Crackles! Now you hear me now you don't!

[GeorginaS]

I think my lung crackles are playing hide and seek! Consultant says crackles, doctor says no crackles! Within a few days of each other! This has happened three times recently.

Am I more weird than I think I am already? 😕

[Hidden]

Yes they're funny blighters those crackles. I have bronchiectasis and was acting as the 'patient' for doctors taking an exam to be consultants. Half of them could hear crackles and half couldn't and most diagnosed me as COPD!

[GeorginaS in reply to Hidden]

If it wasn't so serious it would be funny! Doesn't give you confidence for the future of respiratory medicine though does it x

[Badbessie]

Depending on your state of hydration and a few other reasons you can gain or loose your crackles. A lot depends on where the damage to your lungs is. Even having some slight pulmonary oedema can cause crackles.

[GeorginaS in reply to Badbessie]

Thank you for your reply. Really appreciated.

I believe the damage is at the base of my lungs.

Can I lose crackles by keeping well hydrated? x

[Badbessie in reply to GeorginaS]

Sometimes a small amount of fluid can build up in your lungs and you can get crackles. You move around and the fluid can move too and your crackles go! It can be just a matter of you going to sleep for a while. Keeping well hydrated is always a good idea.

[GeorginaS in reply to Badbessie]

Thank you again. I'm finding my lungs now feel dry when I'm in bed. Note I didn't say sleep as I'm getting so little. Before I could cough stuff up a bit but now it's all dried up! No idea if that's good or not 😕 x

[Katinka46]

Crackles are tricky. And come in different forms and can be indicative of different diseases. Some GPs are brilliant at the other end of a stethoscope and some consultants can be less so, and vice versa. I did a silly cartoon about crackles a few weeks ago. Scroll down in my posts for a little light relief.

You are not weird, I think all of us here have had differing diagnoses and comments. My consultant in a letter to a professor at the Royal Brompton Hospital mentioned that there had had contradictory ideas about my condition "which has not helped things". I am hoping that the professor can read between the lines and see that there has been a right royal cock-up.

All the best

k

[GeorginaS in reply to Katinka46]

Love the 'right royal cock-up' statement. 😀 I'll look for your cartoon.

I'm currently at the Royal Berkshire Hospital and I believe there's an ILD centre in Oxford. Maybe if I move on I'll get a 'nicer' diagnosis 😜

Do you know what you have or could possibly have?

It's very difficult when you feel so vulnerable to also have to cope with conflicting views.

Thanks for getting back to me and your crackle observations x

[mrsmummy in reply to GeorginaS]

healthunlocked.com/blf/post......

[GeorginaS in reply to mrsmummy]

Thank you x

[Caspiana in reply to Katinka46]

Is this the cartoon with the box of cereal?? I love that one. xx 💜

[Katinka46 in reply to Caspiana]

Yup. I sent it to my LLC who wrote back that he'd forwarded it all his respiratory colleagues "who were highly entertained."

Kxx

[Caspiana in reply to Katinka46]

Hahahahaha. 😅

[GeorginaS in reply to Katinka46]

Loved the drawing by the way 😀x

[Poohpoohmad]

Same here, depends on Day, time and how l stand strangely!

[Ccupcakes]

Good morning GeorginaS,

Do have look at Katinkas cartoon, I showed it to my LLC and he roared!

Crackles are very odd aren't they? My Rheumy hears them, a locum GP didn't, my GP does, the nurse practitioner and respiratory nurses didn't and my LLC does???? They come and go I think depending on what numbskulls are playing ring o roses in there!

Xxxxx😆😆😆

[Ccupcakes in reply to Ccupcakes]

Seriously tho, I can't say I've noticed a difference in them if I'm well hydrated, I do think it depends on who is on the other end of the Stethoscope and how experienced/ open minded they are, if they don't expect to hear crackles then they won't, like you the damage in my lungs is lower on the left and lower and mid section on the right, and I can hear the crackles myself when I lay on my right side especially if I feel very SOB or wheezy, sometimes it sounds like a herd of hungry hamsters munching on crisps! Other times a sort of squeak a bit like a seagulls cry.

Thankfully the hamsters have been on vacation for the last few weeks! Haven't heard them!

I think by now you know you definitely aren't weird!

