At what point do you know you need antibiotics? For chest infection

[cantthinkofaname2021]

Hello!
I have had a cold/cough for coming up to 5 days now, only low grade fever, body aches have gone but my chest hurts from coughing and I'm coughing up thick phlegm which was green but turning white, now it's gone back to green this morning, my head is feeling congested
At what point would I call gp or should I just wait it out?

I had a lot of chest infections in my teens, and never had antibiotics or even went to the doctors they always cleared up by themselves, it could take up to a couple of weeks and I remember feeling unwell with them but always resolved themselves.

If it’s no better in a few days or you feel worse it would be worth contacting your GP.

I would call today for that without a doubt. They may say wait, they may not. But call.

Actually I just googled and based on the NHS advice, leave it for a few days. www.nhs.uk/conditions/chest-infection/

From your description of the symptoms (cold, congested head etc) it sounds very likely to be viral so antibiotics wouldn’t be much help. Having said that if you got worse again ie started having high fevers, worsening cough, chest pain when breathing or moving, difficulty breathing then you might have got a secondary bacterial infection (though this is rare) and should get checked out.
If you have diabetes or some other problem with your immune system have a lower threshold for calling the GP though
Hope you feel better soon

Also, cough following a viral infection can last for at least 3 weeks unfortunately. As long as you aren’t getting worse in any other way it’s ok to just wait till it goes