Bronchitis? Sick for a week, don't know whats wrong!

B

Blink 182 ❤

New member
I am not sure what is wrong with me but I've been sick for the last week and it seems to be getting worse. One thing that I can mention is that we just moved into a new home and we've been cleaning a lot and it's been really dusty and dirty so I probably sucked in a lot of dust and dirt that caused some kind of illness. But my son is just getting over bronchitis he's had for 3 weeks now. He's been also coughing up different colored phlegm from green, to brown, to reddish tinged.
My illness started out as a stuffy nose and a sore throat. Now I have lots of drainage and I am constantly blowing my nose because it won't quit running. My nose is so sore now.
A couple of days ago I started feeling really congested and coughing a bit. I am coughing up green phlegm and it burns in my chest as the phlegm comes up. I can feel the congestion building up soemtimes and getting worse and I have to force myself to cough and try to clear my chest out.
This morning I woke up and my chest was really tight like someone was sitting on my chest. I took a hot shower to feel better and try to relieve some of the pressure and congestion I felt in my nose and chest and it helped somewhat. But something really scared me. I took a cold drink of water and my chest tightened up, my heart started racing and it felt for a minute like I couldn't catch my breath. This has happened twice now.
I don't know if it's related to my sickness or if its asthma (I've never been diagnosed with asthma but have a hunch I may have it), or panick. I don't know.
I've bought some over the counter medicine to help relieve the congestion, an expectorant and I'll probably start taking that tonight.
Is there anything going around right now that this might be or has any one been sick lately and experienced symptoms like mine?
Thanks! I'd love to hear from someone to maybe relieve some of my anxiety and fears over what might be wrong with me.
 
You and your son need medical care. See a doctor for proper diagnosis and treatment.

You both may have gone into pneumonia in combination with bronchitis.

Do not play around when you have different colors of mucous.
 
Hi Hamilton92,
If you have discolored mucous (green, brown, yellow), you need an antibiotic. I work for family practitioners and I would say most patients who come in with the symptoms you described are given antibiotics. You should also mention your chest tightness. If you did have asthma, most likely you wouldn't get relief without some type of treatment (inhalers, nebulizer treatments). Good luck and please don't wait.
 
I agree that green mucous (or green anything that comes out of your body) is a sign of an infection. Maybe just a bad cold, maybe the flu, or maybe bronchitis. It doesn't sound like asthma, though...asthma isn't an infection and wouldn't cause the green phlegm.

Be careful with how much force you put behind a cough, too. Coughing too hard can not only cause hernias, but can even make you crack a rib. If the coughing is really, really bad, take a suppressant rather than an expectorant (but don't take both at once).

I had what I think was bronchitis a few weeks ago, and I ended up needing antibiotics to knock it out. Of course, I have also had several bouts of bronchitis that I just let go away on their own (much to the dismay of my roomies who had to listen to me coughing for weeks). If you can, I would say to see a doctor. If it is bronchitis, it could possibly become pneumonia, and that is not something to mess around with.
 
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