Morning all,
First time poster here however I have seen this forum come up numerous times from google searches so thought I would start my own post as I currently have a health worry. Even though I probably dont look after myself as well as I should, whenever I am ill I obssessively worry about myself and go for the worst case scenario from the get go so hopefully you can offer some alleviation to my worry as I know its only making me worse. My stats are as follows:
Male
27 years old
circa 17stone (ive always been on the large side!)
Tend to drink in moderation but have a binge every 3 weeks or so, maybe more when I was younger and discovering alcohol
Smoked cannabis since I was 18 however I have had 3 years off in between give or take so I would say around 6 years of smoking circa 3 mixed joints a week (cannabis + half cigarette with no filter) as a rough guess - this has now stopped, 2 weeks and counting! I was a social smoker so never really smoked on my own but would smoke with mates and have a session, we would smoke bteween 1 - 6 normally between the 3+ of us and would always share, toke and pass etc.
My general health I think is quite good as I never really get ill very often, I cant even remember the last time I got a cold or flu apart from this time which I think is why I worry a lot when I do get ill because im just not used to it. So here goes....
Monday 20th December I came to work with a dry cough that didnt produce any mucus, I coughed and coughed and just thoughyt I was coming down with a common cold/lurgy as a lot of other people in the office were doing the same.
By Tuesday I had flu like symptoms, fever, sweating at night, loss of appetite and general lethargicness and muscle pains so took the day off work. These symptoms persisted for 5 days over Christmas (of which I think I then gave it to my brother and girlfriend). The cough was still at large and worse than ever, we had friends and family over and I ended up coughing after completeling every sentence. Just for the record I am quite a violent cougher and prefer to expel any nasties sooner rather than later if I can so cough quite hard, often to the point where my lungs are wrenching and I feel like im going to vomit. Its stupid but feels like thats the only way to get the deeper stuff out.... :s
On Monday 27th December I woke up and coughed up some yellow mucus followed by 3 or 4 spits of foamy rusty/brown/reddy phlegm. I was naturally quite panicked by this however because there were bank holidays left right and center I couldnt actually get an appointment at the doctors until Thursday. The bloody phlegm continued through to the day of the doctors, however never quite as much as the first occurence on the Monday and would only ever happen in the mornings when I cleared my lungs out, the rest of the day I would cough but it would be clear.
By this time sat in the doctors waiting room I had convinced myself that I had lung cancer as bloody sputum is never a good sign. The doctor listened to my lungs 8 times, top bottom, left right, back front and she said my lungs sound quite good. She checked my throat with a wooden stick (say aaaah) and asked me to blow into a lung elasticity device, which I blew into and she said she was impressed at my lung capacity (I always thought I had good lungs, being able to swim 20 - 25 metres underwater in one breath etc), she also checked my temperature and I was 36.8
The doctor suspecected I had ruptured a blood ressel in my chest from coughing too violently and coughing more than I needed to, which I kinda understand. She prescribed me 7 days worth of Amoxycillin, 3 to be taken each day. The friday after the docs, I made the effort to cough less and only when needed and there was less blood in my phlegm, by Saturday, there was only a very small amount (2 spots about 2mm in size from 2 coughs).
However my cough seems to be getting worse again and has meant I have started coughing more again, the blood is coming back again in larger quantities but no way near as much as the itianl couple of days occurance. The blood is a combination of small bright red globdules and streaks however the yellow mucus seems to sit seperately to the blood when in the pan
As of today, it is now 15 days since the cough started, my appetite still hasnt come back due to anxiety and I have started getting night sweats again over the past 2 days and generally feeling a lack of energy. I do not have a shortness of breath but tend to cough after talking and do not have any pains that get worse after inhaling or exhaling but I do have a pain in my lower right back, its just a dull ache halfway up my right lung (non heart side)
I am on day 6 of the Amoxycillin and cant see it going away by the last day tomorrow. I have booked another appointment with my GP on Thursday morning 6th Jan at 8:50 to find out whats next.
I am losing my mind with worry which is causing me to not eat which is making me lose weight, as well as feeling tired due to waking up in the night with night sweats and worry.
Can anyone offer any advice that might alleviate my panic?
Any help would be most appreciated
Mark
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