Severe cough, taking cortisone tablets

[Sunny727]

I have bronchitis with a severe cough I am taking 50mg cortisone a day I am not able to cut down yet as the cough is too severe.  It's been around 4 weeks since it started as a sore throat and moved down to my chest am taking antibiotics Clarithromycin 250mg & Doxycycline Monohydrate (50mg), Rikodeine or Codeine cough suppressant, Symbicort inhaler.  I'm not sleeping well a couple of hours here and there and I'm exhausted, am severely constipated. I'm off work, but need to get back ASAP.  Air conditioning and fragrances exacerbate the cough.

I would be extremely grateful for any suggestions / tips to how I can get on top of this and get back to living.

[drjamesdiaz]

First of all, my heart goes out to you on this devastating problem.  What happened 4 weeks ago?  Something is irritating your airway. Obviously, smoking or living with a smoker (of anything) is out.  The weather now is cold and wet. Has your environment been checked for fungus.  Look for black walls, condensation on/around windows, etc.  Whatever the cause, you must strengthen your immune system above all.  Antibiotics weaken your immune system.  70% of our immune system is in our guts; our intestinal tract.  This is a medical certainty, a scientific fact.  You are constipated because of all the steroids and other drugs you are taking.  Try to sleep proped-up with several pillows.  Use an inhaler for emergency.  Drink tons of water.  Eat less because a full stomach makes it hard to breath. Do a respiratory cleanse.  In my crisis I used one called "Ultimate Respiratory Cleanse" made byNature's Secret 800-297-3273.  Do you have a lot of phlem or is it really dry?  Besides having my lungs irritated I also felt like I had something caught in my lower trachea/airway that needed to be coughed out but would not loosen-up.  I bought a steam humidifier and breathed directly from it.  Make sure it is very clean so as not to contaminate your lungs any further. Allow it to dry out totally between uses.  Honey with fresh-squeezed lemon ( one tablespoon) helps to ease the cough.  Your Symbicort inhaler, I believe is a slow acting, longer lasting drug which is different than an albuterol inhaler which is more of a quick acting, emergency type inhaler,  I used the quick acting inhaler but got off of this as soon as possible. I also started to jog to blow my lungs out quicker.  You must know your limits with this though.  Maybe you start with a brisk walk.  Make sure you take your albuterol inhaler with you.
Pray for yourself.  This just makes good sense.  Buy some quality probiotics, preferably a full spectrum one, not just with one type of probiotic. This will reinoculate your intestines with the healthy bacteria that you killed when you took all of the antibiotics and give you immune system a good jump start. ***@****

[National Jewish Health]

You could have bronchitis or pneumonia.  After 4 weeks, you definitely ought to get a chest x-ray.

It is equally likely that you have pertussis, commonly known as whooping cough.  It may be too late to get benefit from an antibiotic, especially since you have already been treated with clarithromycin, but if you are desperate you may want to arrange for treatment with azithromycin.