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chaz47
Joined: 11 Sep 2003
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 Posted: Tue Nov 21, 2006 4:45 pm Post subject: dark green and bloody sputum |
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I am in a new apartment with my sleeping area lofted and only recently had to start sleeping with the windows closed on a regular basis... so it stands to reason the air in my apartment, especially where I sleep is a bit dry... but today is the 2nd morning I horked up some nasty dark green/brown and bloody sputum.
I really don't feel sick. I have a slight ache in my lungs, but I figure that most of the kids are sniffling so I got a bit of something from them. No headaches, no fever, I do feel a little light headed and have that slight ache.
Has anyone else got these symptoms? Do I just need to get a humidifier? |
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laogaiguk
Joined: 06 Dec 2005
Location: somewhere in Korea
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| Posted: Tue Nov 21, 2006 4:46 pm Post subject: Re: dark green and bloody sputum |
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| chaz47 wrote: |
I am in a new apartment with my sleeping area lofted and only recently had to start sleeping with the windows closed on a regular basis... so it stands to reason the air in my apartment, especially where I sleep is a bit dry... but today is the 2nd morning I horked up some nasty dark green/brown and bloody sputum.
I really don't feel sick. I have a slight ache in my lungs, but I figure that most of the kids are sniffling so I got a bit of something from them. No headaches, no fever, I do feel a little light headed and have that slight ache.
Has anyone else got these symptoms? Do I just need to get a humidifier? |
Tell you what, coughing up blood = hospital trip. Don't even bother with anything else on this thread from this point on. Go to the hospital. Who knows, it might be nothing. I wouldn't take that chance. |
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Boodleheimer
Joined: 10 Mar 2006
Location: working undercover for the Man
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| Posted: Tue Nov 21, 2006 4:52 pm Post subject: |
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get checked out for bronchitis, tb, the works. go to a pulmonologist, not a GP, and at a hospital with a lot of resources.
i'm going through a terrible form of viral bronchitis with temporary asthma. the coughing was so bad that i cracked a rib and was on the floor for 4 days (my boyfriend helped me move).
if you go to a good one, they'll do a sputum test, lung capacity, x-ray, etc. green sputum typically means bronchitis, according to a nurse friend. mine was green at first, but changed colours a lot. |
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JeJuJitsu
Joined: 11 Sep 2005
Location: McDonald's
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| Posted: Tue Nov 21, 2006 4:53 pm Post subject: |
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| No no no--don't waste 3000 Won on a trip to see the Doctor. Instead, take message board advice--here's some. Light some incense, walk in a circle 17 times, chant"UgaMooga" 30 times, and you'll be cured. Really. |
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djsmnc
Joined: 20 Jan 2003
Location: Dave's ESL Cafe
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| Posted: Tue Nov 21, 2006 4:55 pm Post subject: |
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Mix some red pepper powder and soju and down it with samgyeopsal.
Apparently that will "clean the lungs" |
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Boodleheimer
Joined: 10 Mar 2006
Location: working undercover for the Man
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| Posted: Tue Nov 21, 2006 5:00 pm Post subject: |
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| djsmnc wrote: |
Mix some red pepper powder and soju and down it with samgyeopsal.
Apparently that will "clean the lungs" |
done that. didn't help me, but i must be a freak of nature. my first doc said that Westerners' physiology is different from that of koreans. maybe it only works on them. |
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mumblebee
Joined: 26 Jun 2004
Location: Andong
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| Posted: Tue Nov 21, 2006 5:17 pm Post subject: |
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This is not uncommon, I have had it too. It is from post nasal drip while you sleep, combined with extreme dryness that irritates your throat.
Get a humidifier! I am not joking, it is the single best thing you can do to maintain respiratory health in the winter here. My symptoms were gone within a few days of putting a small humidifier next to my bed. I am surprised at the number of people unwilling to get one, it makes an enormous difference. |
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vox
Joined: 13 Feb 2005
Location: Jeollabukdo
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| Posted: Tue Nov 21, 2006 5:33 pm Post subject: |
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| mumblebee wrote: |
This is not uncommon, I have had it too. It is from post nasal drip while you sleep, combined with extreme dryness that irritates your throat.
Get a humidifier! I am not joking, it is the single best thing you can do to maintain respiratory health in the winter here. My symptoms were gone within a few days of putting a small humidifier next to my bed. I am surprised at the number of people unwilling to get one, it makes an enormous difference. |
I'd second the humidifier purchase. There's a whole line of them at your Walmarts and Carrefours and similar department stores here.
While the blood could be from an infection, it could also just be something as simple as a nosebleed from the extreme dryness, which would then roll back down your throat overnight with post nasal drip(green and red mixed would make the brown color.) That happened to me before. If you don't feel sick or even an ongoing rawness or irritation from the throat or anything, just that sputum, it could be the extreme dryness.
