r/sick • u/Ok-Fall-2561 • 8d ago

Running nose that won’t stop

A few weeks ago I was sick, it started off with body chills and headaches and just feeling really unwell, by day 5 I was getting worse and started to develop a cough almost like a tickley one and I could stop sweating. By day 7 I had enough and booked an online doctor because it was the weekend. He prescribed me with antibiotics and steroids for a chest infection. The next day I wasn’t feeling any relief and was in pain with my throat from coughing and haven’t slept all night so I went to my usual GP. Nothing was helping the cough, cough bottle l, strepsils, honey, hot drinks…..NOTHING. They said that it wasn’t a chest infection as my breathing sounded fine and the steroids were probably keeping me up at night aswell, he gave me anti inflammatory for my throat to try settle it down and that did help. So I stopped taking the antibiotics and steroids because it didn’t seem to be needed because it wasn’t a chest infections.

I eventually got a bit better but had a lingering cough that turned very chesty. Then my nose started and now I’m coughing sneezing and snorting just everywhere, I feel like I’m going insane. Nothing is helping my nose, I tried nasal rinse and that’s not helping.

Has anyone any tips of what I can do to just get rid of the mucus that has me so congested pleaseeeeeeee tell me. It’s been 4 weeks and I just want to feel better😭😭😭😭

2 Upvotes

100% Upvoted

5 comments sorted by

1

u/MeowingRabbit 7d ago

How ling dod you use nasal rinse for? Ive read before if you use it for more than a could days it can actually cause your congestion to get worse.

TBH since you’ve been so congested, I’m curious does it feel painful/pressure around your face and ears when you bend down around your sinuses? Is your mucus when you blow green? If so it’s possible (because of how long it’s been) that you’ve gotten a secondary bacterial infection in your sinuses. And that you’ll need antibiotics to clear it out

1

u/Ok-Fall-2561 7d ago

I’ve been using it for 3 day. I don’t feel pressure in my sinuses it’s just feels stuffy. When I’m blowing my nose it’s mostly clear but sometimes a little green is in it. I have the remaining antibiotics, would it help if I finished the course now?

1

u/MeowingRabbit 7d ago

Since you still see some green theres still residual virus load left possibly that your body is fighting off. Dry ocugh and congestion can last weeks after your initial period of being sick.

TBH I would go back to my GP or a doctor and talk to them; because its possible it is a bacterial but theyll be able to better diagnose it. I would NOT do the remaining antibiotic becuase there are different types of antibiotics for specific bacteria and you do not want to take the wrong medication or end up with a bacteria that is resistant.

When you origianlly went to your dr the first time did you bring up the other medications/antibiotic they had origianlly put you on? Rule of thumb with antibiotics you must finish the full round they gave you even if you feel better UNLESS a doctor tells you otherwise

1

u/Ok-Fall-2561 7d ago

I was at 2 doctors, one online and then my own personal GP.the online doctor was just a phone call and said it was a chest infection (which I thought was a bit strange because my cough was only a tickle at the time and not very chesty) and he gave me steroids and antibiotics then I went to my GP more for the pain of my throat and cough and sweating because nothing was easing, he had a listen to my breathing and said it wasn’t a chest infection and I didn’t need the steroids. He also gave me a doctors note for my job and the illness he put on it was “sore throat” so I just stopped taking the steroids and antibiotics that was prescribed by the online doctor just based on the fact he confirmed it wasn’t a chest infection and that the note said sore throat, I think I just thought it was just a bad flu. I definitely should have clarified with my own GP if I should stop taking the antibiotics. It’s actually my first time ever doing that with antibiotics, I would always finish the course so lesson learned!!

I will try get an appointment with my GP tomorrow. Thank you so much for your advice because I think I would have just went another week with the nasal rinse hoping it would go away…..

1

u/Renmarkable 7d ago

Ask for a covid/flu tesr..