Recurrent respiratory infection symptoms

by Haris
(Rawalpindi)

Respiratory Infection Symptoms

To start with I am sick of my problem. I have been seeing doctors for along time but none have come up with a long lasting cure. I have problem in my breathing especially when I sleep also there is development of thin whitish and light greenish sputum. It goes away when treated with medicines such as montelukast, pseudoephedrine and antibiotic usually Clarithromycin or related antibiotic for curing chest infections but returns after few days most of the time accompanying with sore throat When I run my breath becomes heavy and I feel short of breath. On my last two visits to my doctor my body temperature measured 95 and 95.5 respectively. I was told I have a weak immune system plus I was also told to exercise and eat healthy which I usually do except exercising. I am not fat I am a healthy man with perfect weight according to my height that is 70kg. I had asthma when I was a kid and I still have sinusitis and tonsillitis and I develop lot of canker sores in my mouth. I dont smoke and drink.

Answer: Respiratory Infection Symptoms

Respiratory infection symptoms such as your chronic symptoms raise the possibility of two main issues. First is have you actually got low immunity and this can be checked by measuring the white cell count in your blood sample, checking your immunoglobulin levels in your blood and checking an HIV test too. The second issue that could account for your respiratory infection symptoms is an underlying chronic lung disease that makes you more susceptible. Conditions such as bronchiectasis, pulmonary fibrosis and COPD could underlie all of this. COPD seems less likely to me as you don’t smoke, although that doesn’t exclude it as this condition can also be caused by a condition called alpha-1-antitrypsin deficiency. Chronic asthma can underlie this as well and I note that Montelukast has helped.

The only way of getting this properly investigated is to see a chest physician who can look at your respiratory infection symptoms and organise the most appropriate investigations. These would include a general examination, lung function tests, chest x-ray and may be a CT scan of your lungs. It may be that there is no answer to your recurrent respiratory infection symptoms and that you may need to have recurrent courses of antibiotics. Its important to also have the annual vaccinations against the Influenza virus, swine flu and also have the pneumococcal vaccination.





My name is Dr Peter Thatcher MBBS, MRCPI and I am a consultant physician and gastroenterologist in the UK. I have an interest in internet based medicine and administer this site in my spare time. I hope you find this site useful and informative. If you have any suggestions, please Contact Me or if you would like to comment on my site, please do so by Clicking Here. If you like the site and would like to make a donation to support what I am doing please do so by Clicking Here. Thank you for visiting and please drop by again!