I feel fuzzy today. Unfortunately this kicked in just over halfway to work and I was driving at the time. But it wasn’t too bad and we got here without incident. I’ve finally given in and made a doctor’s appointment, because three weeks is just too long to still be coughing. Also, it was a dry cough at first, but now I’ve been hacking more stuff up, and it’s getting really old. Also, my coworkers keep asking if I’ve seen a doctor yet and offering local cures for coughing, which I think is a polite and caring way of saying, “You’re getting really annoying.”
One problem I always have is that I forget when I’ve taken medicine, which means, for example, that this morning I’ve been vacillating between thinking, “I feel sort of out of it, I should really go see a doctor, ” and “I’m coughing less, maybe I am getting better after all – should I cancel that doctor’s appointment”, forgetting that the cough syrup I took before leaving home could account for both or either.
I’ve also been postponing the doctor visit because that will make my second time in two months, which is more than I usually go during a year, but that’s just stupid thinking. I do have a feeling that I’ll go there and he’ll tell me it’s nothing much and tshortly thereafter the cough will go away on it’s own, which is par for me and doctor visits. But it’s just as likely he’ll say, “It’s a respiratory infction. I think it’s bacterial – take these antibiotics.” And then it will go away and – forgetting about the effect of the medicine as usual – I’ll think my body fixed itself and the visit was a waste and will remember it that way. It’s not unlikely that the reason I always seem visit doctors just as I’m getting better is at least partly self-delusion.
This time, I’ve booked a visit to a clinic very popular with expats, that a coworker also described as “where all the celebrities go”. I hope that doesn’t mean they charge US prices. (They also don’t accept the national health insurance, but since I don’t have any yet, no big deal. I really ought to get better about turning in receipts to Rudder’s US insurance, though; I never did send in the one from my foot and now it may be too late.)
Go. Don’t overthink it; just go.
Well, sometimes, rarely, the doctor makes housecalls….
A productive cough with yellow or green stuff…. we call it phlegm, in the absence of fever, chest pain on breathing (pleurisy), is at the very least, acute bronchitis, and merits an antibiotic, such as azithromycin, for example. That requires a doctor’s evaluation, at least listening for rales or wheezes in the chest, and if there are sounds, probably a chest x-ray. The fear is pneumonia, if there is a temperature. Another factor raising the risk is a history of smoking.
Good luck
I had the same cough for about forever. I tried the zithromax (as mentioned by your commenter) and it did nothing. A few weeks later I went BACK to the doctor (so I feel your pain about not wanting to go back) and got a mega-dose of plain ol’ amoxicillin. THAT knocked it right out of me. That or the timing was right and I started taking the antibiotics at the same time the cough was winding down. Could go either way, I guess.
The cruddy part was that the amoxicillin upset my stomach and gave me horrible heartburn. You just can’t win.