What will help?

[Ansey]

For a month I have had phlegm from my sinuses, and I cough phlegm up from my lungs.  The coughing is dry at times .
I cough so hard that my muscles in my chest and lungs hurt.  I cannot be in anyone's company because of the coughing, and spitting.  What will help?

[karenleehs]

Hi Doc,

My son, 5 is a chronic bronchitis sufferer. Now is he having a cough, runny nose, phelmy chest etc but no fever. We are in Malaysia and we are experiencing a bad haze in the air.

My worry is, if i bring him to the government hospital for a test, we might end up queueing for hours(i know of someone with a 3 year old asthmatic son queueing for 7 hours) and get infected by the crowd.....

Right now i am using streroid inhaler, bronchodilator, antihistamine for his symptoms.

He looks ok but have to be careful with his food, some food makes him cough easily and he might vomit.....

my questions are
1) will treating his symptoms help him to recover if the flu is actually H1N1?
2) for high risk cases, do the doctors in the hospital also give similar medication to treat the symptoms other than tamiflu?
3) if this is your son, what would your next course of action be??

Thanks for your help.....

Karen

[koogle]

Per my previous message, this 62 year old woman also gets infusions every 4-5 weeks.  Gamma globulin.  Does not seem to help for the past 3 years.

[koogle]

We have someone who has been coughing like this for years in our office.  So often, you think she is going to die.  We've all learned to try to ignore it.  She has diabetes type 2, is on thyroid medication, blood pressure medication, cholesterol lowering medication.  She has been to various doctors... who tell her she has allergies (she does & lives with cats), asthma, has bronchoectasis or broncheostatis, sinusitis, put her on antibiotics, steriods, asthma medication/inhalers, over-the-counter (i.e. mucosin),  Sometimes she is worse than other time, but always has this horrible cough and nose issues.  She does not cover her mouth, and walks around with used tissue in her hand, breathes on top of us, and touches us.  When we say something, she says she is not contagious, it is just allergies.  I say, with fears of H1N1, and my propensity to upper respiratory infections and sinusitis, that she should be courteous and cover her mouth, and not touch me.  Am I overreacting?  

[Dr_Veena]

Hi,
      Thanks for writing in. Productive cough, weakness alternating with dry cough could be due to inflammatory conditions like bronchitis, bronchoectasis etc. Constant spitting or need to clear throat with symptoms of sore throat can be seen in post nasal drip. Bronchitis and other inflammatory conditions are of infectious origin, but post nasal drip could be either of allergic or non allergic origin.
It would be better to get a chest x-ray and visit your physician for further confirmation.
Best.