hi i was sent for an xray yesterday as i have an annoying cough and if infection want antibiotics before start chemo. can anyone please tell me the difference between a chest infection and a lung infection. i may sound thick but i don’t know i did also ask a nurse and she thought they were the same so i thought i would ask you brainy ladies.
thanks in advance
julie
Hi Julie, i honestly don’t know, but it might be an idea to ring the helpline on here, they are very good, or email “ask the nurse” on here, i think they may be the same but just not sure. hope you get sorted soon
Alisonxxxxxxxxxx
Hi Julie not exactly sure what the difference is but last march i had a very bad cough and pain on coughing and visited my gp who diagnosed a lung infection, I got antibiotics and painkillers which cleared it up, several months later i had a cough again which lasted some time, same trip to gp and diagnosed with a chest infection for my peace of mind he sent me for a chest x - ray which turned out to be absolutely clear !!!
good luck with starting chemo
lorri xx
Hope you feel better soon - it’s horrible having a chest/lung infection…
I can’t see as a former nurse there being any difference between chest/lung infection. You get different types of chest infection - there are different lobes in your lungs so it could be an infection in one of those lobes or all of them and then there is the outer layer of the lungs called the pleura and they can infected as well.
Hope that makes sense. Whatever it is, antibiotics should help but sometimes it can take quite a while for a bad infection to clear up so give yourself plenty of time for it to get better and have plenty of rest.
Kate