Bronchitis

[Boo]

have you tried antihystamines (sp!) at least you will know it is allergies if they help. Another thing to trie is an air purifier. Even getting a spray bottle with water & misting it around the rooms in your house will help settle any dust particles in the air.

[penzman]

University has aircon? Could be your getting sick from the dirty aircon filters there and at home if you have one.

airborn pathogens like to live in stagnant pools of water in heating and cooling ductwork among other places.

[cathyy]

You might need to keep your asthma under better control, too. People with asthma are so much more prone to develop bronchitis or pneumonia after a minor upper respiratory infection. So, yes, follow all the good advice to reduce the odds of getting that infection, reduce your exposure to the allergens that trigger it, and try to keep the asthma better controlled. You might need to adjust your asthma meds for just the rainy season.

[gisele]

You might need to keep your asthma under better control, too. People with asthma are so much more prone to develop bronchitis or pneumonia after a minor upper respiratory infection. So, yes, follow all the good advice to reduce the odds of getting that infection, reduce your exposure to the allergens that trigger it, and try to keep the asthma better controlled. You might need to adjust your asthma meds for just the rainy season.

I don't have asthma.

I have been using antihystamines, all three series of pills included that.

I haven't used the aircon at home in a long while I prefer the fans, I try not to turn aircon on in my office though the maintenance men came to clean it not too long ago.

[Boo]

Gisele, I think your only option is to visit a different, more specialist doctor, someone who deals with chest problems & maybe an alergy specialist too for skin tests (you know, they rub various things, grass, dirt etc into you & see your reaction).

I really hate this pill culture in thailand & beleive that it does more damage than good, your body is telling you there is a problem, masking it (or not in this case) with what ever pills the doctor throws at you isn't going to work & may even make you worse.

After more than 2 years in the UK, my husband is just getting used to NOT popping pills for every slight ailement (I myself am totally anti pills & don't even like pain killers) but if he mentions even casually to his mother that he has something wrong or is feeling a bit ill, a few days later a parcel of thai brand pharmacy & herbal drugs lands on the door mat.

Imagine if it was one of your kids this sick, would you accept the treatment you have received or would you get more specialist advice & tests?

[gisele]

Boo,

I am with you I have always avoided taking pills,

but now, here, I am subjected to new assaults on my body and I am trying to balance out how much medication is any is better, the first week I was sick I didn't take anything and I just got worse and worse, and taking pills have not really alleviated the symptoms.

I always believed a cold last 7 days, or one week if you take medicine but it doesn't last only one week here, more like a month.

Pills don't cure just help living with the cold but the different cocktails the doctors give me have just not been helpfull that much.

My husband loves to get pills and stuff. He loves taking a pill for just about anything that happens to him. Hard day at work, need a pill, ...

It is hard to have my children get used to my way of thinking with the influence from the grandma sending concoctions and pills any given day. They believe in it so much that I am hard press to not start believing it too, you know what I mean?

I feel like the lone hold-out in a sea of shamanistic hocus pocus.

[cathyy]

I don't have asthma.

Yes, you do. Allergic bronchitis is just another name for allergic asthma.

Since the doc sems to be completely inept, I'll try to give you some advice. You need a steroid inhaler. Pulmicort, Azmacort, or Advair, twice a day. Give it a few days to reduce the inflammation and you should feel much better. If one doesn't work, try one of the others. None of them work for everybody, but one of them will work for everyone. You need an albuterol inhaler for sudden attacks of it being hard to breathe, or in your case when your cough worsens, and you need to carry it with you all the time.

People don't think of asthma when their main symptom is a cough, but it's very common. It could be that you are sensitive to the pollution in the air -you live in BKK?