View Full Version : Chest Infection and bloody sputum
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
Just as a side note I had had a blocked up nose which is now starting to shift however the mucus in my nose is clear. I a couple of days ago I did have a couple of bits of blood in my nose secretions but I dont think there was enough to warant post-nasal drip
My only advice if you are still concerned is to go back to your doctor. Maybe (if you can) you should take a sample of what you cough up with you in a pot. Sounds horrid I know but at least your doctors could see what you are talking about and they are used to looking at 'things' like this so he/she wont mind.
You can get little sterile pots with lids from the chemist/doctors or failing that just put it in anything.
I'm supprised they didn't ask you for a sample but then again they are obviously not concerned so that's probably why.
ladybird64
04-01-11, 12:02
I'll try and alleviate that panic a bit Mark :)
I'm sure you know how many horrible virus type thingies are around at the moment, they really are nasty and are causing all types of chest problems.
A couple examples which I hope will help.
I'm asthmatic got the virus about three weeks ago and got a chest infection because of it. I am a lot better than I was but am still nowhere near properly better despite a course of antibiotics, increased dosage of corticosteroids, paracetamol..you name it, I have thrown everything at the damn thing and it still won't go!
My cough is still there, the asthma is still irritated because of the cough and I have a permananent headache and sore ribss form coughing.
My son also has the same thing (he's asthmatic too) but he, like yourself, is coughing up blood and has been for nearly 3 weeks.
It is because of the strain the cough puts on the throat and chest that the wee blood vessels burst and although it looks terrifying it is harmless.
You haver had your Peak Flow done (that lung function blow into the meter test) and that was fine..be reassured that its a good indicator of how your lungs are working.
You may need another course of antibiotics but I have a feeling that this may need to run it's course unfortunately.
Try and reassure yourself that there are an awful lot of us out there feeling just the same with the same symptoms but hopefully your GP will be able to put your mind at rest.
Oh nearly forgot..:welcome: to NMP.
Thankyou both for your replies, I have rebooked at the docs and so will see how it goes on Thursday morning. I have never coughed up blood before so naturally it alarmed me, especially when googling "blood in phlegm" as it returns some worrying results.
Ladybird just out of interest, how old is your son and has he ever coughed up blood before? Just googling that Peak Flow meter you mentioned, I think I blew between 650 - 700, it certainly went almost to the top of the scale.
Just a bit more information, the cough actually subsides at night and doesnt usually cause me any problems when im in bed. I cough a couple of times but im not kept awake in coughing fits or anything like that. The night sweats have been waking me up 3 - 4 hours after getting into bed, even after taking paracetamol just before I go to sleep. I wake up very sweaty and feel cold as a result. Theres nothing worse than waking up soaking wet when you feel ill!
ladybird64
04-01-11, 18:23
Hi again Mark
He is 25 yrs old and generally well, I don't remember him coughing up blood before but I'm not absolutely sure.
I will ask him but he became a dad again yesterday morning so he is a bit preoccupied at the moment! :D
Thanks Ladybird, at least he's the same kind of age as me so thats a good point of reference. Just as an update on this mornings results, more coughing this morning produced some more yellow phlegm and with 2 coughs producing a small amount of blood, the first being yellow phlegm with a small reddish orange part and the second being yellow mucus with a small dark red blood globdule.
rubynoodles
05-01-11, 14:24
Hi there
Looks like my family have the same nasty bug too.
Had ours for 4 weeks (the kids have fought it off quickly) but i've been on amoxycillin and that hasnt touched it (being a virus I dont know why gp prescribed them really).
My husband is a violent 'cougher' too and he coughed up blood as well, he has had his a bit longer than mine and is starting to feel better. I thought mine was going yesterday but last night I too had the night sweats (as did my hubby last week) and today I feel horrible again.
My dad (who kindly gave it to us all!) has been unwell for nearly 5 weeks he went to gp yesterday but they said they could'nt do anything for him and he will just have to let his body fight it out-happy days!!
Roll on summer:)
Hi Ruby,
Thanks for sharing, its always good to find other people with the same problems as it means we're all in this together! How long has he been producing blood and is it only in the mornings, how long as he had his illness? I had more nightsweats last night but not as bad as 2 days ago.
I have just got back from the docs again and I have a chest x-ray booked in for this afternoon just to rule out anything else that might be causing the blood. He was happy with my lung sounds, I blew 700 on the peak flow which is the maximum on the scale her had, he said if it went further he's sure it would have kept on going. He also checked my blood pressure which is apparently spot on as well.
I have been prescribed another 7 days worth of antibiotics, not sure which but I think they begin with a C. 2 to be taken twice a day for a week
The doc didnt seem worried about it and said I would be extremely unlucky if I had lung cancer at my age and with those results. He said I had more chance of winning the lottery than getting lung cancer at my age, which I think its probaby an over-exaggeration a little it!!??
