Bronchitis For The First Time (Age 23) - Are these symptoms normal?

[skittle021]

Hey guys, just joined the forum today, so I hope this is the right place to post this sort of question.

I'm a 23 year old male with CF. I was diagnosed at 2 weeks old, and was never hospitalized until I was 11. I've only been hospitalized 4 times in my entire life - I've been quite lucky.

A couple weeks ago, I took a trip to Florida. After coming back home from Florida, I began feeling very weak, short of breath, and had some minor chest pain when taking deep breaths. I went to my general doctor, as my CF doctor is out of town for the next month. He said that my symptoms sounded like bronchitis. He then prescribed 10 days of Bactrim, but said that if I don't feel better in that amount of time, to call back and he will prescribe an additional 4 days.

I am currently on day 7 of bactrim, and am still having a pretty decent amount of shortness-of-breath. It's much better than it was, but not usual for me. I usually have an FEV1 score of 89-93%, and right now, I feel about like 75%.

I'm just wondering, is it normal for bronchitis to take this long to clear up? I hear that bronchitis is pretty common in CF patients, so I'm hoping you guys will have some experience in this area.

I normally take 2 mile walks every day (when possible), but have barely been able to walk down the street and back without feeling like I'm going to pass out. I'm getting very worried.

Thanks for any help,
Ty

 

[kenna2]

Welcome to the forum! Yes this is a very common thing with CF patients. I can't really tell you how long it takes to go away because it depends on the person. However, I do know usually oral medications can treat it, but sometimes IV meds are needed to help resolve it. Unfortunately, this can become a chronic problem that requires meds more often. It's part of aging with CF. But for now, it sounds like you're good and hopefully this will clear up soon for you. It never hurts to throw in an additional vest treatment or albuterol to help get things moving. For pain, try heat or pain meds. That might relieve and help with the inflammation. Also try and rest and hydrate. That will help too. Good luck!

 

[Rebjane]

Hi there, I hope you are feeling better. I actually would call you doctor and check in especially since you say this is not usual for you.You may need a longer course of antibiotics(10 day course is very short for someone with CF) We do a 14 day course for my daughter to start. Also, doing extra VEST or Chest PT and nebulizer is good like the other poster suggested. Increase fluids. Have you had a recent sputum culture too? Just to make sure you are on the right antibiotic and not needing something different.

In addition, my daughter (who is the one with CF, not me) sometimes needs a steroid to calm down the inflammation in her lungs to work with the antibiotic when she is having a respiratory exacerbation. It's always ok to call the doctor to check in; that's what they get paid for.

 

[Ratatosk]

I would doublecheck with your CF doctor to see if you're on the correct meds for whatever infection you have, as well as to make sure it's not pneumonia. Sometimes general practice doctors aren't as attuned to what to listen for with CF lungs. Especially if you, who know your body the best, is not bouncing back like you usually do. I once had a pediatrician tell us that our infant wcf cough was normal because people wcf cough, it's what they do. Turns out he DID have bronchitis. Fortunately his cf doctor recognized the symptoms, put him on an antibiotic based on culture results. Increased CPT, got him on abx and he was fine after a few days.