chest infection

[medmurph]

I have had a chest infection, coughing up phlegm, for 8 months. I have had two chest X-rays, numerous phelgm samples taken, all showing nothing. I have been on strong antibiotics 3 times and on cortizone tablets, asmatic lung sprays, nasal sprays, all to no effect. My tests have shown I do not have TB but I don't know what else to do. I have no fever, no chest pains and the phlegm is a light green color and quite thick. It has never gotten any better regardless of the medication and I do not have or ever suffered from Asma.

I have tried steam, homeopathic medicine, snake oil, you name it, I've tried it and every and all day I am coughing up phlegm. What is there left to do. It is obviously an infection but why is it not showing up ???

[MaryF Administrator]

Hi, have you had a full allergy panel done? this would show up allergy to cats, or dust mites or food stuffs, it really is worth doing. MaryF

[medmurph in reply to MaryF]

Hi Mary, no I have not had this done or even been asked to have it done. I have never had any allergies, eat extremely healthy and have no pets. I live in Costa Rica and live a very healthy life style, never sick. It has probably been more than 10 years since I even experienced a cold, now this. It started Jan 8 this year when I was flying to PNG, I assumed it was something I picked up on the long haul flight, it just never went away.

[MaryF Administrator in reply to medmurph]

ok, something which sometimes gets missed is Mycoplasma! My children had this, and it took 6 months to diagnose! Also an allergy could show up as a chronic cough as you describe, my friend had this, and it turned out to be an allergy to dust mites! MaryF

[Lure2]

Hi, Have you been diagnosed APS in Costa Rica? Have you got an APS-doctor who understands

to do the right observations regarding your lung?

Best wishes from Kerstin in Stockholm

[medmurph]

Hi Kerstin

I have not been diagnosed with APS and have not been to see an APS doctor as far as I know. My first X-ray was done in Sweden, Gavle in fact, apart from a little swelling in the breathing tract, nothing else showed. My job is diving and I'm not sure if this irritated my lungs, many times I had difficulty clearing my ears, so had to really work with them intil they cleared.

Thank you for your concern

[Lure2]

Hi again! Rather cold water in Gavle (Gävle). How interesting, but how did you find this site that is for people with Hughes Syndrome (APS)? Do you have symptoms from APS do you think? Have you read about it? I have heard of several people on this site that have stoped diving as they have APS.

If you think you have symptoms from APS we are ready to help you with your further questions.

I was in Chiapas and took a dive in a lagune. San Christobal de la Casas in 2000.

Hope you will soon improve and best wishes again from Kerstin

[medmurph in reply to Lure2]

Hi Kirstin, I'm sorry, I really had no idea what HS was, as usual, didn't read far enough and just rushed in with my own problems. Only dive warm waters now after 8 seasons diving in Antarctica the Arctic.

[Lure2 in reply to medmurph]

We all do that very often. Nice to "talk" to you. If you find you have got symptoms pointing to APS you must see a Specialist in APS. So few doctors know this illness. They can take bloodsamples for the antibodies also. You are welcome back if you need help from us. Good luck!

Kerstin in Stockholm

[GinaD]

I had mycoplasma pneumonia when I was 26. And yes, the bugs are quite good at hiding. The doc who diagnosed me said that micoplasmas are almost not alive. They are self replicating things but they have no cell walls. --like a step below virus in levels of internal organization. therefore they do not show up on a lot of screens. My doc saw I had stuff in my lungs. Mycoplasma develops slowly and often it is called " walking pneumonia" because the symptoms creep up so gradually that the patient may not realize they are sick. In my case I thought it was just a bad allergy season. and when my doc interviewed me he decided to put me on antibiodics to see if that helped. It did.

I got well on antibiodics but I continued to cough up these scary masses for a good year.

Good luck.

[medmurph in reply to GinaD]

Thanks Gina, I'm almost getting used to living with it now. Problem is I am traveling in my work very often and find it hard to get ongoing diagnosis, always at a different hospital, and the tests just keep starting all over again. I am very fit and as I said before, no temperature, no sick feeling, just constant coughing phlegm. Thanks again for your response, I'll just keep looking

[GinaD]

I also had no temp. Good luck!