So, You Have Bronchitis, and You're in a Survival Scenario...

[Iboschi]

I dragged my self to the office to check this thread after working last night and today for the first time in 13 days. I feel DEAD. I appreciate all the advice. I've already put some of it into action and will post in more detail later.

 

[Guyon]

Pray you're surviving near salt water. I used to live by the Gulf, and when I'd start getting a cold or having chest congestion, I'd go fishing. Something about breathing the salt air... Mind you, I'm not a doctor. I just play one on the Interweb.

 

[Loosearrow]

Seems like I read onnce that skunk scent was a bronchial dialitor. You may have heard about skunk oil.

 

[bcornelis]

I was reading a book about Native medicinal plants and it seems like Lobelia plants (there are several different varieties) were the main plant used for lung issues. There should be some around your area but you might want to check with some herbal experts on which ones work best and how to prepare them.

 

[Don Rearic]

Check for sure with your doctor but I will tell you that I had a few bouts with pneumonia and bronchitis and it was my wife that noticed that I would come down with this in the spring and fall sometimes bad enough to need to see the doc to get an antibiotic. It eventually became obvious that there was a pattern. When I was younger I use to just fight through it without realizing it. When I started to come down with bronchitis secondary to the allergies, my wife suggested that I use Claritain. That has worked great for me. When I take it I have no issues with pollen in the spring and molds in the fall. Beats the hell out of getting antibiotics to fight the secondary respiratory and sinus infections I use to get. I am not saying this is a cure for you but you might want to run it past your doc, see what he says. For me it has worked really well.

KR

This happened to me when I was 33 or 34. I'm 41 now and because of that age, I apparently cannot remember which year this happened in.

Anyways, I was never allergic to anything. I smoked, too.

So, back then, I had an incredible cold and sinus infection that had crept into my lungs, I was getting to the point where breathing was such a task. I had this snot that was like a jellyfish made out of some type of super glue...and I was basically drowning in it.

I went to the Doctor, my Doctor couldn't see me for another two weeks! She said to me, "You have been taking a lot of Advil or Motrin, haven't you?" I said, yeah, yeah, yadda-yadda how did you know that? She then said, "Because you would be in the hospital right now with a very high fever if you were not taking that. You have pneumonia and you have pleurisy on one side."

I asked her what caused this and she said, "Allergies, then as you slept, the sinus infection spread down your throat to your lungs."

I said, I don't have allergies.

"You do now."

ACK!!! NO!!!

I am having a hard time because Clairitin and the rest of those medications don't really do much for me so I have to muscle through with a lot of Ancient Chinese Secrets and Korean Secrets ( ) like Quince Tea (Moga Cha) and some Sudafed.

In your survival kit, you should have a Z-Pack, get your Dr. to Rx you one of them. Another reason you should have this simple medication in your pack is because of Strep Throat. If you get that in a survival situation, it could possibly kill you because it can get so bad you can barely swallow even liquid... For those of us adults who still have their tonsils, we sometimes get this as well. Add a pack of Cepacol Lozenges with benzocaine in them and that can really get you up off the ground.

In general, as Evolute pointed out, you are tougher than you can possibly imagine.

 

[Don Rearic]

Eat more garlic.

Black Pepper and Cayenne Pepper in Campbell's Chicken Noodle Soup or homemade Chicken Soup can get the waterworks going and help to open the sinuses and get the goop out.

Orange Juice really is an excellent carrier of Vitamin C.

Buy honey from a local heath food store and make sure it is local and has the honeycomb in it to chew. Sometimes this will help you build up your tolerance to something local that is bothering you.

Not just honey, raw honey with the caveat, if you are allergic to bees, you shouldn't try to eat raw honey. If you are allergic to bees and you can eat regular honey that doesn't mean you can eat raw honey.

When you heat honey up, it kills off the good properties you are talking about. Try to get raw honey like the Brand Really Raw Honey, you can get it with bee pollen on top with cappings from the comb, etc.

 

[KiljoyKutlery]

As odd as it sounds, I have found that my bronchitis gets better if I go to the gym and run on the treadmill for 30 minutes. I had been down with bronchitis for several months and not going to the gym. Finally I said "F it, I'm going anyway!" My lungs were pretty tight and wheezy when I got there, but 10 minutes of running and I was feeling mostly back to normal. Works better for me than albuterol. I was getting a new HFA every month or so. I haven't refilled my prescription in 3 months now that I am back in the gym.

Edit. I don't smoke but my bronchitis is brought on by seasonal allergies.

I suffer annually from Bronchitus, due to allergies as well!...Do you think you might have mild asma? Just asking. I wonder about myself, is all.

 

[acemaster]

I actually do have bronchitis right now. I am feeling weak and helpless. I had it last year too, and this leads me to consider the possibility I am more susseptible to it now after contracting it after a simple cold two years consecutively. I can't help but think that if I were in a survival situation or "on my own" I would be dead. Not a pleasant thought. Any thoughts?

Remember that in his initiall post Iboschi was "...weak and helpless." He says he has bronchitis, but bronchitis, allergies, common colds, don't make you "weak and helpless" for the most part.

Influenza (seasonal or H1N1) definitely does this. So can Pneumoniae and a number of other diseases.

We are not being hypothetical about his problem here. He has a real problem it sounds like. Depending upon the mechanism of the disease and his underlying state of health, all the teas, barks, berries, claritin, tapeworms, smoke, inhalers and skunk oil/snake oil may not help him.

I go back to my original comment to see a health professional now if you are feverish or really sick. We can talk about hypothetical later.

 

[Don Rearic]

He also stated, as you can plainly see from the title of the thread:

"So you have bronchitis and you're in a survival situation."

No one is telling him NOT to go to a Doctor. They're telling him things other than that, sure. But what you are addressing isn't even really in the topic of the thread, it's a sidebar. An important one, but still a sidebar, so don't condemn people for addressing the title of the thread, either. Know what I mean?