[fatdoc]

and always use a spacer type device, to improve dose getting into the lungs.

BTW, FWIW

I slogged out a higher gear than usual 16km quick road ride this morning.. getting some base lines for the training programme for the Spring sportive season...

I was fine on the bike ( for me... 5 sprockets higher in equivalance to previous autumns) and really enjoyed the hills..

but I wheezed to a point of fumbling for an inhaler in near desperation on getting home..... viral pneumonia sucks...most say it's 12 months to get back, and from an anaesthetic point of view your airways can be a bit * reactive*... if you have a GA

[GCW]

Or it could be exercise induced asthma...... 

[jfw]

when did you have pneumonia fatdoc?

my february chest infection was the worst and cleared with erythromycin, but as soon as i finished the course (literally the day after) i got ill again (albeit with a cold).

i went for a short jog this eve, and damp cool air had a me more of a wheeze on than normal - think i might have a bit of an infection at the mo. (probably viral, though tending a bit green on the phlegm side). need to be more disciplined in taking my resting heart rate as an indicator - but i think i am a bit tired/stressed this week.

[Falling Down]

I woke up this morning wheezing and coughed up chunks. This thread is both worrying and educational.

[nik at work]

Or it could be exercise induced asthma...... 

Don't get me started, I can feel one of my rants coming on...

[GCW]

Rant induced asthma?
It's been shown that asthma is much more common in people of lesser stature, especially hirsute ones.

Asthma is a label that is hard to get rid of once it is pinned upon you, hence I'm always a little cautious about using it.

[fatdoc]

yeah... well i no doubt had for years as a kid and no one sorted it.. what I was trying to say is if you are suffering but previously well... be patient. It takes a long time to get better.

[rodma]

You should always rinse your mouth after a steroid inhaler, otherwise you'll be prone to thrush and mouth soreness.

Hmmm, why didn't my GP tell me this 

Thanks for that, I'll start rinsing as of today, my GP only said to rinse if I dound the taste overly unpleasant.

[jfw]

rodma - you can buy a spacer device from any chemist too.

the powder comes out of inhalers so fast that unless you have amazing technique (and even then to a degree) it coats the back of your throat more than being inhaled.

a tube or more open device lets a  kind of "cloud" of your medicine form which you can inhale more of.

cos they are not super compact i don't use a spacer for my blue in haler - but its no hassle for an inhaler you are generally just doing twice a day. i try to do my inhaler just before i brush my teeth as it sorts the rinsing thing out. if you uses a sacer this will also be kiinder on your mouth.

[rodma]

Good knowledge, i'll buy one from the chemists and be eating spicy food again before i know it

[jfw]

got months trial of PPI from docs this morning

[The Sausage]

I'm no doctor, so don't really know much about this sort of thing...
...but, could there be something rumbling along in the background like an atypical pneumonia that wouldn't show up on a normal sputum sample?
I worked (as a physio) a while back on specilized medicine at the Hallamshire, and I remember doing some 'induced sputum samples' whereby the patient runs a super tiny particle nebuliser with a (i think) hypertonic solution (is that the right word for something that's salter than us?) going through it. It basically enables the patient to cough up phlegm from much deeper in the lungs and is used for diagnosing Tb and other atypical nasties.
Hoefully somene with a far greater medical knowledge than me can add something to this..?

[saltbeef]

chest radiograph etc?

[GCW]

...but, could there be something rumbling along in the background like an atypical

Unlikely without other symptoms, but worth considering if nothing settles with time.

[jfw]

despite having coughed up loads of sputum samples into tissues round my house - i've never given one to a doctor

i did have a clear chest x-ray though

i'm wondering if next time i get a bacterial chest infection i can ask for a slightly longer than usual course of antibiotics(as the last course i did i seemed to relapse as soon as i finished it)

after PPI yest (but also no running) i had no coughing in the night and was about to pronounce myeslf cured til i started coughing up this morning. but someone mentioned patience