Good Cough. Bad Cough.

Once in awhile you inhale something that is just too much for your creeping mucus blanket to trap and dump. Mother Nature in her infinite wisdom designed a number of back-up defense systems to keep garbage out of your fragile lungs.

A 400-mph cough is one way to knock that junk out of the park. An EFFICIENT cough is amazing and can keep you from aspirating that tuna sandwich downstream into your lungs. A cough can forcibly eject saliva from dripping down the wrong tube and can expel the gnat you just inhaled.

An INEFFICIENT cough, however, is nearly useless and can actually work against you. An irritating chronic dry hacking cough that doesn’t seem to move anything out of the chest is the body’s cry for help and it needs to be brought to your doctor’s attention. A ten-day cold doesn’t count. A ten-month cough should never be ignored.

You may have an allergy. You may have asthma. The mucus blanket may be too dry because of one of your medications. The air quality inside your house may be causing problems.

The cough that was designed to protect you, begins to tear up the very system it was meant to defend. Over-the-counter stuff may simply mask the symptoms and delay the cure. The cure could actually be something quite simple. But residual damage is often irreversible so please see your doctor as soon as possible.

Be well. Breathe beautifully.

Look Back! They’re Gaining On You!

We are losing a war with bacteria and viruses that could possibly take out our entire species. They breed by the kazillions in no time at all. They adapt in the blink of an eye to overcome our very best defenses. If you were able to observe a viral attack on a single human cell, it would give you bad dreams.

When these invaders come in contact with any antibiotic anywhere, they immediately begin to adapt and render medication useless for human protection. We dump antibiotics and anti-bacterial waste hourly by the ton into our gutters, sewers and streams.

1. TAKE THE APPROPRIATE ANTIBIOTIC FOR A BACTERIAL INFECTION ONLY. ANTIBIOTICS ARE USELESS AGAINST VIRAL INFECTIONS.
2. Be certain that your antibiotic is a correct match to wipe out your particular bug. Be tested.
3. Take every pill exactly as you were told even though you may feel better after the first few pills.
4. Washing your hands thoroughly with hot water and regular soap is quite effective. Use antibacterial gel only when you don’t have access to a sink.
5. Dispose of any unused antibiotics at a facility that specializes in safe and complete disposal.
6. Become socially active in insisting that hospitals and clinics and pharmaceutical companies dispose of deadly waste in a way that doesn’t threaten your survival.

Let’s not go down without a fight!

Be well. Breathe beautifully.

LINK: Know Your Enemies: Bacteria Or Virus

Good Green. Bad Green

Green peas. Green apples. Green tea. Green eyes. Green green grass of home. Lovely.
Green snot? Not so much.

When the beautiful clear protective mucus that you normally spit, swallow or blow out appears green for longer than ten days, you may have upgraded your basic run-of-the-mill viral head or chest cold to a bacterial sinus or bronchial infection. Congratulations! REMEMBER THAT ANTIBIOTICS ARE USELESS WEAPONS IN A VIRAL WAR BUT THEY CAN ALMOST ALWAYS KNOCK THE CRAP OUT OF BACTERIA.

Get thee to thy doctor immediately for an evaluation, expert advice and pills that work against your particular bug. Of course, you are smart enough to continue taking your antibiotic until the bottle is COMPLETELY EMPTY. Even though you may feel better after the first few pills, you need to obliterate the few remaining bugs that can lurk in the damp and dark nooks and crannies of your head or chest. From the few come the many!

Be well. Breathe beautifully.

Snot Is Your Friend

Know Your Enemies: Bacteria or Virus?

VIRUSES DO CAUSE COLDS AND FLU.
BACTERIA DO NOT CAUSE COLDS AND FLU.

When your antibiotic is properly matched to your particular type of BACTERIA, the medicine usually flattens your SYMPTOMS within 48 hours. If you haven’t improved within three days, you may have a mismatch or there may be something else going on. In that case, check with your doctor’s office just to be safe.

When the antibiotic kicks in and you begin to improve, do NOT stop taking your medicine until every last pill has been swallowed. After the first few days, the bacteria have been knocked down but not out and will stay busy adapting to your partial dose of antibiotic. Hit them with a full blast so you will bounce back but they won’t.

There isn’t much to do with a virus-induced cold except tough it out and use common sense: lots of rest, lots of fluids and lots of hand washing.

Never badger your doctor for a prescription unless you know you have a bacterial infection like pneumonia or bronchitis. Overuse of antibiotics has created nasty new medicine-resistant bugs that are increasingly difficult to kill and bugs that have no conscience about killing you. Gesundheit!

