Lingering illness :(

Woah, every time I've had strep, I could barely muster strength to go to the doctor, let alone bike before hand. Superwoman!

I get strep about every other year. The last time, this past February, I thought I could get away with getting back to the swing of things in 3-4 days. I was feeling better, so why not? So I went back to walking only for a couple of days. I don't know why, but this time the amoxicillin wasn't effective, and after a week I developed an ear infection. Which then led to a ruptured eardrum and I had to be prescribed a different antibiotic. So because of balance issues with the rupture, I wasn't able to walk in a straight line for over a week, let alone exercise, and it threw my whole program off. And I wasn't feeling up to calorie counting. So, I just took a break until April for sanity's sake, and I've been back at it since.

So, long story short, all you can possibly do is be patient, right? The doctors always tell me that if I'm still feeling bad after the 10 days of antibiotics, I need to come back in, it's effectiveness may be suspect. I've only had extreme fever, sore throat/ears, and dizziness with strep. I've never had to deal with congestion issues, so with with your history of asthma, you may need to go back to the dr to get an all clear, or find out what else might be going on. Perhaps the Mucinex conflicts somehow?

Good luck! I hate the feeling of forced inactivity. Maybe rest the body, and stick with indoor mat exercises and walking until you have several days in a row congestion-free.

If this is a common problem for you I would suggest reevaluating your diet. Your immune system is very weak. Finish off your antibiotics, but get as many whole foods in to your diet as possible and limit processed foods. If you can eat as clean as possible it could help your asthma as well. Ever since I changed my diet I never once got sick even when my kids were coughing all over me and we were sharing cups. I am vegetarian now, but lean very close to veganism.

Francl27 wrote: »

It started with a sore throat last Thursday. I still did 90 minutes of bike that morning before going to the doctor, and was told that it's strep... so I took it easy the next day, but then it somehow involved into a cold that moved to my chest...

I have asthma and after I had to spend a week at the hospital 4 years ago because of a cold, I'm seriously scared it's going to happen again... Today is the last day of antibiotics, I've been taking Mucinex for 5 days too, I went for a walk last night and it was fine, but this morning I went on my bike and after 15 minutes it was getting hard to breathe... so I had to stop. And it's so humid outside that I couldn't walk more than 15 minutes either. I'm not wheezing but I've been coughing up all kind of crap, but at least it doesn't hurt when I cough anymore...

It's getting really old... what do you do when that happens? It's supposed to be the week after TOM when I'm not too hungry and can keep a good deficit (I'm STILL trying to lose my Holiday weight), but it's just not possible if I can't exercise and I'm just so frustrated!

Not true at all. You can have a deficit just by cutting back on the food you're eating. You don't need to exercise to lose weight.

I had the chest crap (actually I still have it jest a wee bit).. two rounds of levaquin for me. And what do I do when I get this, usually 2nd trip to doc for the second round of medication. Musinex time release worked ok. I prefer something a lot stronger like psuedo / bromfed or something called Q-tapp (I can get it over the counter where i live).

You need eat as much as you can to keep recovery going at all costs. I would stay out of the heat and if you want to exercise, do it in doors. Exercise will promote the coughing up of the stuff, so cough it all up that you can. Get the stuff out of your chest and lungs (swalling it renters the body). I atcually spit like a man when I run in the mornings.

RoxieDawn wrote: »

I had the chest crap (actually I still have it jest a wee bit).. two rounds of levaquin for me. And what do I do when I get this, usually 2nd trip to doc for the second round of medication. Musinex time release worked ok. I prefer something a lot stronger like psuedo / bromfed or something called Q-tapp (I can get it over the counter where i live).

You need eat as much as you can to keep recovery going at all costs. I would stay out of the heat and if you want to exercise, do it in doors. Exercise will promote the coughing up of the stuff, so cough it all up that you can. Get the stuff out of your chest and lungs (swalling it renters the body). I atcually spit like a man when I run in the mornings.

This may actually worsen things.

The OP reports being asthmatic, has an infection (which increases immune response). She also states she has some concern for pneumonia.

In general - if there are pneumonia risks or with associated asthma risks or a lower chest infection, exercise is not a good idea. While you are ill, the body will mobilise nutrients in response to the increased needs of the immune system, dieting isn't necessarily the best way to meet these needs. Take a break for these days.