Cough and chest pain going on for nearly 2 months

[Miatherma]

So basically what the title says, i went down with a viral illness in mid July, was sick for ages and ended up with a severe cough that wouldn't budge, I managed to see gp on the 11th of August (a month ago) who prescribed antibiotics and mentioned I might have asthma (mother has asthma) so was also given a blue inhaler. I took the antibiotics still felt rubbish but thought it would eventually die down, fast forward to last weekend, pain in the back and accompanied by middle sternum pain and more coughing, shortness of breath ect. Went to walk in who was pretty unhelpful, refused to do chest xray and just gave me more antibiotics. Contacted my gp who agreed to send me for a chest xray and also given a brown inhaler. I'm now due finish the antibiotics tomorrow and still have bad chest pain right in the middle and pain in back. I'm so so tired, my lymph nodes are up all in my chest and neck and the results for the xray might take 2 weeks. I'm just so beaten by this all. I haven't been well in general since the beginning of the year (sweating, bowel changes, skin rashes ect) nobody seems to be able to help me.

If you still have the cough and it is productive, ask to have the mucus tested for AB resistance. Constant coughing is tiring on the smooth muscle and this may be the source of your pain. Steroids are usually prescribed to ease the inflammation and help things calm down. How are you getting on with the inhaler? Are you taking it through a spacer? Were you also asked to track your peak flow?

@unsync unfortunately it's not been productive the whole time 😕
I'm finding the brown inhaler is making my voice very husky and having to clear my throat alot, I'm guessing from the steroid? I wasn't given a spacer or told to track anything.

A spacer would help with the huskiness as it stops the medecine hitting the back of your throat and helps it reach the lungs. You need to rinse the back of your throat every time after using the inhaler or you can get thrush. Try having a gargle and then drinking some water - that should help a bit. It would be worth asking for a spacer as it will really help.

The peak flow tracking is usually done to see if you are better or worse at certain times of day, and whether things are improving and/or stabilising.