At the least a humidifier is in order. So yes you should see a doctor, but it may not be a cause to freak out just yet. But do go and get checked out at least to rule out infection. |
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dogshed
Joined: 28 Apr 2006
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| Posted: Tue Nov 21, 2006 5:49 pm Post subject: |
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| I once coughed up a lung and was understandably worried then I remembered that line from the movie "The Big Red One". "That's why God gave you two." |
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twg
Joined: 02 Nov 2006
Location: Getting some fresh air...
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| Posted: Tue Nov 21, 2006 5:53 pm Post subject: Re: dark green and bloody sputum |
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| laogaiguk wrote: |
| Tell you what, coughing up blood = hospital trip. |
I have to agree with this. |
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dogshed
Joined: 28 Apr 2006
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| Posted: Tue Nov 21, 2006 5:53 pm Post subject: |
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I've found the gasses from my space heater bother me if I don't crack the window enough. The fumes from the oil heater at work also get me.
-Jeff |
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Oreovictim
Joined: 23 Aug 2006
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| Posted: Tue Nov 21, 2006 7:01 pm Post subject: |
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You're coughing up nasty stuff, eh? Are you sure you told us EVERYTHING that's been going on? Are you sleeping with a fan on? If so, you're probably slowly dying. Ask some Koreans; sleeping with a fan on will kill you.
Seriously, spend some of that won stuff and go see a doctor. |
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Colorado
Joined: 18 Jan 2006
Location: Public School with too much time on my hands.
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| Posted: Tue Nov 21, 2006 8:16 pm Post subject: |
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| I don't know what causes it, but I wish you'd quit leaving it on the steps of my apartment building. It really grosses me out. |
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butlerian
Joined: 04 Sep 2006
Location: Korea
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| Posted: Tue Nov 21, 2006 8:25 pm Post subject: |
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| One problem with using a humidifier is that it will increase the amount of mosquitoes around, so make sure you're aware of that. I thought most had been killed recently by the cold weather, but there were still a few around my apartment last night. |
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charlieDD
Joined: 16 Jun 2006
Location: Seoul, Korea
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| Posted: Tue Nov 21, 2006 8:31 pm Post subject: |
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| mumblebee wrote: |
This is not uncommon, I have had it too. It is from post nasal drip while you sleep, combined with extreme dryness that irritates your throat.
Get a humidifier! I am not joking, it is the single best thing you can do to maintain respiratory health in the winter here. My symptoms were gone within a few days of putting a small humidifier next to my bed. I am surprised at the number of people unwilling to get one, it makes an enormous difference. |
I agree. If your nasal passages get irritated, you can get a "bloody nose" and it doesn't necessarily pour out the front, but can collect in your "sputum" and be excreted there.
Sleeping in dry air at night can dry out your nasal passage / sinuses and cause the kind of irritation that can cause the bleeding.
You report that this started after you had to start closing the window at night. That would mean it started with the onset of the "dry season" in Korea, when the temps drop and the humidity level along with them.
I would try the humidifier first. (Personally, I avoid the Korean medical system like the plague {which you might indeed get while staying in a hosptial here!} ) {{ Ergo: "western physiology is different from Koreans" - - uhm hmm}}
I posted last month a long post on humidifiers here on this forum. Here is the link to it:
http://www.eslcafe.com/forums/korea/viewtopic.php?t=69249&highlight=
In that post I recommend the steaming type and warn against the ultrasound type.
Since posting, I've come to appreciate my Air-O-Swiss 1355 more. Works well in the bedroom because it is super quiet. Not cheap though. Check it out on the web. Available in Korea at some online places.
I've also come to appreciate my SHARP HV-50CX "wick type" - which uses ultra-light to kill bacteria in the water tank before sending it through a filter that kills bacteria and takes out minerals. With a new filter in, it puts out about 1.5 gallons in about six or seven hours. Given to me as a gift a couple of weeks ago, I keep it running now in my "home office". I use the Honeywell steaming type in my "office office" and in a small officetel I use on the weekends (got a deal worked out with a Korean guy who uses it as an office M - F; I use it as my downtown "pad" on the weekends!)
I believe in humidifiers and need them. so I've tried them all, and the only ones I would firmly stand against are the ultrasound type, for the reasons noted in my above-linked post.
On a related note: I use an air cleaner in the bedroom area too. A HAUZEN system. The way I figure it: you spend 1/3rd of your life in that space; it may as well be clean and not irritatingly dry.
Last edited by charlieDD on Tue Nov 21, 2006 9:05 pm; edited 1 time in total |
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