Ways to get rid of an upper respiratory problem

[Tiggeroo]

I have had this terrible cough and sinus thing going on. I have asthma that only gets bad when I get something like this. I've been to the dr's and am on steroids, decongestant, inhalers and have finished my five day zpack. I have a cough syrup that I try to use sparingly as I really need to get all this stuff out of my chest. I'm drinking as much tea as I can stand and limiting dairy. But it's been over a week and it is still pretty nagging. I don't have a fever or anything. Just gunk in my chest that has me coughing and wheezing. Are there any tricks I don't know to break this up? I have to work this week. I missed most of last week. I'm not contagious. It's not making it worst to work. Just when I cough it sounds terrible and the long trips from one class to the next can leave me a bit winded.

 

[Judy from Boise]

I would start taking Guaifenesin sold over the counter as Mucinex. Also for comfort a little Vicks on the chest is soothing.

 

[terri01p]

 

[disneyfan007]

The Mucinex seems to work very well for me.

 

[Tiggeroo]

I just started back on the mucinex today. The dr. told me on the first visit that I didn't need it because he put me on steroids and all of the other stuff. When I called back the second dr. told me to take it. I am thinking of asking for a breathing treatment, which I haven't done in at least five years. I don't even know if they give them in the office any more.
It's awful because I'm not really sick enough to keep justifying calling out of work but I'm sick enough to be tired and feel lousy. I'm not dangerously short of breath but I know my lung capacity is down and I only have four minutes between classes to race to the next class through crowded rooms.

 

[LuvOrlando]

It sounds to me like you have uncontrolled Asthma and no one helping you prepare your lungs when a likely trigger shows up. My daughter is like you and only has flareups when she is sick. Most of the time this makes her Asthma very easy to control. She is on a very low dose of FLovent which I double as soon as I observe any sniffles or tickle in her throat or fever and add in Albuterol Nebulizer every 4hrs until symptoms are gone for 48 hours. I'd caution you to not underestimate this kind of Asthma because the H1N1 lead to fluid in her lungs and a blood infection last year. out of my 2 kids I never thought she would be the one to end up in the hospital, my son is considered much more severe yet he was ok and she wasn't. I learned the hard way ANY Ashtma is dangerous. If are not under a specialists care I would recommend finding a Pulmonary Specialist because they bring such valuable skills to the table that a regular GP just doesn't have. Every Asthmatic SHOULD have an Asthma action plan designed to help you help yourself yet whenever I come across people who rely on GP's not only they not have any idea what I am talking about but their DR's almost never seem to concern themselves with preventative care. seriously,at the very least you should always have an albuterol inhaler on you 24/7 and any Dr who knows you have been diagnosed with Asthma and says different is very possibly a quack. Raising 2 kids with Asthma and sitting through dozens of various Dr's appointments has taught me a few basics and INhaler + Asthma Action plan have ALWAYS been part of the protocol.

FYI, if you do find yourself having trouble in addition to the albuterol you can alternate between hot steam in the shower and freezing cold air from outside, or the freezer ( we've had to do this at WDW) back & forth 4 -5times 5-10 minutes in each then switch. Our Pediatrician told us this helps relax the airways and it does help. However, if you are having more than a mild episode get help, it only takes seconds for things to go very very bad.

Good luck and take care of yourself, Asthmatic lungs are not like normal lungs so everything takes much longer to heal. feel better

 

[Tiggeroo]

It sounds to me like you have uncontrolled Asthma and no one helping you prepare your lungs when a likely trigger shows up. My daughter is like you and only has flareups when she is sick. Most of the time this makes her Asthma very easy to control. She is on a very low dose of FLovent which I double as soon as I observe any sniffles or tickle in her throat or fever and add in Albuterol Nebulizer every 4hrs until symptoms are gone for 48 hours. I'd caution you to not underestimate this kind of Asthma because the H1N1 lead to fluid in her lungs and a blood infection last year. out of my 2 kids I never thought she would be the one to end up in the hospital, my son is considered much more severe yet he was ok and she wasn't. I learned the hard way ANY Ashtma is dangerous. If are not under a specialists care I would recommend finding a Pulmonary Specialist because they bring such valuable skills to the table that a regular GP just doesn't have. Every Asthmatic SHOULD have an Asthma action plan designed to help you help yourself yet whenever I come across people who rely on GP's not only they not have any idea what I am talking about but their DR's almost never seem to concern themselves with
preventative care.

