I have Bronchitis now

[Debbie C]

I went to the er yesterday cuz I just felt like crap and couldn't get into my pcp. Well it turns up I have acute upper resp.infection and bronchitis.He gave me 2 different kinds of cough medicine (pills ) 1 was musinex and the other called Tessalon Perles. Also an antibiotic. I told the er dr. about having c-diff before and I don't like taking them and he said he didn't blame me so these will be mild. So I go get the scripts filled and I was reading the discharge papers while waiting. And it said that antibiotics will not help this infection !!! So I asked the pharmy about it and he said they just like to give it to patients cuz they ( the people) want pills. And I said I DON'T and I even told the dr. that. So I went home and read the description on the meds and the one pill says if you don't swallow it right away it will cause you throat to go numb and you can begin to choke :wtf: So needless to say I put those in the closet with all my other pills I never took. So today I took the Mussinex and shortly after I had a horrible headache and the one side of my mouth was going numb. I then called the pharmy and told him and he said it is like Robitussin and you should be fine. I then told him I had a bad reaction with that also. So this stuff is slow realease tablets that last 11 hrs. I have been sick ALL day. I go see my pcp Fri. and if I feel well enough I am going to get my bloodwork done tomorrow. But now I don't know what to take for this crap. I think I will stick to my tylenol until Fri.

[Pete]

Sorry you're feeling so crappy. I got much better cough relief from tessalon perles than anything else I took. They're such a small pill that you should be able to swallow them easily. Hope you feel better soon!

[Jaha]

Do you have a fever? I hope you feel better soon and find something that relieve your cough. Did they take any blood work while you were in the ER? Let us know how you are doing.

[Debbie C]

Thx Pete and Jana, I hope I feel better soon too! No Jana, I don't have a fever,I sometimes feel like I do but I take my temp and it is normal and they didn't do any bloodwork. They did a chest x-ray and I ask the girl how long before they heard the results ( because they send them to the main hosp to be read ) and she said between 1/2 hr - 1 hr. Well it wasn't 5 min. later and the dr came back in and said what I had. I doubt he even waited to get the results. I wasn't even back in the bed yet !!!!! But I got to go lay down before I fall down. I just don't do medicine well, that's why I was afraid of those other things Pete. I thought for sure it would get stuck in my throat . Good nite all.

[vdub]

That's the strangest story I've heard (recently, at least). Can't believe a doc would rx something that would basically be a placebo. Did he mark the visit as ER or routine? My insurance requires an ER visit be marked as "emergency" or they won't pay for it. Sounds like a crappy experience all the way around.

There's little question that antibiotics have been over-prescribed and we now have super bacteria, but what would be the point of rx'ing an antibiotic that they know won't work. It certainly wouldn't seem to serve any purpose. Really strange. Hope you get better soon.

[BookNut]

So sorry you are not feeling well. I get bronchitis frequently and it is no fun. Knocks me out for two weeks or more. I generally am prescribed an antibiotic. Can't remember which one. But I have had cultures done, and it is bacterial...or at least the stuff from my nose is infected. Staphloccocu aureus. I hope you feel better soon...bit do check with your PCP to see if taking the antibiotic might be helpful. I have trouble with mucinex and robitussin....but I get a generic version of mucinex that is a much lower dose and that does seem to help. Feel better!

[BookNut]

Sorry you're feeling so crappy. I got much better cough relief from tessalon perles than anything else I took. They're such a small pill that you should be able to swallow them easily. Hope you feel better soon!

My pulmy wanted to prescribe the tessalon perles...but he realized they have red dye 40. I have a strong allergic reaction to red dye. I never thought to ask him to give me the sccript anyway, and I would ask my pharmacist to look for a dye free version. I sure would like to find something that works on my annoying chronic cough.

[annekat]

I'm so sorry, Deb, that you are feeling so sick and none of the meds seem promising to help you. Maybe you will just have to ride it out. Get lots of rest, drink plenty of fluids, all that stuff.... I hope to hear soon that you are feeling better.

[Debbie C]

Thx ya'll,I am doing a little better today ,at least I don't have that pounding headache and my mouth isn't numb. I went and had my bloodwork done this morn so the pcp will have a copy Fri. when me and my mom go in. But I stopped at the pharmy and I saw a bottle of this homeopathic cough syrup that is all natural with no drug interactions so he gave me credit on the stuff I got and said this would probably work well for me so we will see.It is called Chestal with honey !
When I was getting my bloodwork done I told the nurse about the antibiotics and she said they over prescribe them all the time.
Vdub,I was at the e.r so my ins will pay for it. Yeah ,pretty crazy, lets just give them anything !!!

[annekat]

Will be interested to hear if the homeopathic stuff helps you, Deb. I have a very opinionated friend who will never believe that anything homeopathic could ever work. I myself do not know or have an opinion, since it is hard to understand any explanation of the mechanism by which it is supposed to work. Not intending to start any debate on here about this. Just will be curious to know whether you end up thinking it helped you. I'm glad you are feeling better today.