Hi all.... Well this is my first attempt at starting a topic for myself so please bear with me....

3 1/2 weeks ago I contracted a bad bout of Sinusitis out of the blue and the very next day I came down with severe Laryngitis (as if one thing wasn't enough to deal with). I lost my voice for almost 2 weeks and nearly coughed my lungs out of my chest. I can't take antibiotics (allergic to them) so I had to fight it off with supplements i.e loads and I mean loads of Vit C etc etc.... Well after almost 3 weeks I nearly thought I had it beat but it appears not. Just upon recovery I had a huge stressful shock to the system caused by teenage son and now I'm fighting to stop a chest something or rather from taking over my ravaged body. In desperation on Friday I actually braved going to the doctor as I was sure I had Emphysema or Asthma (health anxiety at work) but he assured me I have neither of those. In his opinion he thinks I have irritated air passages from my throat to my lungs from the Laryngitis and it will take another 3 weeks minimum to clear up . Now he's been practising medicine forever and doctors in this country have to know alot about alot of things as we don't have seperate doctors for different issues our GP is a one stop pit stop for us. He did all the usual feeling of the neck looking down my throat with that horrid dry stick thing, listened to my chest back and front, top and bottom, while I breathed long deep breaths in and out for what seemed like forever. Chest seemed clear, no wheezing whatsoever, all looked good, he even took my BP which was a little low for me 124/60 which surprised me after the stress of it all (white coat syndrome, always have a panic attack when the cuff comes out). So off I went after having a pap smear to top it all off, and he made me bleed (bad doctor smack him round ) and told me my uterus was ever so slightly enlarged, possibly a fibroid since my periods are heavier and longer, good one just what I needed to hear .

Now what I would like help with is has anyone else ever had this kind of thing and it take a long time to clear up. I haven't been sick in a very long time (like we need anything else to worry about along with peri) so this has hit me hard and I'm freaking out wildly here (not like me at all haha yeah right). I also reinjured my back on Valentines day (no it's not shaggers back either) and along with my sons situation I have been under a lot of stress and my anxiety level is somewhat raised to put it mildly and now with this awful chest congestion feeling like a slight burning feeling at times and the need to clear my throat or chest of mucous all the time and a horrid fluttery tickly feeling in my upper chest also at times I am in worry overdrive.

So has anyone else had this, if so how long did it take to clear up, what did you take to help it along. I made the fatal mistake of googling , I wish I could disable that function , and now I'm in a terrible state which of course is not going to help me get better at all. You've probably gathered I don't do unwell too well and I'm impatient to get better, that'll learn me for not having even the merest of a cold in over 2 yrs.

Please someone say you've had this and it will all go away as magically as it arrived in time with no lasting ill effects except to my bruised ego for having to whine like this

Thankyou in advance for your words of comfort and wisdom

Rox

Rox:

Yes, I have had this. March 2008. I went to the doctor thinking the worst like you did. I felt so bad, my anxiety was out of control and I cried in the waiting room hiding behind a magazine so no one would see the weepy, health anxiety ridden peri lady. Chest xrays, blood tests, etc. Doctor said sinus infection, chest congestion (which I was sure was pneumonia...of course it wasn't). It took almost 6 weeks to get over this and three courses of antibiotics. I don't know why it took so long. Oh...and no lasting effects from it, except the embarassment of the crying.

Wishing you a speedy recovery.

Bella

Rox, I am so sorry you are dealing with this!

About ten years ago, I had exactly the same symptoms-- a cold morphed into sinusitis and laryngitis. I coughed non-stop, and my chest hurt like crazy. I was a mess.

I finally went to the doctor, who gave me a course of antibiotics and prednisone. It helped tremendously, but it still took a good 6 weeks before I was back to normal.

You will get better! Hang in my friend. And don't be afraid to go back to the doc if your symptoms don't improve. Don't brave it alone.

Please keep us posted.

Hugs,
Marcy

Rox........I am a respiratory therapist and the bug that is going around sounds a lot like what you have and it is taking a month to 6 wks for folks to get over.......so I know it is hard not to worry but try to not too much!........Valerie

Hey there,

Both my husband and son have what it sounds like you have. They've both been to the doctor and were told it is called the One Hundred Day Cough. No kidding. That's what the bug is called and it can take up to 100 days for it to finally clear up.
They both started with head cold, then sinusitis with cough, slight fever here and there and all along this cough.
Both on antibiotics which did some good, but what really helps is Symbacort or Ventolin and Flovent (all inhalers).
Had my son home for reading week this past week and finally got him in to see the doc and when he left to go back to school his cough sounded so much better than it has in almost 3 months after treatment.
Maybe you could ask for the inhaler especially if you can't take the antibiotics.

Thanks for your reply manyboys. I had the 100 day cough 3 yrs ago, I think it was the last time I was sick and it did take 3 months to completely go away. I had every type of cough you could get back then and I think from memory it started with Laryngitis. I can't use inhalers as they make my heart race so badly and I nearly pass out (I tried them once). Looks like I'm just gonna have to tough it out. I'm not coughing so much now, just a small cough to clear my mucous that seems to be still stuck wherever it's hiding . It's just the chest tightness that is bothering me the most now but the stress of it all isn't helping that one little bit. The more I worry about it the more that tight band around my chest tightens

Gotta go take this dang confining contraption they call a bra off now before it strangles me

Rox

Thanks scaredvalerie for you reply. I just need to have faith in what my doctor has already told me, it's just hard to have faith in doctors at all with all this peri stuff going on but then doctors seem to know about coughs and colds if nothing else so I should trust he knows what he's talking about there

Rox

Thanks Marcy for your kind words. The weird thing is no one else has caught it in my family and I didn't seem to catch it off anyone in particular either and I was the most relaxed and well rested before I got it than I have been in a very long time. Spose that'll learn me for having 5 wonderful weeks off work and enjoying myself

Rox

Thanks BellaC for being my first response to my very first topic . This has indeed morphed my anxiety level and on top of my back reinjury I am just a freakin mess. I was just telling someone tonight my mind seems to work in time frames and if someone says it will take another 3 weeks for me to feel better then it will be exactly 3 weeks till I feel myself again. It was like this when I hurt my back the first time, they said 3 months and in 3 months I was almost right as rain. I was told the worst of my antidepressant withdrawal symptoms like the insomnia would last for at least 6 months and what do you know, yup 6 months before I started to sleep again. I wasn't counting at the time but when I looked back and counted the months it was almost 6 months to the day. I just wish I had a realistic short time frame for this peri/meno stuff to be over and I would be happy that the end was in sight wishful thinking I know

Rox