I shouldn't imagine there are many people who are still here to be able to tell a tale with the above title!
For many years I suffered with periods of dreadful ‘flu-like symptoms, unable to stop coughing, night sweats and exhaustion – and was consistently treated with antibiotics and antihistamines (I am an allergic person – to animals, dust, mites and stings, etc.) and had been previously diagnosed with asthma. At times I would cough up brown mucus plugs (as I now know they are called) but was unaware of their significance.
My latest episode was around March 2015 and was very similar in intensity to some previous experiences, with constant pain in my right lung. Following several weeks endurance, I took an initial course of antibiotics to no avail. I waited a few more weeks, but the illness was by now completely debilitating. Then one of the GPs at my surgery, who is very thorough and caring, prescribed a further different course of antibiotics and, after examination, suggested that if there was no improvement, I should have an x-ray. I had never been given the opportunity of an x-ray or any further investigation previously.
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