Getting down with the sickness

[thegayhare]

hello all
I hope no one minds me posting this here but I'm looking for advice...

I've been sick now for ohh hell close to a yearIt started off with just a persistant cough that wouldn't leave  about a month in that turned into hacking painfull deep chest coughs,  I figured it was the remnents of a cold or something exaserbated by my job... continuosly moving between 4 differnt clims (freezer, cooler meat room and sales floor) in reapid time for hours a day.  the deep hacking coughs has reverted a bit to a more persistant wet cough.  I know you might be thinking that this is differnt problems but I don't think so .  there hasn't been a day's break in these not one they genrealy hit, mildly in the morning, and realy bad right aafter work in the evening.  with in the last 4 months something new has developed ,  I've been throwing up after work...   It was orriginaly fairly rare I'f be sick maybe once a week in the parking lot on my way to my car,  I eat at work because it hurts if there isn't something there to throw up,  generaly soup, but it's gotten more frequent now it's about 3 nights a week.  Some times I make it to the parking lot, other times it hits me in the department and I use the floor drains or sink (realy adds to my clean up time) some times I can even survive all the way home only to be sick in the drive way.  It's recently change,  It's never happened before but today I was sick while getting ready for work.   hamburg and rice ( the irony of that being a common remedy for settling a dogs stomach is not lost on me) and well since I was getting ready for work I had to dig out another pair of work cloths.

Do you think this is serous? Any Idea what I sould do? Or what it might be?  I've heard everything from a nervous condition to low grade pnmonia...  cough medicies, flu medicien hell even ati allergains arn't effective.  I should see a doctor but I can't afford it,  I still owe for the last doctors visit I took a year back.  and I make about 20 dollars too much a month to qualify for state medical aid (but I am poor enough for food stamps)

sorry too be a bother and thank you for your time

I'll talk to you all after I get home from work

[xHaZxMaTx]

Do I think it is serious?  Hell yes.  Any idea what you should do?  Not if you can't see a doctor.   But you should definately do something.

[Zedd]

Oh dear...Just get better fast....Please try go get something to help you soon...We love you too much to see you go

[Wildy]

Unfortunately I am suggesting you see a Dr. The reason, is if its something in your chest it could be/get serious. There are certain things that still go around, like TB, that are not only harmful to you, but are contageous. I would suggest seeking medical attention or just getting a check up. Perhaps you can just call and talk to your doctor.

Do an online search for a medical hot line or some such. Maybe you can describe the problems to them and they can suggest what might be the problem before you spend the money to go see a Dr.

Considering the work you do having something that you can potentially spread to other people can make it a very serious thing.

I hope this helps and I really hope you start to feeling better, Hare.

[llearch n'n'daCorna]

Here's a thought. How about someone starts collecting money for our friend here to go visit the doctor?

I'd do it, but I'm in a different country, so there's all the import/export of money stuff to deal with. I'll happily donate, however...

[Taskidog]

[superluser]

Unfortunately I am suggesting you see a Dr. The reason, is if its something in your chest it could be/get serious. There are certain things that still go around, like TB, that are not only harmful to you, but are contageous. I would suggest seeking medical attention or just getting a check up. Perhaps you can just call and talk to your doctor.

I'm with Wildy.

One of the really crappy things is that TB primarily infects people with compromised immune systems.  So if you let yourself get sick enough, you leave yourself wide open to get TB.{*}

My suggestion would be to call your health department.  Explain your situation and ask if there are any free/very low cost clinics in your area.  There are usually a few clinics that will do cheap or free consultations.

I don't know how strapped for cash you are, but if you're anything like me, you might be able to scrounge up $50 or so and go to Urgi-Care or your local equivalent.  They don't care what your past is, so long as you pay them.  You might not be able to get that lung transplant through them, but at least you'll know what's wrong and how to deal with it.

My brother is a doctor, and--with your permission--I could ask him about these symptoms.  I'm not sure if professional ethics would allow him to respond, but professional ethics would not prevent me from asking.

{*}(It's one of the Catch-22s about things like a TB vaccine.  Many of us will get TB at some point, but it won't harm us unless we're already sick, and in such cases, a vaccine would be of no help.)

Edit: I just noticed--you're thinking of buying a sword?  Don't do it, and spend that money on Urgicare.  I hate to tell people how to spend their money, but you really need to see a doctor.

[Alondro]

As someone who also works in biomedicine, I can concur with what others have said already.  It could be chronic pneumonia, or TB, or even a fungal infection. 

Clinical information:

Symptoms include: cough that is worse in the morning (sometimes with hemoptysis, blood in the sputum), chest pain, breathlessness, night sweats, and signs of pneumonia. In advanced disease, there may be extreme weight loss. Examination with a stethoscope may reveal diminished breath sounds, bronchial breathing, tracheal deviation, and coarse crackles. Tuberculosis is difficult to diagnose because the signs and symptoms are seen in other diseases, such as the following:

Carcinoma of the lung (frequently creates cavities in lung tissue)
Pneumonia (can proceed to cavitation and resemble TB on chest x-ray)
Allergic bronchopulmonary asperigollosis (marked by inflammatory granulomatous lesions in bronchi)
Sarcoidosis, allergic alveolitis, pneumoconiosis, silicosis (biopsy and allergy screening eliminate these from diagnosis; silicosis predisposes to tuberculosis)

Diagnosis depends on isolating the bacterium, Mycobacterium tuberculosis (in the same genus as the leprosy bacterium, M. leprae) from sputum smear and bactial culturing.

