Shortness of breath- scared and alone

[Alice1]

Hello lovely people, I'm alone in my house and just need some people who understand to talk to and give me some advice.

I had some sort of 24 hour flu last wednesday- lots of sweating and aches and tiredness and fever. By Thursday I could move around again and by Sunday felt fine apart from a productive cough.

Went to Barcelona on Monday and got back today. The last two days my cough has stopped being productive and the past few hours I have felt a bit out of breath and am panicking about it.
I felt quite lonely earlier so ate some ice cream to cheer myself up earlier then lay down to have a nap and kept waking up out of breath and feeling very mucusy. I know dairy promotes mucus production so this excess mucus saliva could be a by product of that combined with acid reflux i guess?

I'm having some tea after coughing a lot, to the point of feeling sick, about 20 minutes ago, and feel a little less panicky now I feel slightly less short of breath.

But I'm still alone and worried that i have pneumonia or something and I'm gonna die. I have a peak flow meter from ages ago and tested myself just to check my air flow and its 600 which is brilliant i think, as it normally is. Exerting myself, like walking, i feel more out of breath than normal but apart from that and the cough i feel ok.

I don't want to go to the walk in centre unnecessarily so am just looking for some reassurance basically. Should i just try and keep calm and wait it out, does this all sound normal and I'm getting better?

Is there anything i can do apart from a hot compress or shower tea and Vicks?

Thank you xxx

[Catherine S]

Sounds like you're still recovering from the virus to me, especially if you woke up from your nap with some mucous still being produced, and this would certainly affect your breathing, and then getting a bit nervous about it would also alter your breathing pattern which then adds to it. The mucus may be sliding down from your sinuses. Try the old remedy of hot water in a bowl with towel over your head to create steam that you can then breathe in, preferably with a dollop of Vic in the water, it might help you to breathe easier. If children have chest infections, doctors usually tell parents to sit with them in a steamy bathroom for the same result.

ISB x