Question:
Alright, I just got back from a week in florida, and on the last day there, i had a terrible fever. I couldn't sleep, and it was horrible. Also, during the whole week, i was coughing up an ENORMOUS amount of flem and snot and stuff. Just a couple mornings ago, i started to wake up with all these eye boogers on my eyelashes, and it was quite annoying. The thing that concerns me the most is the cough. It seems to be just flem, but its all in my esophagus, and when i breath i can feel it. I have no allergies, if that helps. I'm coughing right now, and i sound like my father, who smokes. Its quite terrible. Can someone help me?
Answer:
Hey Crowley1027, how are you doing?

Being kept in bed in a warm room in which the atmosphere is humidified with a vaporizer, which tends to lessen the cough. Excessive cigarette smoking is an important cause of BRONCHITIS.

Inflammation of the bronchial tubes may be caused by viral or bacterial infections. Bronchitis occurs more frequently in winter and more commonly in cold, damp climates.

Commencing as a common cold or infection of the throat, nose, or sinuses, the inflammation may spread to the cheast. The cough is the outstanding symptom, starting as a tickle in the throat and later becoming more frequent, distressing, and racking.

At first dry, unproductive, and painful, the cough becomes less stressful when the phlegm begins to appear. The phlegm is white and mucoid at the start and subsequently becomes yellowish and purulent; it may become tenacious (sticky) and copious.

The cough is usually worse at night. It causes a sensation of soreness behind the breast-bone.
Contributing factors may be those that reduce indivisual resistance, such as fatigue, severe shilling, overcrowding, inhalation of irritant gases, and exposure to others already suffering from respiratory infections. The severe, exhausting cough will be relieved by terpin hydrate with codeine, a cough suppressant, for which a doctor's prescription will be required.

Drugstore expectorants (medicine to loosen phlegm) are of some small value. If the person is also asthmatic (wheezing and having difficulty with breathing), the Physician will prescribe bronchodilator drugs.

Fever may persist for as long as five days, while the cough may last for weeks. The fever may remain high, and the patient continues to feel ill and to produce purulent sputum when superadded infection with bacteria in the usual cause, and treatment with antibiotics (e.g. Zithromax©) or sulfonamide is indicated.

Medication consists in administering asprin to reduce the fever. A teaspoonful of terpin hydrate will relieve a dry cough by helping to produce sputum.

Physical rest is very important for complete recovery. The duration of the disease may become prolonged and lead to chronic bronchitis possibly complicated by pneumonia.