Does this xray seem good to you?

[DaltonWatts]

Hello,

Yesterday i went to the emergency with back and hand pain and they took me a chest xray and the doctor said i have somewhat "dirty" lungs probably due to my past history of asthmatic bronchitis. She put me on Zithromax (which i haven't started taking yet).

I should say i NEVER smoke and that asthmatic bronchitis along with allergic rhinitis is something that faded away with age (diagnosed at age 8 and i'm now 34) and it's very rare that i have symptoms, just sneezing here and there.

Anyways here's the xray:

http://postimg.org/image/gnw5an19h/

Thanks!

[DaltonWatts]

Hi philnoir,

Should i post this on the chest forum? Haven't found it when posting this.

No, i'm not being treated for chronic bronchitis. Only when i was young i did some treatments. But as symptoms of bronchitis and allergic rhinitis diminished i stopped treatment progressively.

No blood work nor sputum cultures were made although i showed her my recent blood work i brought with me. She didn't ordered any tests. The only thing she did was had a listen to my lungs and she didn't know how my previous chest xray looked like because i didn't bring it with me since i went there to check back pain and hand pain.

Also, since these xrays taken in the emergency are done quickly i believe there was no radiology report. The only thing she gave me was a brief resume that says: "hilar and bilateral bronchial strengthening, 6 days Azitromicin, symptom surveillance and return in case of signs of alarm".

I started taking Zithromax last night. Should i stop it? Should i make an appointment with a private physician? The fastest my family physician can see me is on the 31st of August.

Thank you!

[philnoir]

Perhaps you'd do better with a chest forum and find someone who looks at chest xrays every day. My knowledge only goes so far.

Your xray has signs consistent with bronchitis -- that's
what she's calling "dirty." She also has the advantage of having a listen to your lungs, and your other symptoms.

Does she know what your lungs looked like before your complaint -- you may have a history at this hospital.

Chronic respiratory disease makes you more susceptible to developing a respiratory infection.

And sometimes respiratory disease causes back pain -- but hand pain?

I follow her thinking -- I believe you're being treated for chronic bronchitis or perhaps another respiratory disease, and she's being careful because of your history.

But unless your lungs contain large quantities of Haemophilus influenzae, or Streptococcus pneumoniae, you shouldn't be using the Z pack (Zythromax). When people use too many antibiotics for no good reason, they're not effective when needed.

I imagine that she did blood work and took sputum cultures. If you can, wait for the lab results to come back and call her, probably tomorrow. She can then confirm the diagnosis, and you should then ask for instructions on taking the Z-pack.

There's no way to evaluate your spine from this view, so I cannot comment on back pain.

Try to acquire the radiology report -- then we can all be sure of what we're looking at.

Best wishes.