To think this illness needs investigating?

[TeenTitans]

I've had a cough for four weeks, and I'm coughing up nuclear green phlegm (charming I know) and having intense coughing fits that have caused me to pass out multiple times and vomit. Twice I got sent home from out of hours and told it's viral even though I was tachycardic with high resp rate.

It was getting worse and I started getting a pain in my ribs so made a GP appointment and ended up collapsing in the waiting room, and they've now told me it's likely pneumonia with pleurisy and a cracked rib and given me antibiotics and codeine.

It's still getting worse and now I can barely move from pain and can't walk due to huge coughing fits. I've been given oramorph which helps but I'm concerned that no one seems bothered why I've been affected this badly by a cheat infection? Anyone had this?

Anyone?

No one here can diagnose why you're poorly

Call your GP and ask to speak to a Dr if you're worried.

Hope you feel better soon!

I haven't asked people to diagnose, just whether I'm right in thinking they're being very blasé about what looks fairly serious and whether anyone has any personal anecdotes about similar situations.

I've had pleurisy and it was agony, I thought I was dying. Combined with the pneumonia there's no wonder you feel so awful. Did the doctor say to go back in a week or so if it hadn't cleared up?

How long have you been on the anti biotics for? Did they take a phlegm sample so they know which anti biotics to give? If it’s getting worse go and see your doctor.

My immediate reaction was pneumonia as a friend had it recently with those symptoms. She needed weeks of bed rest. So maybe see if there is any improvement with the meds and full bed rest.
Also a cracked rib is horrendously painful so hard to separate the two.
If you are not happy could you just turn up at emergency hospital but if left waiting there for any length it will only exhaust you and you will feel worse.
The broken rib is probably stopping you from clearing with a proper cough. It's going to take a while and much pain killers for the rib.
( l am not medically trained just saw my friend take at least 6 weeks to recover)
Rest and more rest.

I also feel like I'm dying. I feel like some tragic Victorian heroine confined to bed dying of consumption.

No they just said the antibiotics should clear it up

Have you had a chest x ray? Blood tests? When my DH had double pneumonia the GP sent him straight to A&E and he was kept in for IV antibiotics. The first things they did were the tests above so they knew what ABs he needed.

Have you phoned 111?

This is from the nice guidelines on pneumonia:

Advise the person to seek medical advice within 3 days if symptoms do not begin to improve, or earlier if symptoms worsen, as hospital admission may be needed.
Explain to the person that after starting antibiotic treatment, symptoms should improve, although the rate of improvement will vary with the severity of illness. Discuss the natural history of pneumonia symptoms, that by:
1 week — fever should have resolved.
4 weeks — chest pain and sputum production should have substantially reduced.
3 months — most symptoms should have resolved but fatigue might still be present.
6 months — symptoms should have fully resolved.

You can read the rest here to work out if the gp followed the guidelines to diagnose you cks.nice.org.uk/chest-infections-adult#!scenario:1

It sounds horrible and I can understand why you’re concerned.

I've had pneumonia twice and it was horrible, really really painful and took about 8 weeks to get over completely but both times I was given 2 types of antibiotics and steroids. It's a horrible illness that makes you feel very very ill but if you feel you are getting worse then I would see a doctor again or ring 111.

Go back and get checked again if your symptoms are worse. I got pneumonia after having my little girl and ended up on oxygen in ITU with a lot of medication x

4 weeks of the same for me (so far and still going), 5 weeks for DW - viral pneumonia and no amount of anti-biotics will help, only rest and time. Sorry you are having so much pain and stress it really is nasty, I hope it passes quicker for you

If this doesn't clear up soon I think it should be investigated. At least a chest Cray and blood tests

X ray!

Goto A&E or your local walk in with an xray dept. Stress you feel you are not being taken seriously or treated efficiently. Stand your ground.

No I haven't had X rays or bloods they've just based this off symptoms.

When I had a bad chest infection the GP sent me to hospital. I had a yuck procedure to check oxygen levels then kept in for two days.

It was a yuck period for sure.

If you're getting worse I'd call the GP again.

Twice I got sent home from out of hours and told it's viral even though I was tachycardic with high resp rate. Viral infections can cause this too. There is also a viral strain of pneumonia. What exactly are you asking? Do you feel the doctors have got it wrong?