Any advice!?

[Jellybaby]

So iv had a headcold the past week and it got quite chesty the last 3 days or so. So yesterday I went in to get checked out and everything seemed ok oxygen etc and the doctor said my chest was clear and have me an antibiotic to use if I thought I was getting worse. I don't feel any worse but have just coughed up mucus that's all blood and I'm scared! Had this happened to anyone before and could it just be that iv burst something from coughing? It's definitely mucus though which is scaring me!

 

[Oboe]

It happens. It's usually nothing and you get used to it. Call your CF doctor on Monday and see what they want you to do. If it keeps happening over the weekend then go to the emergency room. Also if you're just coughing up blood outright, no phlegm, then go to the emergency room. More often than not it's just a matter of inflammation which our bodies will have their fair share of because of the regular infection cycle. If you're having a cold on top of that, it's probably just kicked up some more.

 

[Jellybaby]

Thank you so much! In the past iv coughed up only blood and doctors said it was nothing serious but was worried because of it being pure phlegm! You put me at ease a bit and iv decided to start antibiotics today because I think I need them now! Thank you and hope your well

 

[LittleLab4CF]

Jellybaby,

I wish I knew how non-concerning hemoptysis or blood goobers from the lungs in fact are. My lungs have "ground glass" scarring and several rosette scars throughout my lungs making them essentially opaque under X-ray, but I just blew 118% last week. The short of it was I have great lungs for a CFer and the last place I ecpected a marble sized blood clot to come from, was my lungs. It was in fact no big deal for me since I coughed up a total of six palm sized mucus wrapped clots during a flare.

To paraphrase my wife, 'I probably would trust you to re-attach my arm, but God help me if you get a paper cut". I don't faint at the sight of my own blood, there is just something about paper cuts, that invades my psyche. My point is that CFers live by a different standard of medical tolerance, where some shrink from a flew, sorry "flu" shot, you are upset over coughing up blood. The other week a post caught my funny bone. This poor person, awaiting a DLT is being told they can only pre-emptively remove a liver tumor but won't repair his GERD in preparation for new lungs. We throw DLTs and CFRD around like it's a pimple.

Everything IS relative,

LL