Chest Pain And Dark Phlegm Worries Posted: 11-05-05 13:50pm
Please could I have some advice as I am
getting a bit worried about some chest
symptoms that I am experiencing.
Firstly I do smoke cannabis (without
tobacco) on a regular basis and have done
for many years now. I have been getting
pain in my chest on the right hand side
under my collarbone for a couple of months
now. The pain comes and goes, and i’m
not sure if it is my lung or ribs that are
aching, or if I have injured a muscle in
my pectoral. My concern being that I feel
fine in the morning but have been
producing brown specks and the odd lump in
my phlegm, this will stop after being up
and about for an hour or so. I don’t
have a cough and otherwise my lungs feels
clear. I run regularly between 3-8 miles
2-3 times a week with no pain or
noticeable problems with my breathing, in
fact I keep besting my times. I have in
the past stopped smoking for several
months at a time and have produced this
phlegm for a few weeks then it goes away.
I assumed that this was just the oil and
muck coming out of my lungs.
The reasons I am unclear about if it is
muscular is that if I “pull” my
shoulders back as if I were on a parade
ground the discomfort increases in the
chest. Also I find that the ache is far
less after I have had a hot bath (possibly
the effects of the steam?). I have over
the summer been working delivering water
which was very heavy work, lifting down
18.5 litre bottles from my truck always
taking the load on my right shoulder then
carrying them two at a time all over the
place! The first time that I started to
get these chest pains was strangely when I
was on holiday and was not lifting
anything heavy. I am no longer moving
water about my chest pains seemed to start
as my heavy work stopped (give or take a
few weeks)
i have seen my local doctor about this
problem, I did omit the fact that I smoke
cannabis as I cant have that on my
records, and didn’t raise the oil in my
phlegm as a result of wanting to keep that
private. He listened to my chest and got
me to do some resistance tests with my arm
and he feels that it is a muscle problem.
The one thing that is worrying me is that
the ache does feel worse once I have
smoked some cannabis, i’m not sure if
that’s my lung’s being aggravated or
the psychological effects of the drug.
I used to work as a diver and I am looking
to return and so killing two birds with
one stone I am awaiting a diving medical.
This will look at my lung and heart
function as well as chest x-rays. I’m
hoping that this will show up anything
sinister that may be going on.
Any advice would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks
|
synnical
New User, Becoming EHEALTHy
Joined: 23 Nov 2005 Posts: 15 Location: Florida
Your Pain Posted: 11-25-05 20:56pm
You know, I used to smoke that stuff too.
I smoke cigarettes now tho. It is a
known fact that smoking cannabis,
especially unfiltered is like smoking 5
cigarttes or more each joint. The truth
of the matter is, you know that oily brown
hash that comes off the end of a joint or
the brown color that resides in a bong
after its been used a few times?? Well
thats the stuff that is sitting in your
lungs. You can run 60 miles a day.
That wont help. You experience the cough
more in the morning because over night, as
you sleep, that sludge settles. Your
breathing slows and your not taking in as
much air as you would while awake. So
int he morning, the sludge moves and your
taking in deeper breaths, therefore you
hack and cough up this gunk. The pain in
your should could be due to the work you
do. You could even have a hairline
fracture in your collarbone. You could
have a bad part of your lung right there
that is damaged. Your colarbone runs
right across a major artery and the tops
of your lungs. My advice, go to your
doctor and tell him whats going on. Tell
him you dont smoke the stuff anymore. It
is patient confidentiality, he cant run
and turn you into the cops for it. Best
have an x-ray done tho....And hey if you
want to keep smoking it, your never gunna
get rid of that sludge. I smoke regular
cigs and I have it too. Its just not
brown resin.
|
Trimix
New User, Becoming EHEALTHy
Joined: 05 Nov 2005 Posts: 2
Posted: 02-02-06 05:28am
Hello again
i have been to see the doctor who heard
some rattle in my lower right quadrant
(strange as my pains are top right) this
came back normal, no action. I continued
to bring up dark sputum and returned for
another visit, I was then put on a weeks
course of amoxicilin which didn't seem to
have any affect on my pain or sputum
production. I went back again with the
same complaints (sounding like a broken
record) and saw a different doctor who
sent me for blood tests immunology
(aspergalosis) haematology and cytology
all came back normal.
At this time I stopped smoking and was
also put back on another week of
amoxicilin. During this week my sputum
producion dropped in quantity and also
became alot lighter (from dark brown/grey
to a lighter brown) I have now stopped
smoking apart from the odd weak moment,
after which the next day I have a
reaccurence of the chest pain and also
darker sputum production. So I have now
stopped completely.
I am now awaiting a appointment with a
chest consultant but and concerned about
some other sympoms I am experiencing.
Almost daily I have a very mild stitch
like feeling under my ribs on the right, a
low grade sore throat (could be from
clearing what muck is still coming up) and
now have a swollen gland in my left
armpit, dull ache.
Any advice would be very gladly recieved
as im quite worried now.
Mark
|
chowder
New User, Becoming EHEALTHy
Joined: 11 Feb 2008 Posts: 2
Hello Trimix Posted: 02-11-08 14:30pm
While I'm not glad to hear you weren't
feeling well, I am interested in your
experience with smoking, sputum, and the
swollen gland in the armpit. I'm
experiencing the same symptoms. I've
smoked green daily for a quite a few years
now, no cigarettes though.
