been ill for ages, not given antibiotics

hi everyone

About 3 weeks ago i came down with laryngitis and a really bad cough so i went to my gp an she told me i had a virus and inflammed lungs and gave me a 5 day course of prednisolone, i then came down with a cold last week which i still have, along with the bad cough. i will be going to the doctor on friday if still the same, but i was just wondering if my gp should of given me antibiotics due to the fact she gave me steroids and also because i was coughing up green phlegm which had an awful taste to it, which i told her but she didn't really listen to me.

[KateMoss]

Doctors only prescribe antibiotics for Bacterial infections.

Viruses are not killed by antibiotics.

Do you have a temperature with it as well?

Let her know your concerns about the green phlem..........

Take care

Kate

[Hidden]

my doctors used to give them to me when they gave me steroids cause i was told that they had a lower threshold for prescribing antibiotics for people with asthma, i was also thinking that maybe my i had picked up a bacterial infection due the length of time i have been ill for and the length of time i have been coughing up green phlegm, but will see how it goes

[angievere]

Hi lejaya, I quite often cough up green phlegm (sorry guys!) with a cold and chest pain, but sometimes when the doctor listens to my chest he says it's clear! I've never understood that as I always thought green phlegm was a sign of infection. When you go back to the GP ask her to listen to your chest and tell her again about the phlegm, even take a sample and show her!

Edit. There seems to be a much greater reluctance to prescribe antibiotics these days. Our old GP who retired a few years ago always gave me and my son antibiotics, even if he thought the chest was clear. He said we were more vulnerable to infections if we had a cold/chest pain. But the GP who took over won't prescribe them unless we definitely have a chest infection.

[Hidden]

I have similar symptoms (although my chest was making noises) and have been given antibiotics rather than pred.

Guess it's all down to the dr's preference and attitudes to anti-b's. If it's no better at the end of the week its probably best to go back to your GP.

[Hidden]

Increased phlegm, even green, can sometimes reflect inflammation rather than infection as such, so your GP may well have been right not to give antibiotics, as most flare-ups in asthmatics are viral.

I send off sputum samples frequently because I have bronchiectasis, and often the most disgusting looking samples come back showing only dead cells and other signs of inflammation, rather than any bacterial infection.

Hope you're soon feeling better. x

[Hidden]

update

so i went back to the doctors today and when he listened to my chest he told me he could hear 'ronchi' which meant i had a chest infection, so he gave me antibiotics and some cough linnctus so hopefully will start to feel better soon!