Ccxx

[GeorginaS in reply to Ccupcakes]

Love the herd of hungry hamsters concept! Hope they stay away for a long time m.

My doctors has heard them and then he doesn't. Same with the consultant, hears them then not.

I think the jury is still out on my weird status and nothing to do with my lungs 😜

Hope your weekend goes well x

[Caspiana in reply to Ccupcakes]

The hamster comment left me roaring Ccupcakes . xx 💜

[GeorginaS in reply to Ccupcakes]

Apparently mine should sound like Velcro being no ripped apart. I heard they were or had made recordings to help GPs identify what's what x

[MoyB]

Does someone need a new stethoscope?

[Ccupcakes in reply to MoyB]

Maybe!!

[GeorginaS in reply to Ccupcakes]

🤣

[GeorginaS in reply to MoyB]

🤣

[Ccupcakes in reply to GeorginaS]

Did you look at the link Mrs m posted? If you scroll down through it and click on the link stone_uk posted it tells you all sorts about crackles, might need to wait till you've finished laughing at Katinkas picture tho!

Glad my hamsters made you laugh Caspiana, how are you and Chom doing? Is your rainy season nearly over?

Big hugs Cas xxx

[GeorginaS in reply to Ccupcakes]

Going to look now x

[Badbessie in reply to MoyB]

I have my own, it's a littmann. The ability to detect sounds can be affected by the quality of the stethoscope used. A nursing stethoscope is fine for blood pressures etc but when listening to the chest/lungs your ability to detect subtle sounds may be hampered if you use cheap equipment. I can tell the difference between mine and the one I brought my daughter to practice reading blood pressures.

[GeorginaS in reply to Badbessie]

That sounds like an interesting idea. I'm new to all of this and sort-of living in denial land at the moment and trying to avoid thinking too much. I'd end up being the crackles police!

I do reckon your right about cheap equipment though. The operator too must have died nothing to do with it.

Thanks for the information about the type of stethoscope x

[Ccupcakes in reply to Badbessie]

Didn't know that Badbessie, thought they were all the same, might explain quite a lot tho, thank you xx

Any tips for the hamsters?? ???

[Badbessie in reply to Ccupcakes]

lol In all years never actually came across hungry hamster syndrome! Perhaps research is needed to pin down the cause.

[Badbessie in reply to Ccupcakes]

Plus some people have better hearing than others.

[Ccupcakes in reply to Badbessie]

I'm actually quite deaf, hearing aids both ears, so I can sort of feel / hear them, on bad days they are there all the time , on good days I just have squeaks, it scared me at first but now, well obviously I've learned to laugh, they aren't going away for long so hey, just a part of my newish life living with lung disease, we either laugh or go mad crying.

Stones link was useful tho. Xxxxc

[Badbessie in reply to Ccupcakes]

Diagnosed at Christmas so still pretty new to Copd. Lol I was slightly mad before diagnosis so not a lot of change for me...lol. I know what you mean about feeling them it is a bit strange!

[perusal]

I have really bad crackling when in bed and of a morning but as day goes on it stops so Dr appointment of morning say yes another chest infection but afternoon appointment no problem probably a virus. The last appointment I had after a really bad week I was told by locum someone had put on computer my Copd was resolved! After over ten years I don't think so. I asked if I could have an xray as my mother died of lung cancer at my age and she said no and that my COPD will be worse therefore the pneumonia and chest infections will be more often. Waste of time going.

[GeorginaS in reply to perusal]

Good grief! If I was told what you've been told then refused an X-ray I'd be very upset! Was it at your doctors or the hospital when you were refused? If it was at the hospital, ask the doctor to refer you or the other way round. No one can predict for more chest infections so that is I feel very hurtful and inappropriate. Big hug x

[perusal]

it was at GP surgery.I will just carry on but I have had a really bad time with my chest since pneumonia in January so thought with the constant chest infections an x-ray would be appropriate seems not. I am refusing antibiotics now as they make me so ill and cause flare ups of diverticulitis I suppose after ten years it is just getting a lot worse. Just have to keep smiling 😊

[GeorginaS in reply to perusal]

Hopefully things will settle. I'm ok on doxycycline but not good on others. It's difficult trying to balance the drugs with other conditions and reactions to drugs too. Like you said, keep smiling. I do know that's very difficult x