Lungs full of spackle

[NotQuiteCockney]

Ok, it's probably not actually spackle.

I've got a nasty cold. Now, if I breathe deeply it makes a wheezy sort of noise. It's not like asthma (I'm asthmatic), and it makes me want to cough, and sometimes I cough up ... well, spackle.

Is this mucous coming down from my nose? I thought that ended up in the stomach (yum!). Is there anything I can do to cough it up more effectively? It's really interfering with my sleep.

It will be from your lungs & windpipe & stuff. It is the same stuff you get in your nose though .

YOur lungs naturally produce mucous - but when you are healthy there is just enough for what they need. When you have an infection/irritation they produce more to try and get rid of the nasties - which you often cough up to get rid of (along with the nasties it picks up on the way) as it clogs the lungs.

Never heard it called spackle before though.

If you are coughing it up you should dispose of it in a tissue (discusting I know) otherwise you are just swallowing it it potentially put it back where it was.

It's gross no matter what you do with it. I will try to spit it out, at least when I'm doing it while awake ... gah.

That makes sense, about the mucous, anyway.

I'm not sure spackle is a word in the UK, come to think of it. It's grout, more or less.

It sounds like more of a chest infection. Do you have a temperature?

Get some Pulmo Bailly(sp?).

It's a propper old fashioned kind of expectorant medicine. I used it a few years ago when I was choked up with spackle??!!

It tastes like poison but I can vouch 110% for it's effectiveness. You can get it in the chemist.

Hope you will be spackless in no time at all.

No temperature, really. I mean, I might be a tiny bit warmer than usual, but I'm definately not feverish. I'll look for Pulmo Bailly. I was thinking about trying to exercise today, as I find that loosens the spackle, historically. Not sure I have the energy, though, really.

NQC, hope you feel better soon.

Are you american?? (sorry to be dim) Cos what americans call spackle we call polyfiller, I think!

Don't worry about it getting to your stomach, it is supposed to do just that. The acid kills off the bacteria/viruses, it is part of the reason that they acid is there. In fact this happens all the time, even when we don't have a cold.....we are not aware of it but mucus leaves out trachea constantly, beated up to the oestophagus by tiny hairs on the cells that line the trachea.....smoking paralises these hairs, and this is why smokers keep getting chest infections, the hairs dont work, the bacteria stay put and cause infections.

Go easy with the exercises. It's not wise to overexert yourself with viral illnesses.

Canadian, but close enough. Yes, pollyfilla, the stuff you use to patch a wall. It's not quite as thick as that, but it's close.

I remember reading it was ok to carry on exercising as normal (ok, no marathons), as long as the illness was only hitting you from the neck up. Of course, I have spackle in my lungs, so that rule doesn't apply.

I have no choice about some exercise, though, anyway. I am working at the co-op tomorrow, doing food. Then I have to collect DS1 from school, which I normally do by bike (20 minutes each way, at least).

Soz, I realise that it is V annoying for a Canadian to be called American

Sorry about that, and hopw you feel better soon.

Oh God, if I got annoyed every time anyone called me American I'd be annoyed 24/7! No stress!

and i will not ask your to say 'about'

In fact, had you typed it, I'd have known you were canadian!

Dh's mother is half canadian

I found hanging upside down off the end of the bed whilst doing deep breathing and coughing helped shift my spackle. If I was a physio I would call it postural drainage!

Also keep yourself well hydrated. If you don't your spackle will get thicker and even harder to shift.

BTW a (not so) charming old man I once looked after used to call his spackle, "cough meat"!

How wonderfully descriptive![yuck emoticon]

Cod's DH is "Canadian".

What does "half Canadian" mean, actually?

Oooh, had been considering hanging off the side of the bed. Will try that.

My nose has started running like mad, so am drinking a lot of water, otherwise would shrivel up and die.

Gah, and have started being quite warm again.

Her mother was Canadian, her father was Polish, she was born in India, but spent the first 6 years of her life in Nova Scotia. She still has lots fof family in Canada and visits them every year. Real old mix are dh's family!

hello, will try and teach you how to do effective sputum removal breathing exercises (aka Active Cycle of Breathing Technique), via MN (this is v wierd...)

In a relaxed sitting position place your hands at the bottom of your rib cage.
Take a slow deep breath in so your hands move gently apart, and your belly comes out. Your shoulders should not move up towards your ears..all the movement should be at the bottom of your chest.
Hold the breath in for 3 sec.
Repeat 3 times. Try to resist the urge to cough, if you feel a big coughing fit coming on just try to do gentle relaxed breathing (in thro nose, out thro mouth).
After you have done 3 breath holds try a huff.
Imagine you are trying to mist up a mirror, keep the back of your throat open and exhale sharply and strongly (god this is really difficult to describe).
Try 2 to 3 huffs, if you feel the sputum at the back of your throat just cough it up into a tissue.

Have a rest

Repeat above process every 15 mins or so.

The combination of deep breaths plus coughing will eventually assist the sputum to come up without loads of coughing, and making your asthma worse.

Hope this helps a bit.

sorry that shoud be deep breaths plus HUFFING

Oooh, thanks flumpytina, I will give that a go.

I had one night with lots of dry repetitive coughing, and it didn't make my asthma worse, but it did make my throat hurt, and made me not sleep, and then I got DH to buy "dry cough" cough syrup, and my outrage at a) the active ingredients in it (treacle and glucose syrup!) and b) the fact there was a warning about taking it while pg or bf, kept me up last night!

Oooh, are you a physio then? (Oh, we've probably talked about physio before, haven't we. My memory is rubbish ...)

Yes pre slavery was a physio (STILL AM - just not currently practicing !!!! Not all pre retained knowledge has left me yet!)

Yes dangerous stuff is treacle and glucose syrup...that would be sugar and sugar then...can absolutely see how that would be harmful to an unborn or bf child!

Yes, well, quite.

It did have a bit of menthol in it, to make it taste medicinal (oh, and to make life harder for asthmatics, although thankfully I'm not sensitive to that).

Another helpful trick is to take a chair into your bathroom. Fill the sink with REALLY HOT water - and sit leaning over the sink with a towel over your head like a tent, to help contain the steam. Now breathe the steam for 15 minutes!
The moisture really helps to loosen up the phlegm and eases the cough.
If you feel that waqy inclined you can add Vick's to the water, or for the old-fashioned, Friar's Balsam

I think I've been unwittingly sort of doing Flumpytina's Gunk Removal Huffing Technique! Am also suffering with lungs full of muck, and to get a really good "clearing" cough going, I first do the sort of cough that you do right at the end of a coughing fit, when you're nearly out of breath, so just take a small breath and do a big exhale to get a wheeze going, then do a small cough at the end of it with the last bit of breath. Then take a big gulp of air and really cough, it seems to bring up any loose gunk and then fling it forwards for delicate ladylike removal with a hanky!

Just re-read that, sounds completely gross. Hope dh doesn't read it, might not get a shag tonight...

Never sniff EVER. Get someone to whack you on the back rapidly while you face downwards. Use Sudofed Thick and Chesty (could describe lots ofpeople I know) - it's the best cough mixture I've found. Steam and horrible grunting noises help too.