At what point do I go to the GP with what is basically a cold?

[NotTHEBupcake]

I've had a cold for about 10 days now. It has come and gone, so I'll feel fine for most of the day and then suddenly my nose is streaming, eyes itchy and watering etc. DH also has it, so I don't think it's hay fever or anything.

About 5 days ago I started feeling "chesty" and wheezy, fairly normal for a cold. But since then I've been having bouts of breathlessness, like it's really hard to take a breath.

I checked the NHS website and it says some breathlessness is normal with a chest infection, but it should clear up on its own. I'm a bit scared though, as the breathlessness has really been quite bad - feels like if it got much worse I'd have to go to hospital.

Is it worth going to the GP, or would I be wasting their time? I've had some bad chest infections over the years, but never been this breathless with them.

Talk it thru with a pharmacist.

I don’t think you’d be unreasonable to see GP. There’s a chance it’s pneumonia

The problem with going to the pharmacist is that I can't go until lunchtime tomorrow. GP has open surgery in the morning and I could be there first thing, but it only runs till 11ish and I have an appointment for DD elsewhere at 9.15 - so by the time that's over and I get to a pharmacy, if they say "see your GP", open surgery will be over for the day, and the next one is Thursday.

Also I'm not sure whether a pharmacist could do much - wouldn't they need to listen to my chest to find out whether there's an infection?

I mean this nicely but, listen to yourself. If anyone else told you they had prolonged and worsening breathlessness and were at the point of going to hospital, what would you say?

Obviously, I'd march them straight to the GP/walk-in centre

If you're having trouble breathing it's absolutely not wasting a gps time to go and see them! A pharmacist cant take a history and listen to your chest so in this case I dont think they would help. If your breathing gets worse before you see the gp then phone nhs24 and get an out of hours appointment or go to a and e if ypure really concerned. Hope you feel better soon.

Haha! Well done! Hope you feel better soon

let us know what gp said

Go see your GP - you're breathless - if nothing else they can prescribe salbutamol which will help with wheezing - but sounds like someone needs a quick listen to your chest - what's your temperature like? It's probably nothing but salbutamol really helps

Let us know how you get on

Thanks for all the replies.

Not sure about my temperature; don't have an accurate thermometer at home. I've felt hot and then cold a few times, but the temperature outside has been all over the place so I'm blaming that!

Definitely a GP you need to see rather than a pharmacist.

Get an appointment with your GP. Better safe than sorry.

From personal experience I've found pharamacists a complete waste of time unless you've got something like a cut on your finger...........

Could you go to an out of hours/walk-in centre this evening if you have places to be in the morning?

You could try 111 to see what their advice is - a lot of the time they can book an OOH app for you so your not sat waiting

DH is out, so I can't really go out as I'd have to bring the kids. I think I'll be fine till morning anyway.

My mum had this. She was diagnosed with leukaemia 3 days later. I'm not saying this because I think you have leukaemia but just to highlight that breathlessness should be investigated and no reasonable GP will think you are wasting their time. In my job I see a lot of medical records and you wouldn't believe some of the truly trivial things some people bother their GP with.

I know, @Oysterbabe - my aunt used to work in a GP surgery, and she had some awful stories of people demanding emergency appointments for really trivial things!

I had that and a pain in my chest. Pushed baby to Drs apt. They called an ambulance because they thougjt I had a pulmonary embollism. Started with a cold. It was only pleurisy - just 5 days in hospital.

Go to the GP, you are not wasting their time but obvs I hope it's something and nothing.

Just go. I am still having to live with the guilt over my husband's admittance to hospital. I kept minimising his symptoms and encouraging him to go to work. Ended up in hospital for a full week. Honestly just go and get checked out.

Just go to doctors - as others have said it will rule anything truly bad out, and if nothing else hopefully you’ll get a ventolin to help your breathing until you start to get better.

We have all had flu OP, and my dd was the same as you and your dh.
Mine was gastric too.
it lasts about 2 weeks and the symptoms seem to change and vary a lot.
None of us have any idea where it came from, I got it first.

Ok, I'll go to GP in the morning. Need to be there ridiculously early to make sure I'm in and out in time to get to DD's appointment, but thankfully they have open surgery to go to.

Thanks for all the advice!

I was convinced that I shouldn’t bother the Gp with a virus that wasn’t getting better after ten days. I ended up in hospital for two weeks with sepsis.

Thanks for the advice - went to the GP, who diagnosed a nasty chest infection, so I'm now on antibiotics.

I've had something just like this.. I did a post Flu in August.

I had blood tests done too as the breathlessness frightened me .. must be some kind of virus going around cos my mum got exactly the same

@Tensun15 how did you get on at the doctor?