Name this respiratory illness... (sinuses, x-rays, pain, my throat)
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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.
What does this sound like, how serious could it be, and what should I do?
With the wheezing, chest pain, and still being sick after ten days, I would go to Urgent Care. Most Urgent Care facilities have x-ray machines and can do a chest x-ray (verify this with a phone call before you go). Or the ER, often early in the day they aren't as busy, and they will have good diagnostics. You don't want it to turn into bronchitis or pneumonia, so please try to get seen tomorrow. Certainly before the weekend.
Depending on what city you live in, there is also Dispatch Health which is urgent care that comes to your home. They bill insurance and are very good, a friend of mine just got great care from them. They even have a mobile x-ray unit. https://dispatchhealth.com/
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.
What does this sound like, how serious could it be, and what should I do?
We all had something similar...I first got it a day before Thanksgiving...took a covid test...was negative. Hung around a long time...around 6 weeks. I'm thinking RSV or a bad winter cold? May be prudent to see a Doc though to rule out Pneumonia.
I had the worst cold ever in the history of mankind a few weeks ago. It lasted two solid weeks and went from a sore throat and low grade fever to coughing so badly that I actually got sent home from work! I never tested positive for COVID and it didn't feel like the flu to me but I was incredibly tired the entire time. My nose never got stopped up, but it was like it went from my throat down to my bronchial tubes or something. Thank goodness my nose never was involved but still, my HEAD produced so much liquid that I wondered how it was even possible! Clear snot, slobber, watering eyes, weird ear noises, ugh!
I am so sorry you're feeling so badly. Maybe go to a doctor to rule out pneumonia? I had that one time and it was awful. I never felt like I had anything so bad this time, just a bad, bad cold is what it felt like.
...it was like it went from my throat down to my bronchial tubes or something. Thank goodness my nose never was involved but still, my HEAD produced so much liquid that I wondered how it was even possible! Clear snot, slobber, watering eyes, weird ear noises, ugh!
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?
Last edited by otterhere; 01-10-2024 at 09:12 PM..
The typical "common cold" is an upper respiratory infection (URI--affects sinuses, trachea and bronchial tubes, while pneumonitis involves the meat of the lungs themselves with or without the upper stuff too. ("Pneumonia" is used colloquially, incorrectly for pneumonitis. Medically, pneumonia is specifically the pneumonitis caused by the pneumococcus bacteria.)
Pneumonitis causes compromise of blood gas balance. You have trouble getting O2 in and co2 out, so you feel short of breath, the HR goes up and the respiratory rate goes up. You feel sick.
Like any damage to any part of you, it takes a while for the immune system to clean up the mess (consider how long it takes for your black eye to go away after a bar room fight. The fist was only in your eye for a split second.) After a common cold, the nasal congestion and even a cough can last for weeks...If you're not SOB (I'm talking physiology here, not psychiatry), have hi HR or RR, then you can afford to wait patiently to see what happens.
Re: chest pain -- ?pulled coughing muscle. A violent cough can break an osteopenic rib.... Pleurisy is the situation where a pneumonitis is right up against the pleura and inflames it. That can cause pain on inspiration and may last for weeks after the infection is gone. NSAIDS usually take care of it.
We always say that on an x-ray, "pneumonia lags behind"-- You may present in the ER acutely ill and severe distress, with high fever, productive cough and a dull area over the lungs on auscultation, but the x-ray will look normal. Repeated after a couple days, the pneumonia shows up on the film... but then it will still look bad on x-rays done a week after you're cured....so rushing to the doc for an x-ray now won't necessarily be of much help.
Wear a mask if you are concerned (rightly so) about contracting something else and see a doctor.
I agree about antibiotics being over-prescribed, especially if you do not see infection in mucus.
I got a virus Dec 23 and my symptoms are nothing like yours. As bad as I felt I knew that going to the doctor would not give me a "cure". However in your case (not mine) if you have trouble breathing you should go to Urgent Care.
7 years ago both my husband and I got a very bad virus that in his case turned into bronchitis (we only knew that when doctor saw him) and his doctor gave him in-office respiratory treatment, masked him and he got relief and yes antibiotics. His skin color went from pale to pink as I watched him inhale during treatment.
Good luck
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