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Thanks for calling me a drug seeker!!
For the past week or so, I've been battling my holiday bout of bronchitis. I usually catch it this time of year, like clockwork. It's nasty, and I don't like it. Started last Monday/Tuesday with postnasal drip and scratchy throat and yaaay. So, I take a sudafed, start upping the fluid intake and hope to nip it in the bud. Wednesday I'm full blown clogged everything, coughing like crazy and feeling generally crappy. My temp kept spiking up and down, up and down.
but hey, I've dealt with this before, I know how to treat it. Lots of fluids, plenty of rest, take an OTC expectorant/mucolytic to help get the crud out of my lungs (guaifenesin is my friend!), a fever reducer when necessary, and hunker down to wait it out. I made a HUGE pot of chicken soup which fed me and the boyfriend for several days, and have been drinking lots and lots of herbal tea. When the fever spiked and aches started, I took acetaminophen to relieve them. (blegh, fever peaked at about 101-102, but my "normal" temp usually runs around 97.6 instead of 98.6, so it felt so much worse) No caffeinated beverages, no dairy, and lots of water. Some years, the cough gets particularly bad, this just happened to be one of them.
I tried all the tricks I know to help loosen up the crud and make it easier to cough up, including but not limited to: vaporub and warm compresses on the chest, steaming up the bathroom several times a day and breathing in the steam, guaifenesin of course, chloraseptic throat drops to numb the throat a little, and lots of fluids. However the cough has become unproductive and painful, to the point where I've coughed myself raw. It feels like there's blood in the back of my throat it's so raw (though I know there's not, I just don't know how else to describe the sensation). The coughing is interfering with my sleeping, and it's been scaring the hell out of my boyfriend, (who, by the way, is a little perturbed when I tell him this is "normal" when it sounds like I'm coughing and retching up bits of my lungs all over the place). I finally relented and he dragged me to an urgent care clinic EARLY this morning. >.<
Enter Dr. Asshole. Dr. Asshole listened to my lungs, did the whole cursory kit and kaboodle of poking prodding, say aah, breathe in, breathe out, look in ears, etc...and announced I had a chest cold. My throat looked really raw from the coughing, by the way, and my lungs sounded kind of crackly. All signs of bronchitis or bad chest cold
Erm. Yes, I know I do, but--
Well, can't prescribe anything for that, go home drink plenty of fluids and--
And get lots of rest, take something if a fever spikes, coughing is natural, yes, I KNOW, can I get a word in edgewise here, doc, please??
Oh no, Dr. Asshole had to give me a little speech about how he will not prescribe an antibiotic for something that's quite obviously viral, and that I need to wait it out and treat the symptoms. My body needs to cough it out to get better.
Ok, but if you'll just LISTEN to me explain my history of bronchitis issues and how it's interfering with my breathing and sleeping, I was just wondering if MAYBE you could stop condescending at me long enough so I can explain I don't WANT antibiotics, I was looking for something that can help me breathe better and maybe something to help the cough not be so painful--
Yeah, right around here he told me he wasn't going to prescribe cough syrup with codeine, either, when OTC Robitussin would work just as well.
ETA: Slight note. I'm kind of allergic to morphine and codeine, as in they give me bad screaming hallucinations. Which I put on the little info sheets I filled out. Read much, doc? I don't WANT narcotics!!
Ever get the feeling you're being classified as a drug seeker? No? Well, I did. It's not a nice feeling. I held onto my patience, though and explained that I had a history of bronchitis and when it became difficult to breathe I sometimes would ask for a 1 time prescription of an inhaler to help ease that, and sometimes I'd get a couple days supply of cough suppressant so I could SLEEP at night.
His response?
Take an OTC sleeping pill. Nothing he can do for me. It has to run its course.
I am still fuming. I'm coughing like crazy still and it HURTS. It feels like I have NOTHING left to cough up or blow out of my nose, despite taking an expectorant still, and hoping to loosen up whatever might still be lingering. But it hurts so much and I'm so tired. right now I'm a lump on the couch in a blanket with a mug of tea. I've got vaporub on the chest and a warm towel over that Boyfriend is beside me playing Skyrim, one of his new Christmas presents. My nose is so dried out from wiping/blowing it when runny, it's starting to turn bloody. I don't know what to do. I know it has to run its course, but I can barely take a breath between coughing fits let alone a sip of tea and I just want a little relief.
