Bronchitis, want more opinions?

Question

I have had a cough sometimes with wheezing and a cold for almost 2 weeks. Does this sound like bronchitis?

I don't smoke and I don't have a fever. I went to the doctor but all he said was come back in a week if its the same.

Answer 1

The only way to diagnose bronchitis is to actually be able to listen and hear the sounds you make when you breathe, no way to do that via the web. It could very well be simply a cough and cold that's hanging it there. Colds take an average of 10 days to go away, longer if you have tried to keep burning the candle at both ends. Even if it is bronchitis, there is no miracle medicine to take that will make it go away. You can visit the doctor for stronger cough medicines to take, and a vaporizor/humidifier can make it easier to breathe, but the healing is something your body has to do on it's own. Usually if you can find something to help with the cough, and you can rest, it goes away on it's own after a few weeks. In bronchitis the bronchi- main passages in the lungs, are irritated. They usually get irritated by the continual coughing. So if you treat the cough, it eases up a bit. If you cough due to a runny nose, take something to dry your nose up. Drink liquids to thin out thicker secretions, and spit/blow out what you can. Suck on hard candy to soothe the throat so it doesn't feel like you need to cough. Sleep propped upright, or in a chair, to help keep things running down the throat and ease the breathing. If the house is really hot, turn down the thermostat, it's easier to breath in a cooler atmosphere. Add moisture to the air around you, and let in some fresh air if you have shut the house up tight for winter. Clean the house to remove the dust, and if you have a fireplace fire going, put it out. Rest, drink, and eat well, and things will improve gradually on their own. If you start running a fever, or if you really develop problems breathing, or if things don't improve in a week or so, then you will need to visit your doctor. While bronchitis isn't a major problem, it can lead to pneumonia if you don't take care of yourself. So rest, and take care of yourself. Hope you get better soon, though

Answer 2

Antibiotics do nothing for Bronchitis. It will usually clear up on it's own in a week or so if you take care of yourself.Drink lots of fluids, rest, eat a healthy diet and increase the humidity in your home.

Answer 3

Do you smoke?

Have you had a fever?

2 weeks isn't necessarily a long time for bronchitis. But if it's been this long, why haven't you been to a doctor?

Answer 4

I had bronchitis last year.....and I was f***in' miserable with it!!! I never go to the doctor for a cold, but I totally felt I had to because I felt so completely out of it when I had it. I probably shouldn't have even been driving....that's how out of it I was, and felt.

Some symptoms he asked me about, before diagnosing it....

- when blowing my nose, or coughing any up....is it yellow(as oppose to clear)? **I don't look, so I didn't know....but he looked in my throat and found that**

- are you wrestless when trying to sleep? or....get hot, then cold, having to throw the sheets on and off. Which I totally had the night before I went to the doctor.

I even ended up getting a major ear ache during mine....and then couldn't hear out of that ear for like, a week and a half when it finally cleared.

- oh yeah, and he asked me if I could hear the rattling in my chest when I would breathe, which I basically couldn't because I couldn't freakin' hear out of the one ear, lol.

He gave me anti-biotics though :o)

Answer 5

I would say that you have bronchitis. Sometimes it takes a while to get over it. The only way to get over it is to antibotics.

Answer 6

it sounds more like asthma, i would have it checked out by a doctor, i had bronchitis as a child and had the same symptoms, now i found out it was asthma also, you would need to be put on something to help,