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A curious question about...phlegm

Right...this is what happened...

My housemate was ill recently and then one day she coughed up some phlegm that had blood in it. It wasn't much but it was obviously blood. She freaked out and shown me the phlegm (yes..she SHOWN me her phelgm..eeeew :eek:

) and was getting rather upset about the presence of blood coz she never did that before ever.

All I said was 'so what?' :confused:

The thing is...I have been coughing up bloody phlegm whenever I'm ill since I was a teenager so when she shown me it, I wasn't surrprised. I thought it was normal to cough up bloody phlegm when you're ill! As I'm sure it was just the coughing that causes damage or abrasions in your windpipe and then the mucous phlegm just brings up blood.
But she got me quite alarmed about it so I went around asking my colleagues whether they cough up blood or not. The majority said no but a few others said yes.

The question is....how many of you guys out there also cough up phlegm laced with blood when you're ill? should it be a concern or just quite normal? :confused:

Reply 1

dogtanian

I've only ever once coughed up blood, and that was after whole weekend of coughing every ten seconds, so my lungs were injured from it.

I've never known it to be normal to cough up blood, no. But if you've been doing it for years with no ill effects, then maybe it just differs from person to person. You could always give NHS direct a quick tinkle next time it happens to reassure yourself, but I wouldn't concern myself too much...

Reply 2

glisten

I coughed up blood when I had a chesty cough once (I had a lung/chest infection) & I was put on antibiotics when I visited my doctor. I irritated my lungs because I was constantly coughing up phlegm for about 5 days. My lungs, chest and throat hurt so much. I think I burst some blood vessels because of all the straining.

Your friend has probably just burst some capillaries in her lungs too so I wouldn't worry about it. If it becomes a concern or happens very often later, she should see her doctor.