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Shortness Of Breath And Coughing Up Blood. Chest X-ray And Blood Test Normal. What's Wrong?
Question: I went last week for a chest xray, ABG blood test and numerous other blood tests as I have been breathless and coughing blood occasionally. I got an all clear and was told my chest x-ray was crystal clear and all bloods were fine and attributed it to a chest infection that has been ongoing for months and my violent coughing could have ruptured something. Last week I began to feel better and the coughing blood subsided. I started exercising and taking my creatine supplements again last week and yesterday, I began to feel chesty again and the blood streaks began to appear again with coughing. Can creatine (supplement)inflame asthma and cause this, or should i go back to ER?
Hi,
Thanks for posting the query on XXXXXXX After going through the query, I would like to comment the following:
1. You seem to be a diagnosed case of asthma with GERD (gastro esophageal reflux disease) with associated depression.
2. In such a scenario, repeated episodes of hemoptysis needs to be evaluated in detail.
3. Creatine supplement is unlikely to cause hemoptysis. You need to increase your asthma medicines and a fresh course of antibiotics need to be started along with hemoptysis controlling medications. For 1 or 2 streaky episodes you can visit the regular opd in working hours however if the blood is more then a visit to ER is required.
4. Also a HRCT scan of the thorax needs to be done to rule out any underlying lung etiology like ABPA(Allergic broncho pulmonary aspergillosis) which could be a potential cause of hemoptysis( blood in sputum).
5. Get your pulmonary function tests done and your ashma medications can be titrated accordingly.
6. Thus you need to visit a pulmonologist and get yourself evaluated in detail as outlined above.
7. Yearly flu vaccine and 5 yearly pneumococcal vaccines will be helpful for you as the chances of secondary respiratory infections can be substantially decreased with them.
I hope I have answered your query. I will be glad to answer follow up queries if any.
Please accept my answer if you have no follow up queries.
Regards
Dr. Gyanshankar Mishra
MBBS MD DNB
Consultant Pulmonologist
Thanks for posting the query on XXXXXXX After going through the query, I would like to comment the following:
1. You seem to be a diagnosed case of asthma with GERD (gastro esophageal reflux disease) with associated depression.
2. In such a scenario, repeated episodes of hemoptysis needs to be evaluated in detail.
3. Creatine supplement is unlikely to cause hemoptysis. You need to increase your asthma medicines and a fresh course of antibiotics need to be started along with hemoptysis controlling medications. For 1 or 2 streaky episodes you can visit the regular opd in working hours however if the blood is more then a visit to ER is required.
4. Also a HRCT scan of the thorax needs to be done to rule out any underlying lung etiology like ABPA(Allergic broncho pulmonary aspergillosis) which could be a potential cause of hemoptysis( blood in sputum).
5. Get your pulmonary function tests done and your ashma medications can be titrated accordingly.
6. Thus you need to visit a pulmonologist and get yourself evaluated in detail as outlined above.
7. Yearly flu vaccine and 5 yearly pneumococcal vaccines will be helpful for you as the chances of secondary respiratory infections can be substantially decreased with them.
I hope I have answered your query. I will be glad to answer follow up queries if any.
Please accept my answer if you have no follow up queries.
Regards
Dr. Gyanshankar Mishra
MBBS MD DNB
Consultant Pulmonologist
Above answer was peer-reviewed by :
Dr. Chakravarthy Mazumdar
Answered by
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