A little over two weeks ago I caught a
cold, which eventually became what I think
was bronchitis and I started having very
forceful coughing episodes, especially at
night before going to sleep. I would cough
up sputum. This lasted for a few days and
my body became sore from coughing so much
and so hard. Now my cough has subsided but
has been replaced with a slight sore
throat and my right armpit seems swollen
with a dull ache. Every time I cough,
clear my throat or generally move the pain
in my armpit area increases. Until I
caught the cold/bronchitis I had never
felt the dull ache in the armpit.
I've stopped smoking and drinking alcohol
entirely for the past two weeks with no
problems. It was obvious to me that that
is a smart move. Though I've never
experienced the pain in my armpit like
that and it is freaking me out. I see that
you posted this in November of 2005. What
was the resolution to your issue? I feel
like the swollen area is a leftover from
my bronchitis/cold and it will subside
shortly. If you could write back and let
me know how it turned out I'd be
appreciative.
Thank you
|
dbones01
New User, Becoming EHEALTHy
Joined: 24 Mar 2008 Posts: 2
really starting to bother me Posted: 03-24-08 19:55pm
Hey- I am really becoming worried about my
sharp chest pains and am waiting a week to
see a doctor again.
It began a couple days before new years,
while i was smoking marijuana with my
buddies. I know many of you are saying-
you shouldnt be smoking that, you got what
was coming to you, but hear me out.
During our smoking session, I had a small
coughing fit, and suddenly i felt a sharp
pain in my chest. I began to panic and
went home to just rest it off. The next
couple weeks, i still had the chest pains,
and I thought it must have just been a
chest muscle that i pulled or strained
when i coughed.
However, it is now 3 months in, and they
are still there, maybe even worse. I kept
smoking after it happened since i was
convinced it was just a muscle problem,
but now i have stopped. I havent smoked at
all today but i am sitting here in pain
right now. When i went to the doctor about
two months ago, I told her i smoke
marijuana and she took an EKG and my blood
pressure and everything looked fine.
She told me simply to stop smoking, and
now that I have and the chest pains are
continuing, I am really nervous. It is a
sharp pain that can occur either on the
left OR right side, and it can even spread
so that it feels like there is a pain deep
in my back. It isnt like when i take deep
breaths it hurts or anything, just
randomly it will start hurting. I also
have had a couple times where i feel like
I am not taking as deep breaths as i
should be taking.
Reading the above posts makes me think
that maybe it is OCPD, which scares the
daylights out of me. Any suggestions?
|
chowder
New User, Becoming EHEALTHy
Joined: 11 Feb 2008 Posts: 2
Am feeling better Posted: 03-28-08 13:42pm
Hello, just wanted to chime back in and
share that I've felt better for the past
month or so. It seems as if I caught some
kind of severe cold or flu. Many of the
people in the office where I worked
experienced the same symptoms to greater
or lesser degrees. I do believe that my
smoking habits had something to do with me
falling into the greater degree category.
I may have had bronchitis, I'm not sure.
There was a new symptom every week for 4-5
weeks so by the 4th week it really started
to wear on me and that's when I posted my
message above in this thread. Eventually I
found information that lead me to believe
the pain in my armpit was related to my
body fighting off an infection in that
area. That pain climaxed and then
disappeared in a few days. Last night I
even practiced yoga so I feel much
better.
If you're experiencing these symptoms
under similar circumstances, stop smoking
entirely is the first thing you should do.
This was obvious to me and eventually I
did start to heal. If you want to start
again later that is fine but at least go
through a few weeks without smoking
anything or going into smokey bars and let
your lungs clean out and repair themselves
somewhat. I'd imagine it would take longer
than a few weeks for the lungs of serious
smokers to return to a semblance of
normality, so a few weeks at the very
least.
Dbones it sounds like you are experiencing
something slightly different than what
Trimix and I were experiencing.
Best of health to you all and good luck.
|
dbones01
New User, Becoming EHEALTHy
Joined: 24 Mar 2008 Posts: 2
ya sorry Posted: 03-30-08 01:34am
ok sorry guys i went to my doctor and he
said it is damage to my chest wall.. i
worried myself into thinking i had
something i did not. My doctor said he
likes sites like this because it can
sometimes scare ppl into going to see him
hahaha. If you are just having bad chest
pains with no other major symptoms (i had
a minor cough and minor shortness of
breath) it is probably nothing too
serious, just a damaged chest wall. He
perscribed some light steroids to promote
healing and I should be fine in a couple
weeks (although i cant go to the gym in
the meantime)
I wish you all good health and good
fortune
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CarolDiane
Supporter
Joined: 23 Sep 2007 Posts: 2062 Location: ,
Thanks: 65
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online
Posted: 04-20-08 09:05am
Yes, you can get that from smoking. But,
you may have an infection coming on as
that is one of the first symtoms. Could
esially lead to pneumonia if you don't
catch it in time. I would see your doctor
if you are concerned enough. Never hurts
ya know.
|
louiselouise
New User, Becoming EHEALTHy
Joined: 10 May 2008 Posts: 1
Hi Trimix Posted: 05-10-08 10:13am
Hi there, did you find out what the
problem was, as i;ve been experincing
exactly the same symptoms, especially when
i pull my shoulders back x
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