I have my own theory as to why theres only blood in the mornings. Seeing as in the waking hours im constantly drinking water, swallowing and eating, the blood doesnt have a chance to accumulate however at night, these functions are greatly reduced/stopped and so any rips/tears in my throat will have time to accumulate, thus producing bloody results in the morning.
Will keep you all posted
One thing I did notice last night, my chest is still quite congested and I am coughing up pale yellow mucus in the mornings. Last night when lieing down, I took a couple of deep breaths and towards the end of the breath it felt and sounded like something popped open in my chest, like the air had got halfway down the lung and then the pressure had pushed it further in almost.
Chest x-ray done however I wont get the results for a week >:-( however first day of no blood yippee
Second day of no blood in the mucus, however i still seem to be coughing quite a bit but it's more White/clear as opposed to yellow and I'm still a bit wheezy, sweat easily etc
yvonne_uk_98
08-01-11, 14:52
sorry to hear you have chest infection, hope your chest infection clears, and hope no more blood in your mucus. I will keep you in my prayers, thinking of you. :hugs:
Thankyou for all responses so far. Again yesterday no blood however this moring I had a tiny speck about half the size of a pin head, it looked more like a little red hair than an actual blood globdule though? However I do have some symptoms that dont seem to want to shift however I am suffering from massive anxiety at the moment from worrying about my x-ray results that are supposed to be coming in on Thursday. I still have the following;
Pale complexion
Cough thats productive in the mornings, pale yellow/white mucus
Loss of appetite
Night sweats
Strange lung gurgling sesnation in right lung sometimes
Insomnia - sleep 4 hours then get woekn up by sweating, then my brain kicks in and I cant get back to sleep
Im still on Clarithymim antiobiotics (or whatever its called without checking!) however I dont know how well they are doing. im hoping its just a nasty virus and my body is having a hard time coping with it. Today is the third week of having these symptoms, I was otherwise fine before! :-(
ladybird64
10-01-11, 11:27
Hi.
I have had Clarithromycin and although it helped to clear the infection I had got as a result of this godawful virus I am still not back to full health yet.
I know it's awful but I think you have to try and accept that all this is caused by this bug Mark, we all have similar symptoms such as sweating and the cough that refuses to go away.
Pale complexion etc is nothing more than what is to be expected considering that you have been coughing your guts up for weeks, I'm exactly the same.!
Rather than looking for and listing symptoms that you think might point to lung cancer, have a look at all the posts on these viruses that are going around this winter and you can see that all the symptoms you list can be caused by the viruses.
Take care :flowers:
On the one hand I kinda know deep down that its probably nothing, however it does fuel the fire when people mention that "I still dont look right" or " you're still coughing etc". My girlfirend is pulling her hair out trying to reassure me, its like nothing will work until x-ray result day which cant come soon enough :(
I was coughing up blood over the christmas period, my Gp sent me to An E - I sh&t myslef, they did bloods, chest xray. After many hours the doc came back and said it was just a chest infection that cause be to reupture a blood vessel and when I stop coughing the vessel would heal itself. I was put on amoxicillin 500mg 3 day for 7 days, but I still had a bit of a cough after I'd finished them, I was planning to go back to the Gps but since my cough has gone and so has the blood.
MY problems was I don't know if it was the antibiotics of the anxiety or the stress of the hosipital etc (im also waiting to go into hospital for a biopsy on a lump i found) but I started to get anxiety creeping back. I manged to get a grip of it again now and each day feel myself getting back to 'normal'
Thanks panic, that sounds a lot like my situation. I was literally coughing my guts up in the first week and the second week started showing signs of blood. However this second course of antibiotics seems to have curbed the coughing, not completely I am still coughing more than normal but definately not as much as I was. The blood has stopped for me too all bar a tiny speck (I examine ever cough at the mo!). How long did yours last may I ask? I have had to wait a whole week to get my xray results, I should have just gone to A&E and got it all over with in one go I think.
I think the pani and anxiety is making me much worse than I really am, its just the waiting game that I hate. I can feel the pressure building the closer I get to Thursday. Arrgh!
I had my cough for about 10 days before I went to A n E and roughly 10/11 days after taking the antibiotics although the course was only for 7 days. I got the xrays done there n then at A n E, prob took about 4 hours in tho.
Strange thing for me was that my anxiety got worse as my cough got better ????? I thought it was the antibiotics doing it , but I guess it could have been an after event from all the stress or my biopsy was getting getting closer although I didn't think I was worried about it that much - really not sure.
Wow so you had your couh for around 3 weeks same as me? I am on my 21t day and still sound quite congested, its doing my head in!