Chest x-ray reveals cavitation, calcification (healed disease), and nodes in the upper lobes, but cannot confirm the diagnosis. Granulomas with caseation obtained in biopsy indicate the diagnosis, but if caseation is not present, other possible diagnoses include sarcoidosis and lymphoma.

[bill]

With all due respect to those posting here, you really shouldn't consult an internet forum for medical information. I recommend seeing a doctor, if only for a diagnosis. It's a sort of a "better safe than sorry" kinda thing. And that's where my knowledge stops.

[Alondro]

Heh, it rather helps that I work in Children's Hospital/University of Pennsylvania with several MDs in our lab, one of whose practice involves respiratory illnesses.    

But yes, he needs to be properly diagnosed.  All I can really do is stress that those symptoms cannot be taken lightly.  They indicate a very chronic pulmonary infection of some kind.  The vomiting may not be a direct result of the infection, but rather acute inflammation of the diaphragm, esophagus, and gastric cardia due to the long-term excessive cough.  But the cough alone is more than enough for concern.  Any cough that has lasted for an entire year and intensifies as time goes on is a warning of potentially serious pathology.

[bill]

My medical knowledge comes from House MD. Remember, it's never Lupus!

[thegayhare]

Edit: I just noticed--you're thinking of buying a sword?  Don't do it, and spend that money on Urgicare.  I hate to tell people how to spend their money, but you really need to see a doctor.

Ehh No worries there I was actualy trying to convince my sister to get it for me for christmass

Instead she's going to help me repair a few things for my car

so the concensis is go see a doctor

damn
thats gonna cost

Oh well


Squeee thanks taski
*nuzzles*

[Shadrok]

One thing you could do till your able to visit a Doctor is look here.

http://www.webmd.com/

But you should definitely make an appointment to see a doctor as soon as you can though.

[Brunhidden]

tuberculosis? i hgihly doubt it, if hassenfeffer here had TB for the last year or so chances are he would need the assistance of a necromancer to have alerted us this late.

thats not saying that i wouldnt be proud to count our homo homie as the first of my minions...assuming i needed minions for some reason...but the rest of you (not to mention HIM) probably preffer a heartbeat befitting a lagomorph.

my best guess is that a doc wll mention its likely bronchitis, or possibly a liasion of the esophogas (caused by stomach acids or other caustic fluids burning a hole in your protective mucous coating). neither is deathly serious, but both need to be adressed promptly before extremely permanent damage takes place.

if its bronchitis you will probably be put on heavy duty antibiotics and possibly some steroids, if its liasions in the esophogas the best remedy on the market is priosec which will hopefully reduce the heartburn like symptoms that raise acid to the esophogas, speed healing of the esophogas wall, and help repair your mucous coating.

big secret about prilosec though-  prilosec over the counter may be a bit pricey but the perscription version can cost upwards of two hundred bucks without insureance....but prilosec OTC is just a reduced dose of the perscription strength, so if your insureanceless just buy extra (i think its a quarter dose of the perscription, so four times the directions on the box if your doc says buy the perscription) OTC and call your doc every month to report your progress.

I don't need no doctor

But I need something to kill the pain

Don't know what I'm after

But the pressure driving me insane

[/glow]

[superluser]

tuberculosis? i hgihly doubt it, if hassenfeffer here had TB for the last year or so chances are he would need the assistance of a necromancer to have alerted us this late.

Well, I don't know what Wildy was thinking, but my point about TB was that it develops in people who are already sick, and that if you leave yourself sick for long enough, TB could find you.

[Alondro]

That's not always true about TB.  Some people have low-level TB infections for several years without it turning fatal.  It all depends on the immune response of the individual, the virulence of the mycobacterial strain, and the genetic quirks that can change other physiological responses to infection.

TB doesn't even always attack the lungs.  It can infect other areas of the body as well without ever getting to the lungs, which can complicate diagnosis in those individuals.  The pulmonary type is simply the most common and best known, but even then, people in the general public who know about have a very stereotyped notion of what a TB infection should look like, which isn't always true.  Thus, testing for it is a must for health professionals when presented with a patient who's suffered from a persistent cough.

Non-productive cough isn't always the type you get with TB.  It can have a wet cough as well.  Like I said, it depends on the individual infection.

Infectious diseases don't always do the same things in each person.  West Nile Virus is a perfect example.  Some people don't get any symptoms other than a mild headache.  Some other die.

These days, with TB making a comeback due to the emergence of antibiotic-resistant strains, major hospitals will always test for TB in cases of chronic cough.  I had to have a TB vaccination before I started working in the lab as a precaution, and I'm rarely ever near patients or clinical samples. 

[superluser]

That's not always true about TB.  Some people have low-level TB infections for several years without it turning fatal.  It all depends on the immune response of the individual, the virulence of the mycobacterial strain, and the genetic quirks that can change other physiological responses to infection.

Yes.  That's what I was trying to say.  Leaving yourself sick will make it more likely that you will have a compromised immune system, and if you have a latent TB infection or come in contact with someone who does, you could get a very bad case of TB.

Anyways, see a doctor and get well soon, TGH!

[Wildy]

I was not suggesting that he had TB necessarily, it was just the only example of something contageous that I could think of at the time. And I remember my dad and I just being in the hospital at the same time as someone that had TB and we both had to be called back to get a shot.

If it were something like that and he's had it for a year. Everyone he's been exposed to for that year -could- be at risk. Including all those that were in contact with him at Anthrocon. So -if- it is something serious and contageous not only is it good for him to know but it might be helpful for some of us to possibly know as well, should we start seeing the same symptoms.