Stupid doctor. I hope you get crabs. Or something.
but hey, I've dealt with this before, I know how to treat it. Lots of fluids, plenty of rest, take an OTC expectorant/mucolytic to help get the crud out of my lungs (guaifenesin is my friend!), a fever reducer when necessary, and hunker down to wait it out. I made a HUGE pot of chicken soup which fed me and the boyfriend for several days, and have been drinking lots and lots of herbal tea. When the fever spiked and aches started, I took acetaminophen to relieve them. (blegh, fever peaked at about 101-102, but my "normal" temp usually runs around 97.6 instead of 98.6, so it felt so much worse) No caffeinated beverages, no dairy, and lots of water. Some years, the cough gets particularly bad, this just happened to be one of them.
I tried all the tricks I know to help loosen up the crud and make it easier to cough up, including but not limited to: vaporub and warm compresses on the chest, steaming up the bathroom several times a day and breathing in the steam, guaifenesin of course, chloraseptic throat drops to numb the throat a little, and lots of fluids. However the cough has become unproductive and painful, to the point where I've coughed myself raw. It feels like there's blood in the back of my throat it's so raw (though I know there's not, I just don't know how else to describe the sensation). The coughing is interfering with my sleeping, and it's been scaring the hell out of my boyfriend, (who, by the way, is a little perturbed when I tell him this is "normal" when it sounds like I'm coughing and retching up bits of my lungs all over the place). I finally relented and he dragged me to an urgent care clinic EARLY this morning. >.<
Enter Dr. Asshole. Dr. Asshole listened to my lungs, did the whole cursory kit and kaboodle of poking prodding, say aah, breathe in, breathe out, look in ears, etc...and announced I had a chest cold. My throat looked really raw from the coughing, by the way, and my lungs sounded kind of crackly. All signs of bronchitis or bad chest cold
Erm. Yes, I know I do, but--
Well, can't prescribe anything for that, go home drink plenty of fluids and--
And get lots of rest, take something if a fever spikes, coughing is natural, yes, I KNOW, can I get a word in edgewise here, doc, please??
Oh no, Dr. Asshole had to give me a little speech about how he will not prescribe an antibiotic for something that's quite obviously viral, and that I need to wait it out and treat the symptoms. My body needs to cough it out to get better.
Ok, but if you'll just LISTEN to me explain my history of bronchitis issues and how it's interfering with my breathing and sleeping, I was just wondering if MAYBE you could stop condescending at me long enough so I can explain I don't WANT antibiotics, I was looking for something that can help me breathe better and maybe something to help the cough not be so painful--
Yeah, right around here he told me he wasn't going to prescribe cough syrup with codeine, either, when OTC Robitussin would work just as well.
ETA: Slight note. I'm kind of allergic to morphine and codeine, as in they give me bad screaming hallucinations. Which I put on the little info sheets I filled out. Read much, doc? I don't WANT narcotics!!
Ever get the feeling you're being classified as a drug seeker? No? Well, I did. It's not a nice feeling. I held onto my patience, though and explained that I had a history of bronchitis and when it became difficult to breathe I sometimes would ask for a 1 time prescription of an inhaler to help ease that, and sometimes I'd get a couple days supply of cough suppressant so I could SLEEP at night.
His response?
Take an OTC sleeping pill. Nothing he can do for me. It has to run its course.
I am still fuming. I'm coughing like crazy still and it HURTS. It feels like I have NOTHING left to cough up or blow out of my nose, despite taking an expectorant still, and hoping to loosen up whatever might still be lingering. But it hurts so much and I'm so tired. right now I'm a lump on the couch in a blanket with a mug of tea. I've got vaporub on the chest and a warm towel over that Boyfriend is beside me playing Skyrim, one of his new Christmas presents. My nose is so dried out from wiping/blowing it when runny, it's starting to turn bloody. I don't know what to do. I know it has to run its course, but I can barely take a breath between coughing fits let alone a sip of tea and I just want a little relief.
Stupid doctor. I hope you get crabs. Or something.
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