Sick AGAIN. Bronchitis?

[DLgal]

So, I'm sick for the FOURTH time in a year with a virus that is NOT covid. I've somehow managed to dodge that entirely, but even with mask wearing have managed to catch a cold or upper respiratory virus about every 3 months, beginning last March.

This time I'm sick again with what I thought was a cold, but has progressed rapidly into maybe bronchitis? It started with a scratchy/sore throat on Friday last week, along with some pain right in the center of my sternum. I've had a raw, irritated feeling in my lower throat/bronchial area when I cough or sneeze. No fever. A bit of nasal congestion. A constant dry tickle in my throat.

At night, the last 2 nights, I've had a major tickle that triggered a violent coughing fit around midnight. I tasted blood. Went to the bathroom to spit out what I coughed up and was a bit startled to see streaks of blood in otherwise clear mucus. Never seen that before. Both times, a dose of Delsym calmed the cough down enough to sleep. During the day, it's mostly a dry cough, but with chest discomfort.

Should I go to Urgent Care for this or is it going to be a "you have a virus, give it a few more days and rest and drink fluids." I admit to being alarmed at the presence of blood, but my cursory google search indicated that streaks are not a problem if you also have a respiratory infection and it's been happening for less than a week. I have health anxiety though, so of course my mind went to worst case scenario. Confirm my fears or alleviate them, please!

Should also mention, my 2 kids were sick with the same thing. Youngest was sick 2 weeks ago, then myself and oldest started feeling bad last Friday. They have both recovered, mostly. Oldest is still coughing a bit but returned to school today. We ALL took covid tests on days 3-5 of our illnesses and it's definitely not that.

 

[LuvOrlando]

Yikes, coughing up blood is buried deep in yes, seek care because it's probably best to let a Dr tell you it is normal. Only time I ever coughed like you describe was when I got mono from a friends soda at 14, felt like my ribs were cracking. Could have easily got it from your kids since they are the main source, I used to cringe every time my kids drank from those communal sports water bottles. College age is the biggest infection group these days. last time I looked. Hope you feel better soon.

 

[mefordis]

So, I'm sick for the FOURTH time in a year with a virus that is NOT covid. I've somehow managed to dodge that entirely, but even with mask wearing have managed to catch a cold or upper respiratory virus about every 3 months, beginning last March.

This time I'm sick again with what I thought was a cold, but has progressed rapidly into maybe bronchitis? It started with a scratchy/sore throat on Friday last week, along with some pain right in the center of my sternum. I've had a raw, irritated feeling in my lower throat/bronchial area when I cough or sneeze. No fever. A bit of nasal congestion. A constant dry tickle in my throat.

At night, the last 2 nights, I've had a major tickle that triggered a violent coughing fit around midnight. I tasted blood. Went to the bathroom to spit out what I coughed up and was a bit startled to see streaks of blood in otherwise clear mucus. Never seen that before. Both times, a dose of Delsym calmed the cough down enough to sleep. During the day, it's mostly a dry cough, but with chest discomfort.

Should I go to Urgent Care for this or is it going to be a "you have a virus, give it a few more days and rest and drink fluids." I admit to being alarmed at the presence of blood, but my cursory google search indicated that streaks are not a problem if you also have a respiratory infection and it's been happening for less than a week. I have health anxiety though, so of course my mind went to worst case scenario. Confirm my fears or alleviate them, please!

Should also mention, my 2 kids were sick with the same thing. Youngest was sick 2 weeks ago, then myself and oldest started feeling bad last Friday. They have both recovered, mostly. Oldest is still coughing a bit but returned to school today. We ALL took covid tests on days 3-5 of our illnesses and it's definitely not that.

If it's just streaks it's probably not serious. You could go to the doctor and ask for some cough syrup with codeine which will help your cough at night especially, so you can get some sleep and recover better.

Feel better soon!

 

[RamblingMad]

Sore throat with a cough was my initial symptoms before I eventually ended up testing positive for COVID. I basically felt like I had a bad cold for a week before the antigen test registered me having it.
Three weeks later and I still have a COVID cough.

Hang in there. What's your pulse oximeter say?

I'd go in to get checked out.

 

[unrequited23]

I want to suggest a vaporizer to help with the dry cough. If you don't have one you can put water in a crockpot on low. Cepocal lozenges will help with the throat pain and also lessen your response to a tickle in the back of your throat. If what you are coughing up still is a normal mucus consistency I wouldn't stress too much, if it gets thicker or spongy I would try to be seen by a dr if it happens more than once.

 

[a1tinkfans]

I just think you should see a dr when you ve been
Getting sick so often and it sounds miserable, esp seeing blood. I’d rather put my mind at ease the constantly thinking or worrying about it.
I have two relatives ( different homes) that Did get COVID but neither were impacted more than mildly. Now Both are suffering terribly from some type of chest inflammation, heavy coughing and pain which feels like a heart attack. Both thru the ER, both told its an after effect of covid, for some. ( sorry forgot the name of it)
I know you said no covid but I’d get checked regardless feel better soon.

 

[DLgal]

Sore throat with a cough was my initial symptoms before I eventually ended up testing positive for COVID. I basically felt like I had a bad cold for a week before the antigen test registered me having it.
Three weeks later and I still have a COVID cough.

Hang in there. What's your pulse oximeter say?