FYI, if you do find yourself having trouble in addition to the albuterol you can alternate between hot steam in the shower and freezing cold air from outside, or the freezer ( we've had to do this at WDW) back & forth 4 -5times 5-10 minutes in each then switch. Our Pediatrician told us this helps relax the airways and it does help. However, if you are having more than a mild episode get help, it only takes seconds for things to go very very bad.

Good luck and take care of yourself, Asthmatic lungs are not like normal lungs so everything takes much longer to heal. feel better

Yes, you are likely right. Years ago when my allergies were out of control my asthma was much worst. I went to a specialist who emphasized prevention. He explained that even though I felt fine most of the time I was in reality always only operating at about 80%. It's just that you can do just fine at that. But when you get sick and drop you can get in trouble quickly. The minute I feel something coming on I take advair and see the dr. for steroids. For the past five years that was enough. But this cough lasted a month with my non-asthma dd so I suspect for me it's worst. I will call my dr. in the am and see who he can recommend. I am improving. I just don't want to spend the winter fighting this. I work in a school where I am exposed to everything. I usually fight it off but if I'm like this I won't. And they won't give me a flu shot until this clears up a bit more.

 

[bumbershoot]

Ever since I stupidly had my tonsils taken out, everything goes to my lungs. Ugh.

Since you've got the western medicine side covered, you might look to alternatives that will pump your immune system up (and properly, since allergies mean that your body is reacting inappropriately to things that aren't poisons...the immune system is behaving inappropriately (if only we could discipline our immune systems!)). I am sure that you know that the steroids are *depressing* your immune system...that's how they work. They falsely stop the body from reacting to something the body feels is a problem. (I have a friend giving her daughter something like 3 steroids, and says on FB "hopefully these will kick the butt of her asthma!"...yeah, they aren't kicking anything's butt but her immune system, but I digress)

So...diet absolutely (I have to go entirely 100% dairy free, which means going down to milk solds, whey, caseinate, EVERYTHING has to be gone, to be entirely allergy-free), acupuncture, chiropractic, homeopathy.... Find the root of the cause, instead of just throwing body-depressants at it. If you're just covering up the symptoms (steroids, cough syrups, etc etc) you're not getting to the problem. You're just ignoring the problem b/c you aren't feeling the symptoms.

Right now we've had the creeping crud (the one that is like a moderate cold that makes you feel like someone is punching you in the face...a bunch of people I know have had it...some thought it was allergies until they found out that others have had it, some who don't tend to get allergies), and it's sitting on my lungs right now, and I've had some low-level asthma... Things that are working for me (besides upping my chiro visits, which is doing amazing things but take time) are small amounts of black coffee (an amazing medicine!) at the beginning of the wheezing...also nettle tea at the beginning (it tastes worse than black coffee to me, so I'm only using it if it happens at night when I need to sleep). Using "mullein" has been recommended to me (by a fellow former asthma sufferer..had it from 5 well into adulthood, starting with the alternative stuff, and he hasn't needed an inhaler for years now) so I'll get some of that when I can!


Best of luck!

 

[LuvOrlando]

Another thing to add is if you discover you have trouble exhaling air like blowing out a candle, you need to RUN to the ER. When DD was sick I tried to get a peak flow on her but the poor dear just couldn't get a good read. I stupidly thought this was just her cough but AFTERWARDS when she was in the ambulance with2 lungs filling with fluid and a blood infection I was told inability to fully exhale is a cardinal sign of Pneumonia. I could have strangled someone to think that in all my years in DRs offices no-one thought that was a useful bit of info for someone around Asthmatics to know If they had told me this my kid would have been in the ER 2 days earlier and might have avoided the blood infection.