Question for the medical people

[adam c]

a couple weeks ago i had a pretty bad cold now the cold is gone but i still have a pretty bad cough

i think it might be bronchitis, i was reading up on it on the web and the article said i should let it run its course, which would probably mean another week of this, but sometimes i feel short of breath and when i cough sometimes i produce and a lot of the time its a hard dry cough

should i see a doctor or just drink lots of water and try and rest

thanks

[msommers]

I'd see a doctor, could be something minor, could be the start of pneumonia. My uncle got a severe cause of pneumonia and was in the hospital for a week. I wouldn't bother waiting a week. The worst thing that could happen is waiting and week and then going to a doctor, only to find out you should have gone a week ago! I'm in no way an MD so take my advice lightly but from anyone's stand point, it's hard to tell over the internet.

[TurboMedic]

If you have chest pain (localized, not crushing), your cough produces lots of phlegm (orange or green), and are short of breath, it's likely pneumonia or a mild chest infection. If its just a cough, "wheezy" feeling, or exertional shortness of breath, it could be bronchitis. Its hard to tell without listening to your lungs: general wheezes bronchitis, unilateral crackles pneumonia. Check your temp, anything over 37.3 is high (although say 37.7 isn't abnormal), if you are febrile you have an "infection" of some sort, and needs to be diagnosed with a chest xray, sputum sample, etc. The long and short of it, if you feel like crap, get it checked out AT YOUR FAMILY DR or CLINIC. Unless its an emergency (severe shortness of breath, pain, chills ((severe!)), etc) don't go to the ER, you will feel better by the time you get in, trust me...

[nos_efx]

Yes do go to your doctor, you may want to ask for some antibiotics when you do go.

I heard a similar cold and it lasted for 2 months.... First 2 weeks were the worse and the rest was just dealing with the cough. and yes it did turn out to be bronchitis. You just have to duke it out.

[xrayvsn]

Not all "chest" infections need antibiotics.

If the cold is better but the cough is still persistent, you may have post-nasal drip as a cause for your cough. Go to your doctor and get checked out. We can't diagnose you over the internet.:dunno:

[msommers]

Originally posted by nos_efx
Yes do go to your doctor, you may want to ask for some antibiotics when you do go.


This is problem with previous/older/unaware doctors, not to flame but it is honestly screwing people over, but really isn't their fault. Antibiotics should be used on an AS NEEDED BASIS rather than just blatantly prescribing antibiotics. Ever heard of superbugs?! Antibiotics used to be the "miracle cure" for lots of infections and doctors would just give you antibiotics. Doctors and researchers are struggling to keep up because of virus resistance. Antibiotics are essentially doomed by the time they are produced, ie: resistance is bound to happen, like vancomycin which was figured to be impossible to resist is becoming more and more common.

[hussein]

Originally posted by msommers


This is problem with previous/older/unaware doctors, not to flame but it is honestly screwing people over, but really isn't their fault. Antibiotics should be used on an AS NEEDED BASIS rather than just blatantly prescribing antibiotics. Ever heard of superbugs?! Antibiotics used to be the "miracle cure" for lots of infections and doctors would just give you antibiotics. Doctors and researchers are struggling to keep up because of virus resistance. Antibiotics are essentially doomed by the time they are produced, ie: resistance is bound to happen, like vancomycin which was figured to be impossible to resist is becoming more and more common.

You obviously don't know many poeple who think that they NEED to come out of their Doctor's office WITH A PRESCRIPTION. Alot of the time people tell the physician what they think they need instead of listening to the physicians advice, and usually if the person is "sick"... they think that they need antibiotics.

EDIT: The reason it may seem like previous or older doctors prescribe alot of antibiotics is because those GP's are the ones that have been around for quite some time and have established sort of a clientele of patients, mainly old people, and sometimes mothers of children, etc. These people go to the doctor all the time, and think that everytime somthing happens to them they need medicine, which means they go to the doctor on a regular basis. Atleast thats my hypothesis or whatever.

