Are you there Squad..

[hollie1586]

i started with a cold about 3 weeks ago which became very productive and i still have a rattling cough and is still a bit productive. i dont feel ill at all with it but it just seems like it doesnt want to shift. do you think antibiotics would do anything or not?

[Buenchico]

In case Squad isn't around:

FACT !:
No cold ever lasts longer than 10 days. If it appears to do so it's because a secondary infection has developed, which can remain after the cold has completely 'cleared up'.

FACT 2:
Colds are caused by a virus (or, more correctly, by one of many viruses) against which antibiotics have absolutely no effect.

FACT 3:
The secondary infections which sometimes accompany colds are usually bacterial in origin, so antibiotics WILL be effective against them.

See your doctor.

Chris

[bibblebub]

FACT 4:
His name is Sqad http://www.theanswerbank.co.uk/members/sqad/

[hollie1586]

i know it's sqad....i just call him squad lol

[Sqad]

I can only agree with the comments of Buenchico but only to add:

You can have two respiratory viral infections following each other so as to make the "cold" and cough persist for up to a month and often longer.

How does one know that a viral infection has "turned" into a bacterial infection.?
You sputum (phlegm) will turn green or yellow indicating (usually) the onset of an infection which "may" need antibiotics.

My advice:
If your phlegm is not coloured, then 3 weeks is not a long time to have a cough.
If your phlegm is coloured, go and see your GP as he may, but not necessarily prescribe antibiotics.
If you phlegm is coloured, but you feel well, then give it another week or ten days.

[woofgang]

If the infection is affecting your nose and sinuses then sterimar can be helpful. Its a spray of sterilised sea water, you spray it up your nose to flush the sinuses. Its very soothing if they are sore and shifted my sinusitis which was the product of 5 colds in 4 months :-(
No drugs, no side effects and it works!!

[daffy654]

Instead of paying for a commercial sinus douche you can buy a small squirty bottle, fill it with previously boiled (cooled) water with some salt in. This is what I had to do twice daily(advise from surgeon) for several weeks after having a septoplasty operation.
This probably isn't relevant to hollie's question, but is to woofgang's answer :)

[Sqad]

daffy....you are a bit different........you have a septal perforation following your Septoplasty and your douche is to stop the perforation crusting.

[daffy654]

No sqad, It was immediately following the septoplasty....to prevent infection, crusting and clear the sinuses. I developed the perforation almost 18 months after the op.

[Sqad]

daffy.....sorry to be pedantic, but septal perforations occur at the time of operation and become apparent some 3-4 weeks after operation.

[daffy654]

Well in this case you are definitely wrong sqad. I had the septoplasty to straighten my septum (as is usual). The healing after the operation went well and at my post op outpatients visit there was no sign of a perforation. I developed a sort of blister on the septum around 10 months after the operation and it eventually turned into a hole that is big enough to get a cotton bud through.

[Sqad]

daffy...OK