Cold,cough,red Residue On Coughing
Thanks for your query.
From the description provided it seems that you probably might be having upper respiratory tract infection which is causing your symptoms including your cough. The history also indicates that you had a speck of blood in the sputum while coughing.
This issue is nothing to be be alarmed about, since this is a very common and benign issue associated with severe coughing. The excess force that is needed during normal coughing can cause some droplets of blood to get mixed with the sputum, hence the reddish discoloration.
I assume that you have not coughed out XXXXXXX red blood at any point of time, and the issue has not recurred again.
The way forward would require you to take adequate rest, proper hydration and symptomatic treatment, including antihistamines (Claritin or benadryl) to control the cold related symptoms, Robitussin DM syrup to control the cough and tylenol or ibuprofen to reduce any body aches and pains if present.
Supportive measures would include use of steam inhalation to sooth the inflammed airway passages, as well as sucking on Halls lozenges to provide adequate lubrication.
In case, you develop, any headache, high fever, purulent (yellow greenish) expectoration, you might consult a doctor who can examine and rule out any bacterial infections and treat them with a course of antibiotics for a few days.
I hope this helps.
Regards.
Dr Anvekar.