[msommers]

Originally posted by hussein


You obviously don't know many poeple who think that they NEED to come out of their Doctor's office WITH A PRESCRIPTION. Alot of the time people tell the physician what they think they need instead of listening to the physicians advice, and usually if the person is "sick"... they think that they need antibiotics.

EDIT: The reason it may seem like previous or older doctors prescribe alot of antibiotics is because those GP's are the ones that have been around for quite some time and have established sort of a clientele of patients, mainly old people, and sometimes mothers of children, etc. These people go to the doctor all the time, and think that everytime somthing happens to them they need medicine, which means they go to the doctor on a regular basis. Atleast thats my hypothesis or whatever.

Your points in question are valid. However, the problem I see though is how persuasive is the patient, but more importantly, how much of a push-over is the physician. If someone bitches and complains enough that doesn't mean that get the meds they want. For me, it's the person who is the actual doctor that does the diagnosing, not the doctor who searches google.

[hussein]

Originally posted by msommers


Your points in question are valid. However, the problem I see though is how persuasive is the patient, but more importantly, how much of a push-over is the physician. If someone bitches and complains enough that doesn't mean that get the meds they want. For me, it's the person who is the actual doctor that does the diagnosing, not the doctor who searches google.

Unfortunately that most of the time isn't the case when the patient comes to the office regularly. Think of it like this, say you don't prescribe the patient what obviously they think they need, they will be back in your office probably next week when they still aren't well to get another check up.

So instead you prescribe them a "cure" for what they think they have, and what they expect to get is what they receive, some form of medicine. They take it, get better, and think it really helped them, hense in their minds it is the medicine that fixed them. Yea, it may have helped them a bit, however they probably would have gotten better without it, but anyway, prescribing them the medicine didn't really cause much harm to them that they are aware of, and furthermore they are happy.

Patients who are like this don't really care about super bugs or antibiotic immunity, they just want their pills to get better. And the bulk of these people are the ones that actually go to the doctor the most when they don't really need to. A person who is more into "natural" healing and stuff is less likely I would think to go to the doctor over trivial matters, as they figure that their body's own immune system can handle minor problems.

Yea it probably sounds stupid, but thats the way it is. I know many GP's personally, and I hate going to any of them because its always so many people that are there for trivial things, when I actually have a problem I need to see him about. However, it is different when you go to a specialist that accepts patients only by referral. Most of these people are there for diagnoses or treatment because it is a real problem, other than a headache, cold, flu, etc, that actually needs a real treatment as prescribed by a doctor. If the patient doesn't receive the treatment that they were expecting then they go get a 2nd opinion instead of telling the specialist how to do their job, as they usually deal with more complicated issues that letting a patient choose their method of treatment can result in a huge legal and ethical problem.

I am not flaming or anything, but yea thats basically in a nut shell how I see it.

[msommers]

Hussein, I can see where you're coming from, but if I were in the physician's position, it wouldn't really matter. At that point in time, I would know what is better for the patient, long and short term. If they can't agree or trust me with that, why are they my patient?

It is funny you mention that people go in the doctor's office for such minor things, I've seen it it happen in the hospitals too. I remember when I was about 12 or 13, I was in the waiting room in the emergency ward because I was having a severe allergic reaction. My throat ended up swelling shut and I got first priority. After being released, I ended up seeing that some people were still in the waiting room! I asked the nurse "how come these people are not in yet?" She says "that's because those people don't realize a tylenol from the drug store will help their headache" haha I was in utter shock that people could honestly be so stupid.

[andres_mt]

Originally posted by adam c
a couple weeks ago i had a pretty bad cold now the cold is gone but i still have a pretty bad cough

i think it might be bronchitis, i was reading up on it on the web and the article said i should let it run its course, which would probably mean another week of this, but sometimes i feel short of breath and when i cough sometimes i produce and a lot of the time its a hard dry cough

should i see a doctor or just drink lots of water and try and rest

thanks

hey funny this thread came up , my older sister is in medical school and said that as long as you don't have lots of flem when you cough and the cough doesn't hurt your chest then there's nothing to worry about since the cold virus can stay in body for 4-6 weeks and that the biggest thing you can do is just drink a hell of a lot of fluids. hope that helps buddy.:thumbsup: