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What Triggers Coughing Up Blood?

Posted by amyblossoms @amyblossoms, Mar 2, 2023

I have MAC & Bronchiectasis & GERD.

I'm actually quite healthy otherwise. LOL

My pulmonologist says I'm doing more with lifestyle & diet than they can do with modern medicine. YAY ME. Except lately I've been coughing up blood more than I'd like.

I'm eating small, healthy meals. Drinking a lot of herbal tea, but not too much. Exercising, meditating, enjoying life, doing work I love...

I would love more perspective on triggers if anyone has anything to share.

Interested in more discussions like this? Go to the MAC & Bronchiectasis Support Group.

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elle1987 | @elle1987 | Jan 16 7:51am
In reply to @amimma "Hello all, I have been coughing up small amounts of blood and it happens more when..." + (show)
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Hello all,

I have been coughing up small amounts of blood and it happens more when I talk. I believe I got a vocal injury from screamo singing, but my doctor wants to rule out any chest issue. The thing is, I hack it rather than cough - as in, mucus (sometimes hard chunks) and/ or bits of bright red blood comes up from deep in my throat and I just slide it up through hacking. The reason I am saying all this, is because I want to ask people here who know it's from their chest - do you only ever COUGH the blood? Or does it ever feel like it's coming from your throat and you don't need to cough but rather 'hack' or throat-snort it out?

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@amimma I’m exact same I choke it up but today fired out back of my throat and made my throat sore with chunk of blood red and yellow phelm

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paxmundi | @paxmundi | Jan 16 6:04pm

I would check to see if any of the herbs in your herb tea is a blood thinner. There are saliciylates in berries of all kinds that also thin the blood if you are prone to hemoptysis as I am. You would be surprised at how many foods are blood thinning!

Nebulizing with 7% also gave me the largest hemoptysis event that I have had since 2012 when I suffered a bronchial aneurysm that nearly took my life. Now I can’t even tolerate 3%, though I hope to return to that at some point. I agree that doing too much, exercising too hard, can also triggered hemoptysis. While I was healing from a sinus infection that went to my chest I had a PFT and bled a couple of hours after it because it was so irritating to my lungs. So there are irritations that can trigger hemoptysis in those with fragile capillaries around damaged airways as well as food and herbal substances that can thin the blood too much.

Also. I personally can eat very few solid foods and basically eat soups most of the time. I can have high protein cottage cheese with mango cubes and a croissant for a meal but that is the extent of eating non-soups for me. Too much solid food causes overwhelming congestion for my delicate airways and almost inevitably causes hemoptysis. When a number of those triggers coincide, bleeding can easily occur for those with the propensity to bleed.

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kdiago1564 | @kdiago1564 | Jan 17 8:12am

I have never had severe hemoptysis but the times I have had blood tinged/streaked mucus or even a little bright red blood, It was either a direct result of an infection/inflammation that I either have (MAC) or am fighting or I've gotten too aggressive with airway clearance coughing after doing 7% hypertonic saline. The pulmonologist typically advises stopping airway clearance for 24-48h until it clears up.

Recently, It was bitterly cold and I went for a walk on the beach and the extreme cold and wind caused bright red blood to come up as soon as I got back to the car and I read that cold narrows the airways and the cold, dry wind irritates already irritated airways so I learned my lesson with that. I drank warm tea and gave airway clearance a break and it was back to normal after 48h.

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alicebrew1 | @alicebrew1 | Jan 17 12:44pm
In reply to @elle1987 "I’m new here reading what everyone else has put so I thought I’d share what’s happening..." + (show)
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I’m new here reading what everyone else has put so I thought I’d share what’s happening with myself iv had viral infection 2 weeks still there then in this time every 4 days im coughing up yellow phelm with chunk of red blood out yet my gp says chest clear so waiting for test result for spectrum iv had double pnuenmonia before iv not been coughing only started yesterday but had blood before coughing and wallowing difficulties every time I tried to eat hope do one can give me an idea thanks in advance Helen

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@elle1987 I coughed up blood for 4 months once a week . Turned out I had haemophilus. Treated blood stopped then still coughed mucus next year still had haemophilus. Now I have patches of bronchectatis.

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blm1007blm1007 | @blm1007blm1007 | Jan 17 10:34pm
In reply to @kdiago1564 "I have never had severe hemoptysis but the times I have had blood tinged/streaked mucus or..." + (show)
Profile picture for kdiago1564 @kdiago1564

I have never had severe hemoptysis but the times I have had blood tinged/streaked mucus or even a little bright red blood, It was either a direct result of an infection/inflammation that I either have (MAC) or am fighting or I've gotten too aggressive with airway clearance coughing after doing 7% hypertonic saline. The pulmonologist typically advises stopping airway clearance for 24-48h until it clears up.

Recently, It was bitterly cold and I went for a walk on the beach and the extreme cold and wind caused bright red blood to come up as soon as I got back to the car and I read that cold narrows the airways and the cold, dry wind irritates already irritated airways so I learned my lesson with that. I drank warm tea and gave airway clearance a break and it was back to normal after 48h.

Jump to this post

@kdiago1564 Found this for all of us to see:
Is the extreme cold bad for your lungs? https://www.mayoclinichealthsystem.org/hometown-health/speaking-of-health/is-the-extreme-cold-bad-for-your-lungs.
Also: From American Lung Association: https://www.lung.org/blog/weather-and-your-lungs
Barbara

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