I have an infection.

Lung infection with no cold or flu symptoms ?

• To explain, I had a lung infection a while back caused by a cold/flu I had. The doctor gave me antibiotics and it got better. Much later on I noticed that when I breathed in really deeply, it stung a bit like it did when I had the infection but obviously not even close to how much it did hurt with an actual infection so I ignored it. Then, I got sick again, this is like way after the first infection. At first I had no symptoms of a flu other then a VERY sore throat and fatigue. Later on I developed the standard achy sickly feeling and then got a cough to go with it, and yet again a lung infection developed. I went to a different doctor (both times was outpatients so it was a different guy) he prescribed me with antibiotics as well, but they were different. The first ones I got were red and these were white. Anyway I took them as directed. Now, I have no cold or flu symptoms (at all) but my chest/lungs hurt when I breath in deeply, it hurts worse then when I noticed a sting after the first infection, but not as bad as a full blown infection, and the second didn't go away completely for a while like the first, the antibiotics helped but it didn't go away completely, it just got less painful. I'm just wondering if I'm developing another (or still have) an infection despite not having any cold or flu symptoms. I've read about symptoms of different lung infections and they all seem to be accompanied by cold and flu symptoms which I'm not experiencing other than a cough here and there when I breath in too deep.

• Answer:

  It sounds to me like you might just have a bit of acute bronchitis. Try using a humidifier. I had a bad case of acute bronchitis about 6 months ago and I was coughing constantly, day and night, couldn't sleep at all. I found that a humidifier helped me to get to sleep and really eased my breathing during the day. Edit: Acute bronchitis is inflammation of the bronchi (the main branches of the trachea). It can definitely be caused by a previous lung infection, especially if you had already been coughing lots. Basically with acute bronchitis, when you cough, the walls of the bronchi smash together and become inflamed and inadequate air exchange occurs. Your lungs respond by making you cough. Hope that helps!