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Noticed Blood With Mucus While Coughing. Presribed Ventolin Inhaler, Methylprednisolone And Levoflocacin. Should I Be Worried?
Question: I am a 57 year old non-smoker female who has begun to cough up small amounts of blood mixed with mucus today. This situation follows emergency room visit and diagnosis of bronchitis 4 days ago with ventolin inhaler 90 mcg, methylprednisolone 4 mg, levoflocacin 500 mg tablet and benzonatate 100 mg capsule prescribed. I also take small dosage daily of thyroxin. Have also had several spells of being unable to breathe in or out for 20 seconds or so, quite alarming. Should I go back to ER or monitor for balance of weekend?
Dear patient,
Thanks for your health concerns. As you should know, the most common cause of coughing up blood (we call it hemoptysis) is precisely acute infectious bronchitis, so it goes along with your diagnosis. If only speckles mixed with mucus are present it should not be that alarming; what concerns me more in your case are those episodes of being unable to catch a breath; if respiratory difficulty worsens over the weekend or there is more abundant hemoptysis (eg, a teaspoon full of blood) then certainly a visit to the ER would be warranted.
Truly yours,
Dr Brenes-Salazar MD
Mayo Clinic MN
Thanks for your health concerns. As you should know, the most common cause of coughing up blood (we call it hemoptysis) is precisely acute infectious bronchitis, so it goes along with your diagnosis. If only speckles mixed with mucus are present it should not be that alarming; what concerns me more in your case are those episodes of being unable to catch a breath; if respiratory difficulty worsens over the weekend or there is more abundant hemoptysis (eg, a teaspoon full of blood) then certainly a visit to the ER would be warranted.
Truly yours,
Dr Brenes-Salazar MD
Mayo Clinic MN
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