Be well. Breathe beautifully.

Sleep Apnea

APNEA n. – “a temporary suspension or absence of breathing.” Hopefully someone nearby will notice if you stop breathing during the day and if you’re lucky they will be CPR certified. I trust you are.

It’s a tougher problem at night when your breathing stops during sleep or slows to a dangerous level. Although this is not a rare condition, most people have no idea they have it.

If you rattle the neighbor’s dishes with your snoring, if you wake up suddenly gasping for air as if you’ve been too long under water, if your sleep mate notices that you have an erratic breathing pattern or if you wake up each morning as tired as when you went to bed - then it’s time to have a long discussion with your doctor or pulmonary specialist.

This is serious business and can be fatal. These days, doctors have gotten pretty good at testing for and correcting the condition. However, it is your job to bring your concerns to their attention.

Be well. Breathe beautifully.

Nose Breathes. Mouth Eats.

The nasal cavities earn an “A+” for their efforts to filter, moisten, warm and otherwise prep the incoming air as it travels toward your lungs. All this processing occurs in a split-second (hour after hour, day after day, year after year). Your nose is an extraordinary design with at least half a dozen clever built-in systems to protect you from illness and even death.

Your mouth, on the other hand, provides pretty much an unprotected straight shot in and down. The mouth is built for eating and kissing, NOT BREATHING. When you inhale through your mouth, the air is not slowed down for processing the way it is in your nose. Your mouth warms and moistens the air a bit but gets an “F” for filtering out airborne garbage.

There is also a tendency to breathe high in the chest when you mouth-breathe because the air rushes in and isn’t slowed by passing through the wonderful furry, sticky, bumpy, twisted maze of your nasal cavities.

If you have a deviated septum, if your allergies obstruct your nasal passages, if you have a chronic sinus irritation, then it is time to see a specialist to diagnose, correct or at least improve the situation. Every breath you take through your mouth contributes to polluted lungs and a dried out respiratory system.

Be well. Breathe beautifully.

Bumps, Bites and CA-MRSA

Sorry. We need to talk about yukky stuff again. Stick with me on this one.

Beware of a “spider bite” when you haven’t seen a spider. Pay attention to an angry “boil” when it seems to be getting worse and when you begin to feel super funky. Get to an emergency room and INSIST that your skin eruption be tested for CA-MRSA.

For decades MRSA (minus the CA) has plagued vulnerable hospital patients. The infection finds its way into the blood stream and from there into the lungs. As always, bugs breed and adapt much faster than man’s arsenal of antibiotics so researchers will always be racing to catch up.

The addition of the “CA” (community associated) means that MRSA has jumped the hospital wall and is now able to travel freely among healthy people of all ages. Once it gets into your lungs, you are in for the battle of your life.

CA-MRSA is spread by skin-to-skin contact and by sharing personal items like clothing and towels. It thrives in crowded environments like gyms, playgrounds, military bases and schools.

Watch for any painful bump that feels hot, looks angry and oozes. This is not the time to self-medicate!

Protect yourself by washing your hands frequently. Avoid sharing personal items. Become politically aware of the potential problem of using antibiotics routinely on livestock and by misuse of antibiotics by doctors and patients.

If you want to do further research, the full name for CA-MRSA is Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus Aureus. A nasty bugger.

Be well. Breathe beautifully.

Asthma? Call in the Big Guns!

Are you absolutely certain that you have asthma? Are you absolutely certain that you do NOT have asthma? Who said so? Asthma is a reeeeeeeally confusing and complicated problem that can quietly gnaw away on your breathing equipment like dry rot in the attic. Coming up with a precise analysis and treatment plan without expert (I mean EXPERT) help is like spitting through a knothole from across a very wide road. . . you might get lucky but it’s a dangerous gamble!

If you frequently wheeze or squeak when you breathe, have a nagging little cough that won’t go away, are frequently short of breath, if you produce copious amounts of thick or sticky or discolored mucous . . . time to call in the big guns. Yes, I know you have a great primary care doc and you may think you are doing fine with your over-the-counter stuff but until you know exactly the extent of the problem and figure out the combination of factors that sets off an attack, you are losing lung tissue faster than necessary.

A pulmonary specialist is immersed in the latest diagnostic studies and publications, is in touch with other outstanding specialists in the field and is dealing with asthma and other respiratory problems every single day. A couple visits will probably do the job.

Be well. Breathe beautifully.