Sick...again.

[zuzunel09]

If anyone has had similar symptoms or knows of something I haven't tried, please help!  I haven't slept for more than 1 hour in a row in three weeks.  And before we go any further, I use a neti pot twice or more a day and it hasn't done me any good.

Three weeks ago I had the usual start to a cold/sinus infection with fever, aches, sore throat that morphed into coughing, sneezing and stuffiness over the next two weeks.  I had a severe cough that drove me to the ER (but when I got there I just drove home since my coughing fits had stopped).  Saw my gp the next day and she gave me a z-pak, and told me I'd had a sinus infection that turned into bronchitis. 

I took the whole z-pak and at the end felt great, but this was on Friday.  By Sunday I was sick again, even sicker than I originally was.  My cough sounds like a barking seal, my congestion is yellow again, and I have a fever off and on.  I can't sleep at all.  I'm going back to the doctor in the morning, but I'm afraid of taking more antibiotics since I've already caved and taken Sudafed and Robitussin to get through work with minimal coughing. 

What is going on???

[Jaimee]

There are a lot of nasty germs going around this cold and flu season and it sounds like you got one good.  My best guess would be the the z-pack was not strong enough to get rid of it completely.  It killed off the weak ones and now the strong ones remain.  Barking cough is typical of croup, but could be any variety of infections from bronchitis, pneumonia, to whooping cough (which is going around here in MD).  Standard treatment would be listening to you lungs and a second round of stronger AB's.

I went through something similar for a month this Jan./Feb. and I picked up two additional colds at the end of March/early April.  It's just a nasty, nasty season.  Come on Spring!!!  

I hope you feel better soon!