[Denny Watkins]

It has been awhile since I’ve had a chance to see what is happening in this topic. I became sick over night on Feb 23 and woke up very sick on Sat. Feb 24th. I actually had a cough overnight and woke up stuffed up, headache, dizziness and phlegm build up so bad it was hard to swallow and breathe. My wife, son and daughter-in-law all had the same symptoms in some degree or another. The illness lasted through about March 4th. There were some days where I didn’t get out of bed. I still have some left over effects from this including phlegm and dizziness from sinus issues. I am still taking Mucinex <span style=”color: #777777; font-family: ‘Open Sans’; font-size: 13px;”>600MG GUAIFENESIN 2/day & FLUTICASONE PROPIONATE NASAL SPRAY USP 50 mcg 1 spray each nostril, twice/day. Just got my PEP Acapella device today so I can’t report on how it works. It seems any standing up or movement causes dizziness and the phlegm/mucus to get worse especially in the morning. </span>

[Denny Watkins]

Charlene & Melvin,

Regarding “struggles with phlegm and a cough during the night.”

Melvin sounds almost exactly like me “Now, I have Phlegm in my mouth and throat. Its irritating as heck because it blocks my breathing passage! My nose gets runny with minimal activity to! All I have to do is walk from my chair to the bathroom and I get the phlegm and runny nose along with that cough. My bathroom is a short distance from my chair! Sometimes I get that runny nose and phlegm and cough while sitting but its always worse with activity!”

The only thing different is that I don’t have the cough or phlegm during the night; only when I’m sitting up or with minimal activity like walking from my couch to the bathroom or standing up. I’ve been suffering with the phlegm and with both a runny and stuffed up nose for awhile. I have taken doxycycline & levofloxacin; tried Mucinex in various strengths but have seen no real change. Sometimes when my nose is so stuffed up and I can’t get the oxygen from the nasal cannula into my lungs and at the same time I also have phlegm in my throat so bad I can’t swallow, I get very short of breath and the %SpO2 drops significantly. The morning is the worst. Trying to clear the nose and trying to clear the phlegm from my throat and esophagus takes a long time. I drink water to help breakup the mucus in my throat. The nose blowing, the hacking, the sniffling, the snorting and the expectorating are just exhausting.

I have an acapella PEP device on order.

NOTE on PEP device:

Positive Expiratory Pressure (PEP) therapy is used to mobilize secretions. PEP devices have been found to give independence to patients with chronic respiratory diseases as the therapy can be done when convenient for the patient and without the need for an assistant.

acapella® combines the benefits of both PEP therapy and airway vibrations to mobilize pulmonary secretions and can be used in virtually any position allowing patients to move freely and sit, stand or recline.

The pulmonolgist I see prescribed  600MG GUAIFENESIN 2/day & FLUTICASONE PROPIONATE NASAL SPRAY USP 50 mcg  1 spray each nostril, twice/day.   I took my first dosage of each this morning so we shall see if anything changes.