Chest Infections and working

[Lithium52]

Hi,

I've been hit with a chest infection which I've had nearly 3 weeks now. I was prescribed prednisolone and amoxicillin. Past experience with these is that it leaves me with a productive cough (clear not green/yellow) for weeks after the other symptoms have gone (shortness of breath, temperature, aches/pains).

At home I carry a large plastic bowl to spit the mucus into from room to room, daily amounts can vary between 150ml - 450ml.

As I work with the public in an open plan building it's not possible to do this whilst working.

I'm planning on going back to work and making heavy use of running backwards and forwards to cough up in the toilets as other than the productive cough I now feel ok.

I'm really just posting to find out how other people deal with work whilst the effects of chest infections linger on for weeks on end?

[strongmouse]

Obviously it is better to cough up anything than let it stay on your chest, but I do find I get a lot of mucus from my nose at times and have found that taking sudafed short term dries it up. Often the mucus is from inflammation rather than infection. You could talk to a pharmacist to see if they can recommend anything.

[Lithium52 in reply to strongmouse]

Thanks for your reply.

I returned to the doctors today as what I'm coughing up now is clear but "frothy". He said it was nothing to worry about and the volume I cough up isn't too important either. I asked him about cough suppressants but he said they were best avoided and to cough up as required. I'll hopefully get over this within the next 7 days so I can get back to work as normal.