today. However, there is some lingering cough. It looks like dry cough. I have a slight pain on my body at the end of the chest near my right arm pit. Could it be from coughing? Would ibuprofen work?
I am feeling a lot better today. However, there is some lingering cough. It looks like dry cough. I have a slight pain on my body at the end of the chest near my right arm pit. Could it be from coughing? Would ibuprofen work?
You may have pulled a muscle or cracked a rib. Rest, and yes, do take ibuprofen. Use pillows to prop up if lying down increases your pain, and also clutch a pillow to your chest when you cough to brace those strained muscles.
You've really been through the mill with this one - glad you're finally on the mend.
Is there any over the counter medicine for Bronchitis? I don't know if that's what I have but the chest congestion won't go away. I am coughing out brownish but only rarely.
Sorry, just now returning to this thread. You really should have seen a doctor - glad to read in a later post that you're doing better now, but it would still be a good idea to get yourself checked out. You don't want to relapse.
Bronchitis involves infection, for which an antibiotic is the best treatment. OTC drugs can treat symptoms, but not the underlying problem. If your immune system is in good shape, you may be able to shake off the infection with rest, lots of fluids, and OTC drugs to allow you to sleep, but since you were already weakened by flu, the right antibiotic would have shortened your illness, and you would have felt better sooner and been able to return to your usual routines more rapidly.
The Z-Pack prescribed for me four days into the flu, when the secondary respiratory infection became evident, was what allowed me to return to usual activities within four more days. I was no longer infectious by then thanks to the antibiotic, perhaps another consideration. If you have bronchitis and are infectious, you can spread it to others.
Keep this in mind next time. Of course, I hope there won't be a "next time", but realistically, you'll be sick again sometime or another. Seeing a doctor promptly can prevent complications later.
I can't afford that. I am only looking for compassion at this point
Most doctors will work with you - and actually, you are legally required to have health insurance, if you are a US citizen and are presently in the United States. Call your local health department and explain your situation, if this sort of thing happens again, and see what they tell you. Most community's health departments are low-cost, or even no-cost, with fees tied to patients' incomes.
Edited to add that I just read some of your other posts - it seems that you enjoy nice restaurants, bookstores, and are dreaming of having an air-conditioned garage in Houston.
You can afford these things, yet cannot pay for one single doctor visit?? I think your priorities are skewed.
Go to the doctor and quit stalling is what I would have told you, had I read this post sooner! You'e lost more money and time by procrastinating, missing work, endangering your health, endangering others, etc. The common sense solution is to seek appropriate, professional care for serious illness, not just make inquiries here.
Posters to this thread may feel compassion for you - but I expect they're not feeling very much patience anymore.
Sorry, just now returning to this thread. You really should have seen a doctor - glad to read in a later post that you're doing better now, but it would still be a good idea to get yourself checked out. You don't want to relapse.
Bronchitis involves infection, for which an antibiotic is the best treatment. OTC drugs can treat symptoms, but not the underlying problem. If your immune system is in good shape, you may be able to shake off the infection with rest, lots of fluids, and OTC drugs to allow you to sleep, but since you were already weakened by flu, the right antibiotic would have shortened your illness, and you would have felt better sooner and been able to return to your usual routines more rapidly.
The Z-Pack prescribed for me four days into the flu, when the secondary respiratory infection became evident, was what allowed me to return to usual activities within four more days. I was no longer infectious by then thanks to the antibiotic, perhaps another consideration. If you have bronchitis and are infectious, you can spread it to others.
Keep this in mind next time. Of course, I hope there won't be a "next time", but realistically, you'll be sick again sometime or another. Seeing a doctor promptly can prevent complications later.
Bronchitis isn't always a bacterial infection that responds to antibiotics. I suffered from chronic asthmatic bronchitis for around 20 years. It was a viral infection that would flare up mostly in the winter. It finally went away by itself. Being a smoker for most of that 20-year period definitely made it worse, but I started experiencing the flareups before I ever started smoking and it went away by itself before I quit.
Bronchitis isn't always a bacterial infection that responds to antibiotics. I suffered from chronic asthmatic bronchitis for around 20 years. It was a viral infection that would flare up mostly in the winter. It finally went away by itself. Being a smoker for most of that 20-year period definitely made it worse, but I started experiencing the flareups before I ever started smoking and it went away by itself before I quit.
This is informative, but it's not relevant to what the OP described. He had flu, tried to treat it with OTC meds, repeatedly refused to see a doctor despite multiple other posters urging him to do so, and developed what surely sounded like a secondary infection that could have been bronchitis. As he refused to see a doctor, no one here can be sure of the diagnosis of either flu or bronchitis, just that his symptoms indicated that these were both very likely.
The OP did not mention being a smoker and sounded as if he was rather young, so I doubt if he smoked for 20 years.
I hope he's better - and note that he is no longer a member. Perhaps his skewed economic priorities - valuing fine living over ordinary professional health care, then spinning out this thread, which led to lots of initially sympathetic other posters urging him to see a doctor (to no avail) - led to that decision.
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