Having just been congratulating myself on not having had a chest infection for seven months, today I have the blocked nose, headache, wobbly legs etc. For me every cold goes to my lungs within a couple of days. The dilemma - I have rescue meds, erythromycin and steroids, - do I start now on the antibiotics (steroids held in reserve) or wait for the cough? 2nd dilemma - do I go to GP or use rescue meds, given that the gp will prescribe amoxicillin (useless for me) on the grounds that "it might be a different infection so let's see if they work this time". If I take the amoxicilin I will be back to gp within days getting worse at which point he will say "finish the course but add steroids". My feeling is that if I got a decent antibiotic in the first place I might not need the steroids.
Suggestions please.