Name this respiratory illness... (xray, infect, blood pressure, surgery)
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I'm not having trouble breathing... It's just weird noises deep in my chest at times.
And a mask (unless it's a professionally fitted N95) doesn't block viral particles.
I'm actually getting better every day, albeit slowly. Just wondered about the noises!
Also, where did RSV come from all of a sudden? I never heard of it until this year, and now there's even a vaccine for it (which normally takes years). Is this yet another thing unleashed from a lab?
Same! It's like I was drowning in secretions, LOL. I've used up two toilet paper rolls soaking it up. Where does it all come from? But that and the weird bronchial noises are my only two remaining symptoms now.
I don't go to doctors for viral infections because a) I don't want to transmit it to others, b) I don't want to contract something else there, c) they'll surely inappropriately order up an antibiotic because they invariably do because most patients demand it (ineffective against viruses and dangerously overprescribed), and d) winter bugs always eventually run their course and go away, so it's basically a wasted visit, especially if in a pricey ER.
I think we forget that there are many viruses besides Covid. The chest noise is a new one on me, however!
Another worry is that I think I may have caught it from a homeless man in the library who was coughing his lungs out; it does make me think of community-acquired pneumonia and wonder if an x-ray is indicated.
Can you have pneumonia and not feel sick?
I know that I when I had pneumonia I went to the doctor because I just didn't have any energy but I wasn't coughing and he said "If you're not coughing now, you will be by this evening, because you have pneumonia," and he was right.
I posted somewhere else on here about something I came down with October 13 that was still hanging around a couple of months later....not sure I am completely over it yet. Covid test was negative. Started off like a nasty head cold, migrated down to my lungs after a week, which started with a wheezing sound way down in my lungs. After a week of coughing up nasty (but clear) gunk, it gradually went away....but was weeks before I had no congestion at all...mostly seemed like having to constantly clear my throat. I am like you...unless I am at death's door, I avoid going to the doc or urgent care...seems like it's always a virus which you just need to ride out anyway, and you're in a small room with a bunch of hacking/coughing sick people, and likely to catch whatever nasty bug they've got in addition to what you have now! Hope you follow a similar trajectory to mine and begin to get better soon!
It started 10 days ago with an URI. Sore throat, sniffles, low-grade fever - the usual - but also chest pain I thought might be a heart attack. That lasted a couple of days off and on, then went away. Fever resolved, other symptoms are gone, but now I have both wheezing and rhonchi (rattling) in the lower bronchial tract I can hear especially when lying down at night. Every now and then I cough up some mucous (clear), but it seems lower than that and well entrenched. I've been patiently waiting for this to resolve, but it hasn't yet.
My doctor's office, which used to take walk-ins and work in same-day visits, is now under new management and never has an opening unless you book six months in advance. They simply tell you to go to the ER, which I certainly don't want to. I basically never go to the doctor, and I always eventually get over whatever it is. I think it is the bronchial tubes swell making it hard for the mucus to clear. I relate it to someone who has a stuffed up nose only it is in your bronchial tubes.
What does this sound like, how serious could it be, and what should I do?
Go to a walk in clinic not emergency room. Make sure your lungs are clear but every time I get something be it a cold or covid I have that rattling and wheezing and coughing up mucus for about a month but my lungs have always been clear. Try sleeping on your left side. Also take a decongestive medication like Sudafed and I love Fisherman's Friend cough drops. If you can't find it locally you can get it on Amazon. I will tell you these drops clear out your sinus'. I often take one after meals as well because for some reason I have what seems like but is not acid reflux.
With my flu shot this year (I am over 65) I got the RSV shot as well hoping that this will keep me from getting that cough again.
You can also try breathing exercises to clear it by breathing deep hold then cough it hard out.
I know that I when I had pneumonia I went to the doctor because I just didn't have any energy but I wasn't coughing and he said "If you're not coughing now, you will be by this evening, because you have pneumonia," and he was right.
I think you should go to the doctor.
That's similar with COVID and why they were finding people dead who didn't realize they couldn't breathe. They didn't FEEL like they couldn't breathe, but the oxygen wasn't getting through the lungs and into the bloodstream.
When my sister had COVID in 2021, it started as a sort of cold, then after a week morphed into diarrhea, then she felt very weak. The weakness is what made her call her doc and ask at what point she should go to a hospital. He said get an oximeter, and if your oxygen is less than 90, go to the hospital. Hers was 74. But she didn't feel as if she couldn't breathe.
The last thing she remembered was getting out of her husband's truck and walking into the ER. She woke up in a different hospital seven weeks later.
The second time she had COVID was a runny nose and a headache, and it never got worse than that. She just worked from home that week.
There used to be a thing they called walking pneumonia when you don't know you have pneumonia. Don't know if it has a different name now.
I only heard of RSV this past month, I think.
Going to a doc is probably a good idea for the OP, but I don't go, either, unless it becomes something I absolutely cannot ignore, so I am in no position to preach.
RSV has been around since the 50's. I was familiar with the virus in relationship to babies and young children. But a vaccine for it didn't come out until May of 2023. I'm guessing THAT'S why we all hear about it more now. Gotta get your vaccines!
You should know better than to expect this forum to diagnose you OP!
What's in a name anyway? Will the right name cure you or make you feel better? I think we also forget that there could be more than one process going on. You may have started out with one virus but developed a secondary bacterial infection during that process. So, at this point which is the main player that needs to be addressed? Some diagnostic testing that you can't do yourself might tease that apart and steer treatment in a different direction.
As for when to break down and see a doctor about some routine ailment, the criteria I use is when all the self care I would normally resort to isn't effective.
Last edited by Parnassia; 01-11-2024 at 04:00 PM..
...As for when to break down and see a doctor about some routine ailment, the criteria I use is when all the self care I would normally resort to isn't effective...
Excellent answer...One goes to the doc when sick in a way they haven't experienced before, when it's getting worse &/or lasting an unusually long time.
Re: RSV vax-- They came up with a cure, now they need a disease for it to go with. Gotta re-coup those research expenses. and causing fear among the naive is the easy way.... Most every kid gets RSV (usually passed off as a common cold) by the time they're 6 and survive, then we remain immune for a lifetime...If they didn't survive, they had an inadequate immune system and were doomed anyway. If it wasn't the RSV, it would have been some other common infection.
RSV has been around since the 50's. I was familiar with the virus in relationship to babies and young children. But a vaccine for it didn't come out until May of 2023. I'm guessing THAT'S why we all hear about it more now. Gotta get your vaccines!
I have to admit that I also never heard of RSV until recently. We never had pediatricians or other parents mention that term.
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You should know better than to expect this forum to diagnose you OP! 
