Allergies to bronchitis?

[Purple Banana]

I think my allergies have triggered or whatnot a secondary case of bronchitis- the coughing from the allergies started with normal allergy symptoms- sore throat, clogged sinuses and stuff/runny nose with clear drainage. After I've been coughing for a few days, I've gotten that tell-tale itchiness/tightness in my bronchii area.

I'm thinking of getting one of the pediatricians at work to get me a Z-Pack, my PCP doesn't have an available appt. for a good while, and I work tomorrow- the pediatricians will ususally prescribe small stuff, like Z-packs, eye drops, anti-fungal ear drops, and steroid creams for rashes to nurses/secretaries/techs if they're on good terms, and our supervisors don't disagree with the policy, so it's all good.

I know I'm getting meds for it within this week, but could allergies conceivably trigger a secondary case of bronchitis?

[birdgirl73]

You bet they could. If you've got a lot of drainage and crap in your lungs, the wetter they are, the more fertile the ground is for infection to set in. If you're not running some fever, though, or coughing up stuff that has a yellowisn-green tint, you may simply have allergies and asthma, which also go together. I'm coughing and wheezing and sniffling and dripping like crazy but don't yet have any indications of an infection, such as fever. I'm trying to keep things dried up with antihistamines and decongestants so I don't pick up a bug.

[Purple Banana]

Do you think it could be viral bronchitis? Whenever I have had a case of viral bronchitis, I rarely get a fever- simply that itchy feeling in my chest right around the bronchii, and a deep cough. I'm not having any difficulty breathing at all, and I don't believe I've ever had any cases of asthma?

[birdgirl73]

It could be viral, but I'm not sure how common that is. And if it is viral, of course, a round of antibiotics won't do a thing. That itchy, tight feeling goes along with congestion and also bronchial inflammation. The inflammation is basically what asthma is, and that tends to go with allergies even if you've never had an acute attack or been formally diagnosed with it before.

Wish I could listen to your chest with a stethoscope. Get one of your colleagues to do that and tell you what he hears!

[Purple Banana]

That's what I was thinking- I work 7p-7a tomorrow, and all of the nurses on the floor but one transferred down from cardiopulmonary, haha. I was torn between possible bacterial/viral bronchitis- or even if it's not bronchitis, but I'm not experienced enough to tell the fine-tuned differences so early in this new state of irritation- It just popped up this morning when I woke up.

[birdgirl73]

Oh, heck yeah! If you work with lots of former cardiopulmonary nurses, they'll be good at listening to your chest. They may still have their cardio scopes, too, which'd help.

Try breathing some steam and see if that helps loosen it up and ease the tightness. . . .

[Purple Banana]

I placed a towel over my head over a bowl of very hot steamy water- put some spearmint and chamomile leaves in it, breathed in, and it really helped- Got a mini facial, too :)

EDIT: I'm starting to cough up a bit of yellow-green with tiny bits of blood in it- I was coughing up clear, but it's changed a bit.

[birdgirl73]

You definitely have something going on in there, then, if you're coughing up phlegm like that. It occurs to me, too, that you might be wary of the other possibilities, like perhaps exposure to TB. You do work in a big urban hospital, you know.

[Purple Banana]

True... I get my TB titer every year, just had one in the beginning of April- we're not exposed to active TB patients persay, but there is always the non-symptomatic patient carrier.

I'm going to my doc tomorrow- the coughing's getting a bit worse and a lot deeper sounding.

[birdgirl73]

Down here, they assume that everyone who works in the hospital is exposed to TB, whether they work in infectious diseases or not. We're also a lot closer to Mexico and Central America, and so the doctors, nurses and assitants work with many immigrant patients, in whom they're seeing much higher rates of tubercular infection and it's often the drug-resistant kind. I'm betting Johns Hopkins has seen an increase, too.

Glad you're going to the doctor tomorrow!

[Purple Banana]

Good point, BG- I was talking to a respiratory therapist the other day, and she said that we've seen an average of 5% of patients coming into JHH with TB- it was 4.2% last year, and 4.0% the year before that.

Although we are a large city hospital, we don't see many immigrants, but since people in Baltimore tend to live very close to each other in somewhat unsanitary conditions, infection rates are probably sky rocketing- I got a TB titer the other day from one of the ED docs, and it's been 24 hours- no redness or vesicle, so at least I'm in the clear from that!

[birdgirl73]

Hey, PB, what'd the doctor say? Are you on antibiotics? Feeling better?

I was reading some information online about allergies and their connection to a hyper-alert immune system. This year has been such a miserable allergy season for me. I happened across some information that said sometimes when people's intestinal flora are out of balance, that'll aggravate allergy problems. So I'm going to experiment with a type of pro-biotic yogurt and also a pro-biotic supplement for a week or two and see if that helps. Seems like a strangely incongruous connection between the two, but it said that when the immune system is in overdrive, it'll sometimes attack beneficial bacteria in both the gut and the sinuses/nasal passages. I'm willing to try anything!

[Purple Banana]

Yep, it was bacterial bronchitis- beginning stages, so no fever yet. One of the pulmonologists came down and saw me. I got my Z Pack and some more cough syrup, thank god... And my 'guy' visited me at work, so I felt much better :D

EDIT: That's really interesting- let me know how that goes, I'm very curious!