I'd go in to get checked out.

Pulse Ox says 100%

 

[DLgal]

Sore throat with a cough was my initial symptoms before I eventually ended up testing positive for COVID. I basically felt like I had a bad cold for a week before the antigen test registered me having it.

I tested my younger son at day 10 before sending him back to school. It was still negative. At this point, I'm confident it's not covid. I'm guessing the urgent care will do a covid test, though, as well.

 

[DLgal]

I just think you should see a dr when you ve been
Getting sick so often and it sounds miserable, esp seeing blood. I’d rather put my mind at ease the constantly thinking or worrying about it.
I have two relatives ( different homes) that Did get COVID but neither were impacted more than mildly. Now Both are suffering terribly from some type of chest inflammation, heavy coughing and pain which feels like a heart attack. Both thru the ER, both told its an after effect of covid, for some. ( sorry forgot the name of it)
I know you said no covid but I’d get checked regardless feel better soon.

Thanks. I am heading to Urgent Care in 10 minutes. They had the option to schedule myself to be seen at a specific time, so I did that.

I used to always get frequent colds. That's not really new for me. I continued getting them throughout the pandemic. I go in cycles. I'll have lots of frequent colds and then go a few years with nothing. I go in for an annual physical every year and everything is always all good. My kids always bring crap home from school, even though they are STILL wearing masks there all day.

This one, though, I blame on our visit to Disneyland on Feb 18, where masks were not required and we went without. Son was sick 4 days later.

 

[DLgal]

UPDATE:
It's bronchitis. The doctor diagnosed me as soon as I told him about the blood in the sputum. He told me he has seen 4 bronchitis cases just this week so far, and said he wasn't worried about Covid at all based on my symptoms. Interestingly, he said "we haven't seen a case of Covid here in over 6 weeks." I knew our cases here were low, but didn't realize they were that low.

Anyway, he prescribed a cough syrup and told me to "keep doing what you're doing and give it time."

 

[Her Dotness]

Hope you feel much better soon.

Bronchitis is nasty stuff.

Don't follow my example and overdo it once you start feeling pretty good again, ok?

 

[DisneyHardin]

Glad it's not Covid. I had chronic bronchitis for a while and have gotten it under control by taking a Mucinex every day even when I am feeling fine - it seems to have really kept the lung gunk under control. I haven't had a bout of bronchitis or an upper respiratory infection in several years now.

 

[NotUrsula]

I get bronchitis regularly (and no, I don't smoke and never have; I just won the crappy lung lottery.) IME the best drug combo is guiafenesin, to loosen the gunk and get it out of there, and fluticasone spray to reduce the swelling, which helps with the chest pain.

 

[DLgal]

Glad it's not Covid. I had chronic bronchitis for a while and have gotten it under control by taking a Mucinex every day even when I am feeling fine - it seems to have really kept the lung gunk under control. I haven't had a bout of bronchitis or an upper respiratory infection in several years now.

I'm definitely going to try and pick some up at the pharmacy when I go to pick up my Rx. The shelf at the grocery store was practically wiped clean of plain mucinex (they had all the cold and flu "combo meds" which I don't need). Hoping the pharmacy will be stocked better. Mucinex always works well for me.

 

[DisneyHardin]

I'm definitely going to try and pick some up at the pharmacy when I go to pick up my Rx. The shelf at the grocery store was practically wiped clean of plain mucinex (they had all the cold and flu "combo meds" which I don't need). Hoping the pharmacy will be stocked better. Mucinex always works well for me.

If you are a Costco member, they have a plain Kirkland brand Mucinex in a double pack that is MUCH cheaper than anything else I've found.

 

[cvjw]

Have you asked your Dr if there is a reason you get bronchitis so much? I stayed sick all winter one year and ended up needing surgery to fix the cause. Once fixed, I haven’t been sick in years.

 

[Pea-n-Me]

Is there any chance you have mold in your house somewhere? I hope you feel better soon and can figure this out! I’m glad you went, btw. Stay on it.

 

[disneychrista]

My personal advice is get a couple humidifiers and run them in all areas you frequent, especially overnight in then bedroom. I have one in my living room and one in the bedroom. I swear it is the only thing that stopped me from getting bronchitis when I had a cold in September.

 

[DLgal]

Have you asked your Dr if there is a reason you get bronchitis so much? I stayed sick all winter one year and ended up needing surgery to fix the cause. Once fixed, I haven’t been sick in years.

Was this directed to someone else? This is the first time I've had bronchitis in over 10 years. The other illnesses I had over the last year were just minor colds.

@Pea-n-Me I doubt there is mold in my house. It's a newer build and we've lived here the whole time. The house has excellent ventilation and I've never seen a trace of mold/mildew, even in the bathrooms. It's pretty dry most of the year, but the humidity indoors stays between 45 and 50, according to our Dyson air purifiers, so no need to run extra humidifiers.

@disneychrista I do use a vicks steam inhaler when I'm sick. It helps a bit. Our indoor winter air isn't super dry because we hardly ever have to run the heater.

 

[DisneyHardin]

Was this directed to someone else? This is the first time I've had bronchitis in over 10 years. The other illnesses I had over the last year were just minor colds.

I'm not @cvjw, but I also thought your original post meant you'd had bronchitis 4x this year.