Thursday, February 23, 2006

Taking the over-achiever thing too far

Day 17 of The Cough that Wouldn't Die and the doctor wanted to see me again.

The good news: I'm officially over the sick part of being sick. No more fever, no more runny nose, no more aches and pains, no more not wanting to eat for three days at a time, no more gurgly lungs. In fact, he said my lungs are all clear now.

Better news: NOT whooping cough.

The bad news: I've got myself a stellar case of bronchitis.

He said it's a vicious cyle - you cough because the airway is irritated, and the coughing causes further irritation. It's texbook, and it's where I'm at - I can't stop coughing because I can't stop coughing. Faaaantastic.

He said "Congratulations!" and laughed. He explained that it was quite an accomplishment and that I couldn't have gotten myself a better case of bronchitis if I'd set out to do it. Oh, and he called my cough "impressive."

He gave me a steroid inhaler and some narcotic cough syrup - he said all we can do at this point is try to suppress the cough and reduce the inflammation in the airways enough to break the cycle.

Great news: since my lungs are clear he gave me a green light to exercise again. I just have to take cough suppressants before and expect to cough extra after.

No comments: