Does anyone have any suggestions about how to treat a persistent case of
coughing (bronchitis) that has lasted for over a month?  Other than taking
antibiotics?  Jim has tried echincea tea for two days now, it is supposed to
stimulate the immune system. Has anyone had bronchitis that cleared up by
itself, and how long did it take?  He thinks breathing too much damp and dusty
air in the Kiwanis basement contributed, along with breathing too much sawdust
in the house we are building, and is trying to avoid both for a while, and
get plenty of rest and eat more, and breathe in hot steam occasionally while
sipping his echinacea tea.  (And a doctor friend will bring over some official
inhalant tonight).

23 responses total.

Sounds like what i have...

Is it purely bronchitis, or is there some asthma involved?  In either case,
try to increase vitamin C intake.

No asthma here, and i'm already popping 250mg/day on top of a plenty-of-
fruits-and-veggies diet.  (Vitamin C, that is.)

Last night our doctor friend listened to Jim's breathing and assured him his
lungs were fine (no tuberculosis or pneumonia) and gave him an inhaler that
was supposed to stop muscle spasm.  It had no effect.  Next he brought him
a steroid inhaler to reduce inflammation, which might be left over from a
viral infection.  And if that does not work we have a prescription for
tetracycline in case it is bacterial.  We were told this is the shotgun
approach, the doctors treat the symptoms rather than trying to determine the
causes, and if it works, that is good.  (I go to the doctor for a diagnosis,
not to treat symptoms, I would like to attach the cause instead).  
        Echinacea tea tastes better if you add licorice root.  At the Ypsi coop
was saw maybe 15 types of echinacea - teas, capsules, drops, etc.  Mixed with
goldenseal and other things (for flavoring).  I had a cup, too, it definitely
does taste 'green', like amaranth or other vegetables.  Is the leaf edible?
Could you just chew on it instead?
        We just learned today that Jim's son has asthma and has been taking
two types of medication, including steroids.  He says he is allergic to dust
and pollen.  Jim thinks his problem may be due to inhaling warm damp air with
dust and sawdust and insulation in it for several months.  Did it cause
bacterial growth or just irritation?  Who knows, it will probably go away.

It has been reported that the incidence of asthma has increased in some
countries because of the suppression of childhood tuberculosis. There is
much less asthma in East Germany that West Germany because the bad health
conditions in the former East Germany promoted the spread of tuberculosis.
The explanation is that there are (at least) two components of the immune
system, and the one that is good for fighting the irritants that lead
to asthma does not develop well unless challenged by tuberculosis (and
probably other diseases) in childhood. There is therefore the possibility
of a asthma vaccination based upon the tuberculosis antigen, but it may
have to be given over a long period.

Interesting, perhaps people developed so that they needed certain bacteria
to be healthy.
        Jim now wants to get a lab test to determine just what sort of
infection he should be fighting.  Tetracycline does not work against some
types of strep and staph, which are common respiratory infections, whereas
penicillin does.  We will cal in the morning to see if a lab will do a culture
for him.  He is more interested in knowing what he has than in the shotgun
approach.  Ten days of doxycycline costs $16 and they tried to sell him
capsules of 100 mg, but the PDR suggested 50 mg twice a day, so I made the
pharmacist check and yes, they do have tablets (which you can saw in half).

I would make a lot of sense for evolution of humans, with all the diseases
in existence, to lead to beneficial adaptations that take advantage of
the bacterial antigen challenges. We require bacteria (in the gut) to
synthesize B12, as an example of one kind of symbiosis involving bacteria.
The tuberculosis-asthma connection is another.

???
My impression is that TB is a "white man's disease" - relatively modern,
European, and far more potent than machine guns at wiping out non-European
native populations that have little genetic resistance to it.

If so, it would be hard to argue that humanity as a whole evolved to take
advantage of TB.

But i've also heard that the defining characteristic of populations 
resistant to TB is that their immune response is far more skewed toward
cell-mediated (vs. antigen-mediated) immunity than the TB-vulnerable
populations.

So it could well be that asthma is a frequent consequence of having
the hypertrophied cell-mediated immune system needed to fight off TB - 
unless said immune system is kept busy fighting its "favorite" kind of
diseases....

That sounds like the articles I saw....I did not recall the immunological
terminology. 

Today (and yesterday) Jim has a bad sinus headache, which is unusual for him.
I told him he would live, it sounds like a cold.  ANd today his chest finally
feels somewhat better for the first time in over a month.  Is it possible that
the cold stimulated his immune system to fight off the bronchial infection?
(Or maybe the threat of tetracycline did it, or the echinacea tea.  We found
some more leaves in the garden next door and are drying them).  We will hold
onto the prescription but wait before buying the tetracy.

If his son has asthma due to allergies, the honestly Jim might have te same
problem to a lesser degree...I know that when my allergies are acting up it
can cause some of those same problems.  Dust and mold are very comman
allergies, and right now is HORRIBLE for allergies...worse then previous
years...He may want to look into the allergy thing, because I know that I've
gotten some nasty infections due to them (mostly in my ears, but...)  Also,
due to the worse than normal allergy season, my sinuses are acting up much
worse then I've ever dealt with, so...

