[pegasus]

Mmm..... Well I have had flu 3 times this winter so far, and this last bout isn't clearing up. It's thick and green... gross.

I have discussed this with T and I know it's because I'm not really taking care, staying up late studying and not sleeping or eating properly. I'm busy and kinda pleased with that but feeling really grotty with all this snot and coughing.

And I won't go to the Doctors because I don't like Doctors...

I'm just really awkward, how am I gonna get rid of this?

[SweetSunshine]

Peg ~

You know I luv ya right? You aint gonna like what I got to say here.. so hold your horses lol. I am worried about you . You sound like you got a sinus infection at the least.. if not a upper respiratory/ bronchial infection. If you keep letting this go and dont get to the doctor.. your gonna wind up in the hospital with pneumonia. So please be a wise horse and go to the doc and get something for this soon. Its the best thing you can do for you right now .. if you want to get over this .

Luv ya much Peg
Bethy

[Perna]

Yes, thick and green is infection/bronchitis and not flu.

http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/bro...031/DSECTION=2

[Pita]

I agree with Sweet Sunshine and Perna - you are going to need antibiotics to get rid of the crud you have. I know - I hate doctors too but you are just going to have to go and get some antibiotics if you do not want to end up lots worse.
Sorry!

[pegasus]

Thanks (((((((( All ))))))))

I think you are probably right. I feel really yucky today, I'll think about going to the doctors.

[pegasus]

ok, ok, I'm going to the Doctors, wish me luck.

[SweetSunshine]

YAY!!!!!! I am so happy that you decided to go!! Best of luck.. let us know how your doing when you feel up to it sweetie. I am sure everything will go fine.

Luv ya
Bethy

[pegasus]

Thanks for caring.

I had the strangest experience there. I saw the Nurse practitioner and we ended up discussing work stuff. He was telling me that HE is up till 2am every night, I did wonder who was helping who at one point! He didn't give me any antibiotics, but I do feel like I have made a new friend! We talked for ages!

I have got to try and rest now.

[SweetSunshine]

YOu didnt get anything for this? Nothing at all? Uhmmmmm.. sounds like he was quacky. If your having so much trouble getting over this ... I am sure you needed antibiotics.

Hope you feel better soon Peg.. Sounds like you should see someone else too Peg.. He sounds very unprofessional .

[Perna]

Maybe not SweetSunshine, read what this doctor says:

http://www.drjen4kids.com/SickKids/greensnot.htm

You'd better rest, Pegasus, and drink lots of water, and take care of yourself!

[pegasus]

Yeah, he did say that he thought it was another virus.

The thing is I work with children so of course I'm catching whatever illness is going. I guess it's up to me to learn better self-care. I have got a week off to recover.

I don't think the nurse practitioner was a quack, I just think he wanted to talk with someone else who is into psychology and I have to say it was nice to talk with someone else about it too.

I have been instructed to rest and drink plenty fluids, and to go back in a week if I'm any worse.

Now, where did I put the toilet roll?

yeah, anti-biotics tend to be over-prescribed. lots of fluids and some healthy food should help. in the majority of cases where anti-biotics are prescribed people get better about as well as they would have without the anti-biotics. but they credit their getting better to the anti-biotics and come to believe that taking them was responsible for their recovery. By prescribing anti-biotics so much we are basically (unintentionally) breeding strains of super-bugs that don't respond well to anti-biotics. very dangerous... especially for the very young and very old...

I'd have more faith in a doc that was hesitant to prescribe them than a doc who gave them to me on demand...

hang in there.

[pegasus]

Well, I'm much worse today.

Green snot galore and coughing up yuck too. My tubes are all inflamed and I'm so weak.

So I rang a Doctor and explained the situation, she knows I'm not the sort of person to be going to the Doctors for nothing and she was writing me a script as we were talking on the phone. She said she could tell how ill I was from how I sounded on the phone. So now I have some antibiotics and hopefully I'll start to get better.

[Perna]

Oh, Peg! Hope you feel better soon. You having the antibio delivered or do you have to go out and get it?

[SweetSunshine]

Keeping you in my thoughts Peg. Take care ok?

[pegasus]

Yeah, someone is bringing it to me, I just don't have any energy what so ever.

I'm so glad I spoke to a Doctor this time, and someone that knows me, the Nurse practitioner was very nice but got side-tracked, probably by me talking so much!

Least I can hold on to the fact that I will start getting better now.

Not prescribing anti-biotics isn't about not taking the patient seriously, or not believing that they are sick. Not prescribing anti-biotics SHOULD be about assessing whether the sickness is due to bacteria or virus (anti-biotics are ineffective against viruses) and also whether the person IS likely to get better faster with anti-biotics. The more people who are on them, the more superbugs that are non-responsive to them evolve. It isn't about not believing you or minimising your distress, it is about practicing as a responsible clinician...

Even with bacterial infections... I think that anti-biotics only tend to assist cold/flu type sicknesses by knocking an average of two days off recovery time. And then often you have side-effects to deal with such as yeast infection etc etc.

That being said, I really do hope that you get better soon!
I just really wish that legitimating someones distress didn't have to be about prescribing them what they think they need...

[pegasus]

Hello alexandra k, yeah I do think that by and large antibiotics are prescribed too much.

But I'll give you some history here. I have had three bouts of flu this winter complicated by my asthma. I failed to get a flu jab because I had flu at the time and then didn't get round to it.

Now, I'm not a medical Doctor, but I do know an awful lot about my own health. When speaking with my Doctor this morning she stated, 'That I was more qualified than the Nurse that I had seen the day before...' which was probably why he got side-tracked and we had ended up talking about studying instead. The nurse was telling me he is doing quantitive research etc...which was interesting but was completely off the point of why I was at the Doctors. So I had walked out of the surgery having failed to tell him how ill I really was. Having had this for 2 weeks and several bouts of it over the last 3 months. Also the Nurse hadn't bothered to listen to my chest or properly examine me as we were talking so much!

I'm not saying I'm a medical Doctor but I am saying that I know more about my health than anyone else and my Doctor knows that too.

[nothemama8]

cyber sending corks for your snot nice nose, just don't sneeze on computor,

[Perna]

Oh, not being able to breathe and having the asthma at the same time; I'm trying to dodge that. Fortunately I haven't gotten colds, flus, etc. in my past life (no, not exactly reincarnated, not yet at least) so I'm hoping that won't happen too often now that I've added the asthma.

Okay. It was just that you said you had the 'flu' / a 'virus' - and anti-biotics aren't effective against 'flu' / a 'virus'. Though if a secondary bacterial infection develops they can help a little with that.

I'm not sure that one can tell whether one has a virus compared with a bacterial infection on the basis of ones first person perspective - without taking a sample and running tests. But still...

I hope you feel better soon...

[BlueFaith]

((( peg ))) I hope you feel better soon!!

[pegasus]

Aww... Thanks everyone for the support.

I got a big bag of used tissues here.You should see the stuff that's coming out on the tissue, or maybe not! I don't want to gross you all out.

[sabby]

((((((((((( pegasus )))))))))))))))

Sending healing thoughts your way! I guess it's better that it's coming out than staying in eh?

Take good care

sabby

[pegasus]

Thanks sabby, Yep, I agree, better out than in!