Good luck with the biopsy, im sure it will be nothing but better to get checked out :-)
Chest x-ray results came through this evening, they are all clear! Turns out that it is just flu/nasty virus and not anything more sinister. Hopefully it should start easing up over the next few days now the anxiety has been alleviated a little
Chest x-ray results came through this evening, they are all clear! Turns out that it is just flu/nasty virus and not anything more sinister. Hopefully it should start easing up over the next few days now the anxiety has been alleviated a little
Gr8 news :yesyes::yesyes:
yvonne_uk_98
10-01-11, 22:09
wonderful news. :yesyes:
scaredstiff695
10-01-11, 23:02
great news you can relax a little now.
ive had a bad cough since day after boxing dday and flu symptoms allthough ts my cough thast causes my anxoiety and the lack pof sleep xx hope you all feel better soon roll on summer lol
Thanks peeps, i'm feeling a lot better now. The true test will be whether I can sleep through the night without waking up in a cold sweat!
Its truly crazy what a nasty virus and anxiety can do to someone. Its like the symptoms you are trying to avoid just manifest through anxiety and make you feel even worse!
Much better sleep last night, I woke up at around 6am ever so slightly sweaty but nothing like I have been so hopefully tonight should be a sleep all the way through. 2 more days left of the antibiotics, what a nasty virus!
keith_1983
14-01-11, 12:31
Hi,
I'm 27 too, mine started on christmas day, I woke up fine, by mid afternoon I was coughing up thick mucus, it came on heavy within hours!
I also have Neutropenia, so I've been very worried as my immune system is knackered already.
Had the blood, the night sweats, everything you described. Seen quite a few docs over the christmas holidays and eventually got some antibiotics but they were only 200mg which i was told my a med student that that is the dose for children not a 27yr old man, so it didn't clear it, it only helped to alleviate it a bit!
I've been back to the docs and was told the chest infection is virtually gone now after 18 days (or so) but when i breath in deeply, I can hear some weird noises, a squeak or a bubbly noise - sounds like there's still some phlegm lodged in my right lung and my right lung really hurts (think its muscular maybe even cracked a rib - not the first time).
Now there is tiny amount of darkish phlegm still coming out intermittently, couple of times per day as if its a few weeks old and only just loosened up. Anybody else had this 'late phlegm'??
Cheers!
Keith
Hi Keith,
Looks like we both went down with the same thing, theres nothing more frightening than coughing up blood though (for me anyway!!). My chest felt a lot better from about 12th onwards up until last Wednesday where I seem to be having a bit of a re-occurence.
I have had quite bad nasal congestion end of last week to the point that in the morning, I was able to sniff down some snot (sounds awful I know) and spit it out in the sink and it came out dark brown with streaks of blood, I presume from constantly blowing my nose. It was definately from my nose this time.
My cough seems to have returned however no way near to the extent that it was over Christmas, however I am coughing up pale green mucus in the mornings and I feel a constant need to clear my throat at the moment. Im hoping its post nasal drip however can PND get all the way into the lungs at night or is the pale green gunk im coughing up in the morning coming from my lungs again?
Now im kinda worried ive got COPD, argh!
PS. sleeping is back to normal and no more night sweats either. Apart from the cough/throat issue I feel fine, I just dont like having to spit phlegm every morning.
Im currently in training for the 2012 marathon which none of these ailments are affecting me to stop me from doing that, I am currently losing weight through a controlled and balanced diet along with exercise 3 - 5 a week.
P.P.S weight is 15,5 and not 17 which I thought I was at a guess!
Greenman50
31-01-11, 15:18
you sound like your getting there :) i cough up mucous from my lungs / throat still after a virus in october , unless its another slight chest infection , just clear stuff .
only about two or three times in the morning for some reason but no cough .
Symptoms at the moment:
Constant feel like need to clear throat throughout the day
Pale yellow/pale green mucus in mornings
Feel like a slight need to cough with every inhale in the evenings more than in the day,
Went swimming tonight and did 80 lengths (1.6km) , lungs feel good in terms breathing under exertion and I didnt cough for a while after exercising.
Arrgghh!!!
Anxious_gal
01-02-11, 03:45
Well done on going to the pool x
hows your breathing? It scares me when I can feel the stuff in my chest :(
Breathing seems fine however im coughing a lot again, especially at night which is dry!
As I thought, this morning I had very small spots of blood again in my phlegm. It was kinda browny and not bright red but was blood nonetheless. I think a trip back to the octors may be on the cards if this carries on much further this week :(
Hey guys just thought i'd give you an update on this. The blood stopped after a week or so and really was just down to a bad infection. Where I had coughed so much I had caused some trauma to my throat which was causing the small amounts of blood. Lungs are all fine and working perfectly now
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