Jim has never had any allergies to dust or mold, but gets a rash from grass
or cedar wood.  Perhaps he has several problems at once. 
        We called around for prices on tetracycline.  Half the price at KMart
compared to Rite-Aid, Kroger's is in between.
        I wonder why this is such a bad year for allergies, do you know?
Jim's chest is feeling bad again, the respite was brief, but his headache is
not throbbing as much so that is nice.

It could even be the grass...I think that it might be because of al the heat
and humidity....and the presence of a real spring really helped all of the
growing things bloom to their full potentioal.

A friend of ours with mild allergies to pollen, aged 68, says this is
absolutely the worst year ever for allergies, he went to the eye doctor
because his eyes itched for the first time ever. 
        Jim is holding off on the medications and will try to breathe less dust
and other bad things, and eat more often to keep up his immunity.

Jim discovered that as soon as he entered the Kiwanis basement his chest felt
tight, he is convinced he is allergic to something growing there in the heat
and damp.  Since the chief person there is asthmatic and has been talking
about an air cleaner in the electronics department, I have asked him to
request that we trade spaces with the sports department, which has a nice high
ceiling and a window and light.  Jim offered to take over bicycles and
typewriters and answering machines, which they have for some reason.  IT would
also give us twice the space, which they are not using much of.  (We have
things piled on shelves six shelves high, with hardly any space to walk
between, and they have things spread out on one level with half of the floor
space unused.  And they don't spend much time repairing the bowling balls.)

A friend with pollen allergies says she cannot even shop upstairs at Kiwanis
because of the mold.  Jim can handle the upstairs okay.  Maybe it will be
drier in the fall, anyway.

Jim's problem sounds more and more like what my sister Elinor got after
spending too many years working on old houses without cleaning up or 
paying attention to what she was breathing.  Elinor's health is about
what you'd expect if she was 20-30 years older, and gets worse quickly
when she cheats on her burdomsom and very restrictive diet.  Verbum sap.

No food allergies, unless you count not liking fermented shrimp paste, or raw
radishes, or buckwheat tasting metallic.  But he has had reactions to greass
(walking through it, it makes his skin itch) and cedar dust (a systemic
reaction - not bronchial - he itched all over, urticaria).  Mabye he had
urticaria of the bronchi due tto formaldehyde (which comes from the fiberglass
insulation and bothers him), sawdust, and mold.  We hope a two week break will
help.  He says not cedar dust, it was abrasive contact.

Do a search on "black mold".  There are bacterial infections which have been
fatal in suceptible individuals.  Others can become chronically ill, and still
others can be pretty much resistant.  Pulmonology is not my forte, but if you
don't get better soon, or begin to notice frequent relapses, I'd think you
might want to have someone take a much closer (professional) look.

Our doctor friend prescribed a generic Bactrim and a decongestant.  There
has been nearly steady improvement.  Most of Jim's symptoms match those of
another grexer with an asthmatic reaction to dust, including the sinus
headache which developed from teh bronchitis a few weeks ago, the dizziness,
exhaustion, coughing and mucus, but the mucus may have become infected.  It
is a bit green in the morning.  He was also taking a generic Contac at night,
and then falling asleep sitting up in the afternoons.  This is supposedly
an extremely bad year for allergies to pollen, but it was probably the three
months of dusty basement and dusty building site which triggered this.  We
are considering central vacuum before continuing building.
Whatever Jim has is apparently not contagious, as we tend to share bowls. 
I rarely get any; sort of pulmonary infection other than flu every couple
years, so must have more resistance (and less allergy).  (Jim says yeah, it's
cause I do all the dirty work!).
        Is it possible to be allergic to cold?  I get aching feet and hands,
swollen glands, stuffy head and headache, with a couple of sneezes a day, when
I am chilled for more than half an hour, ever since having to be outside all
day one winter building (at 20 degrees).  The longer the exposure, the worse
and more prolonged the symptoms.  I am curious, because after a few beestings
one summer I became temporarily allergic to cold water or air (got a red rash
if I tried to swim or went near the frozen foods section of a store), but the
symptoms were not at all similar.  The cold water made me sort of dizzy as
well as the red rash.

Jim is definitiely allergic to Kiwanis, being there for a short time this
morning made him feel light-headed and he is sleeping all afternoon now.
We have called for information on a central vacuum system, to install at
the building site before dealing with any drywall.  It removes dust from the
air by a vortex action and then blows the air with the little bit of smaller
particles left in it to outside the house.  Cost about $700, since they only
make them for very large houses (and we will probably have to close off most
of the pressure to avoid vacuuming up the furniture along with the dust).
Has anyone any experience with central vacuum systems?  I am told we can'use
the brushes and tools from our present vacuum cleaner on their wand.

The next door neighbor, who has worked as a nurse in the intensive care unit
for respiratory patients, advises lots of rest (extra naps in the afternoon)
and fluid for any respiratory infections.  Jim is still napping daily and we
bought a large watermelon.

Other than a very wet cough, I seem to be pretty well recovered.  I still get
a slight ache in my lungs when I overdo -- but since I'm not incline to
jogging or anything like that, it's easy to rest.  ;)

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