Chest congestion that won't quit

I would have at least given you some abx and a steroid shot.

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False negative.

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Is that a thing? Literally one symptom and covid positive?

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I've had some kind of mystery chest congestion/productive cough for 3+ weeks now

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This sounds like covid tbh, had your same symptoms over christmas/new years and it took roughly 1.5 months to get over it (also covid antibody negative). Cough drops with menthol at night helped a lot as did anti-cough medicine, mucinex did nothing. Lots of water/fluids, don't over exert yourself

N-acetyl cysteine 2000 mg per day. +1
The stuff is awesome.

There is typically a viral bronchitis that goes around this time of year causing a cough for 1-2 MONTHS, but with covid it all gets lumped in together.

If you never had a fever - then I wouldn’t worry about Covid (usually viruses cause a fever - but I’m not a doctor!!!)

I’ve lived with asthma and bronchitis almost all my life - and what you say sounds a lot like bronchitis

But it could be allergies - ask your doctor and maybe take an allergy medicine in the morning one day and see if you get the cough - I guess since I’ve always had lung ailments my allergies manifest themselves through my lungs. Plenty of Ppl will sneeze bc of allergies - I cough

Which really freaks people out right now

(I won’t take a daily allergy medicine bc I’d like to keep my liver functional)

I didnt have classic asthma but I did have some issues with fighting off chest colds, croup, etc..

To update, in the last couple of days my cough and congestion has basically disappeared. I stopped taking all medication - mucinex, etc. - and poof, it just went away. I've been able to run two nights in a row with zero issues.

My father in law was here on Saturday and he has had thr exact same symptoms since 4th of July (last time I saw him). He's been put on prednisone and several other medications with no effect

Took me about 4 weeks but I feel like I'm pushing thru it.. just hoping it's not because all this rain has washed out all the dust

Another vote for reflux. Also, have you been tested for Sleep Apnea? Any chronic snoring or other sinus issues? Tonsils?

About 3 years ago I had very similar symptoms, and went to see a new ENT. After he saw the size of my tonsils and I told him about the snoring, he suggested a sleep study.

Basically every morning, I would wake up and feel like I had some congestion in my lower throat/upper chest. Bad coughs that never really produced anything, but got me to the point of feeling choked and almost throwing up. A few minutes after I got out of bed, I would have one bad coughing episode that would last a minute or two at most. It would linger with more coughs, but not as intense, and gradually go away by mid-morning to lunch time, but it was several days a week. I was having obstructive sleep apnea, combined with reflux, not really bad, but enough to warrant another study with a CPAP to see if there were improvements. The ENT put me on either Nexium or Prilosec, and we opted for surgery instead of CPAP. The tonsils needed to come out anyways, and I wasn't a fan of the CPAP. So he did the UPPP surgery and removed some excess tissue to free up the airway. It allows more airflow, so your throat isn't as dry and irritated in the mornings. Basically it was inflamed, and not really any mucous or congestion, but it was irritated enough to start a coughing spell.

They refused to give me another covid test because

1. I only had one symptom (so much chest congestion it would sound like I was gargling)

2. I had that symptom for almost a month

I'm pretty much over it now.. I think it was just a good virus that had to run its course.