I was talking to a friend about 2 weeks ago who said she and many she knew had been suffering from something like a summer cold. She specifically mentioned how hard it was to breath and that some of her friends had made the "just in case" trip to the ER.

Well of course 3 days later I start getting something and withing 5 days I am waking up at night sitting on the side of the bed gasping for air. It seemed to start getting better then it came back hard on Sat and Sunday. I was too dizzy to drive myself to the ER and did find that sitting up almost immediately allowed me to breath enough to survive.

Well monday I was up early and at my Primary Care guys office before the doors even upened. He ended up saying I had an infection in the bronchials or lungs an was gurgling and weasing like I had pneumonia. He gave me some broad spectrum antibiotics and a "rescue" inhaler. I have to go back in 3 weeks.

Now what I am curious about is that this friend told me "everybody" she knew was getting it but the doctor said no, there had not been a run of people with it as is the usual case when a cold or flu virus is around.

Anybody have anything like this the last month or so? The big distinguishing factor is the extreme trouble breathing. If you had it , you know what I mean.

The antibiotics seem to have broken up the fluid etc in the chest and I periodically cough up exorcism juice. I'm still worried though because after 4 days on the antibiotics , although much improved , I still seem to have cotton in the lower third of my lungs.

So if anybody had this , pleae post and tell me what you did to get rid of it.

Thanks

Not that this will help, but when you combine a number of weather factors we've been encountering this year, the health of the flowering trees (pollen) and the continued overuse of antibiotics and sterilizing hand sanitizers, it could be a 1,2,3 punch.
We had a wet spring, and the resulting mold and mildew that created, combined with an almost never-ending parade of tree pollens, and the possibility that a "summer cold" bug could have mutated/developed into a more aggressive strain, and it could be a very interesting summer for anyone with a weakened/compromised respiratory system.

Hopefully I am wrong, and it is just a fluke occurance, but since we have been seeing numerous times where nature has "struck back", anything is possible.

If you have seen the movie "The Happening" you'll understand the "nature" implication in my train of thought.

2 rounds of antibiotics, a 10 day round of steroids...three different cough medicines....a $185 steroid inhaler.... a $40 albuterol inhaler.

eff me. yea I had it. Dropped $600 in one day on doctors #^&#^&#^&#^& :smash:

taking in cold air from the AC helps me get more air
as does Mucinex pills when i suddenly clog up

at night sometimes using a dab of mentolatum
on the inside of your nostrils....
applied with your little finger helps
as well as rubbing it on your chest helps allot

fighting infection:
you want the time released vitamin C
and plenty of it....

hope ya feel better ...and yes, everything is
over grown like a jungle this year, so much pollen
it's incredible....

I'm not suppose to take it but i added the smallest pseudofed pill to my meds. it works wonders as far as breathing goes but when it wears off you go back to congested again in no time. I am tempted to take the 12 hour ones so i stay decongested but they warn me my bp could go up. Now my bp seldom goes above 110 (high numer) and sometimes it like 95 so i think for a week or two its worth the risk because bp gets to be a secondary issue when you can't breath! :)

2 rounds of antibiotics, a 10 day round of steroids...three different cough medicines....a $185 steroid inhaler.... a $40 albuterol inhaler.

eff me. yea I had it. Dropped $600 in one day on doctors #^&#^&#^&#^& :smash:

Hope things improve for you soon.

Now i'm worried if the antibiotics didn't get it the first time for you, I may have this for a few weeks. :(

do you purify your air.....?

and have you cleaned your AC filters?

I do not purify my air and never have. I have not turned any ac on yet this year.

I agree with Rav on the Mucinex. Works gfreat for me
when congested and I never have had any side effects.

Worth a try SH.

Yes , especially since after a feeling a little better day or two , last night was pure agony again with a terrible sore throat and no position bringing me any relief except ac tually sitting up. What a torture being breath starved all night like that. I am about ready to give up on the inhalers too as they appear not to help open things significantly but I do believe they are what is giving me the sore throat.

I hate to curse myself but it looks like I will survive this. It took the antibiotics almost 8 days to really break through the infection part. I also stopped using the inhaler which apparently my throat didn't like. In place of the inhaler I started using Bendryl and little tiny red Pseudofeds. I also started using the car airco so I could keep all windows closed. Was a total of 20 days of misery!

Anyway , everything points to a severe allergy reaction that then got infected in my Bronchials and or lungs. The inhalers also caused swelling in my throat just below my Adam's apple. Funny part (not so funny, lets use peculiar) is the when things were at their worst , I went for relief from the inhaler which made things worse aty the critical time I most needed relief.

Glad to hear your feelin betta, SH. :btu:

Glad to hear your feelin betta, SH. :btu:

my thoughts exactly...
great minds think alike

Good to hear you're feeling better.

You do know that most doctors are "Medical Practitioners" because the way you describe their profession is to say that they "practice" medicine!
Doesn't that sound like a contradiction? wouldn't you think that after spending 10+ years going to medical school that you would have already had all the "practice" you needed?

That's also why most doctors will prescribe medicine based on symptoms and not causes, so that when you (inevitably) go back with new (side-effect) symptoms, they give you more medicine, and then you get different symptoms and the dance goes on and on and on.......

Take a look at ANY elderly person's medicine cabinet and ask them about what they take and why, and you will get a history of pills to counter side-effects of pills that are to counter other side-effects...etc.
I swear that half the dietary intake of ALL the elderly consists of pills, taken ALL DAY LONG!

So as my public service announcement I will state that whenever a doctor prescribes a medication, ASK ALL THE QUESTIONS YOU CAN!!!!

"I now return you to your regularly scheduled program"