I am a bit worried right now about lung cancer...(even had a bad dream last night that i had it...)
I had a cold at the beginning of Dec....it went away but the coughing didn't...it is deep in my chest with a lot of phlegm. i went to my doc just before Christmas and he put me on Advair inhaler but that caused my heart to race and me to shake...so he put me on qvar...i have been using that for about 3 weeks now...not helping at all. ( last year i had this as well..not this bad and the inhaler worked)
I started to feel worse last week...dizzy and a lot of chest pain..mostly on the left...not always while i am breathing...sometime just a throbbing pain...
so i went to the walk- in clinic...the doc there listened to my chest and put me on antibiotics...he did a swab for Strep and whooping cough..and did mention walking pneumonia...
i have been on the antibiotics for about a week now and am actually feeling worse. So i went back to my doc the other day...he has set up a chest x-ray for tomorrow and i need to give sputum (sp??) sample...which i am having a problem with. I just can't get myself to bring the phlegm up! it grosses me out!!!
Last night the coughing was so bad it made me throw up....
just can't stop coughing....
my breathing is short little breaths or i just cough...my chest aches...my headaches...and very tired
I am scared...
I am 32 years old (female) I don't smoke(never have) but I grew up with my parents..and eventually my brother all smoking. When i was young i was always ill with ear infections...strep throat and tonsillitis. Had a lot of bad coughs in which i was put on codeine for as a child.
I am also adopted so i don't know about my past family history and cancer.
any advice would be great...or just words to calm me down...
thank you...
prayers and thoughts with you all...

twiggy

hi twiggy,
what a tuff time you are having, Try not to jump the gun and think the worst. I know sometimes that is hard to do when you continue to feel so ill. Im glad you are following up and getting what you need to get to the bottom of it all.

In the mean time have you tried cool/ warm mist? Do you use any vitamins? Im sure your chest is sore from coughing so much.
I know it tastes nasty to cough it up, but it is a good thing it is comming up. I would encourage you to drink lots of fluids, specifically h20 it really helps to loosen secretions and allow the aveoli to work to push the "gunk" up so we can cough it out easier. Clearing the lungs allowing better air intake, and less headaches.
I use to prop up with pillows and then suck on feeze pops till my throat (cough center) seemed to "numb" and I could fall off for a few minutes of sound sleep. Wish I could help out more, I hope you can stay positive knowing you have many things in your favor..ie.. age, no history of smoking etc. Mattie

HI

The chest x-ray will tell them a lot. I'm amazed it wasn't done sooner, with the productive cough. Pain on one side of the chest is very common with pleurisy. Your age and smoking history make lung cancer a very unlikely possibility, fortunately.

A lung CT and X-ray will go a long way in giving answers, though. Adult onset asthma isn't unheard of, which may be causing some of the shortness of breath. Or, asthma brought on by a severe respiratory infection.

Antibiotics won't do a thing for a viral pneumonia (which walking pneumonia is) but might prevent it from causing co-infections.

Your symptoms sound a lot like severe bronchitis, though. A cough medicine is certainly in order, and you should request one if they don't offer it.

Feel better.