Cold producing heavier congestion

What antibiotic you have “just in case” my doctor refuses to give it to me and I have to wait until she emails me back - like today, I cough, sinus and brown phlegm

If your cold symptoms are caused by a virus, then the antibiotic would not work. I personally would not take a random antibiotic for an unknown source producing symptoms. Have you tried nebulizing 2 vials of saline at one time? That may help thin out the secretions and make them easier to clear out. Also, make sure to stay hydrated and drink plenty of fluids, especially if you have fever.

@zscline The "tail end" of a cold virus is often accompanied by the thicker mucus you describe. And the duration is typically 7-11 days. Unless I had new symptoms of a secondary infection like a fever, sinus pain, chest pain or uncontrolled cough, if it was me, I would double up on airway clearance and try to wait to hear from the doc.

If you do have the new symptoms and cannot get a reply from the doc, could you go to urgent care?

Your situation reminds me of what happened to me in December. Long story short -- I let my symptoms of chest congestion after a cold go too long and I ended up with some pneumonia. The big red flag for me was being unable to produce sputum for 2 days even with ACTs etc. As reference, I produce sputum easily everyday twice a day. It festered and I felt very ill. I agree with comments above about checking in with doctor. If you don't hear back and continue to worsen if it were I, I'd start the abx. Getting a sputum sample to the lab before starting abx would be ideal. Hope you feel better.

Thank you! That's what I sure don't want to have happen - getting worse and getting pneumonia. I appreciate your input.

Good advice. I think probably I am just dealing with the tail end of the cold. I haven't had one since way pre-Covid, so almost forgot how serious they can seem. Yes, I could go to "urgent care" if I really had to, but typically they sure to not treat patients in an urgent manner. Hopefully, it won't come to that, and today since I am feeling better, not worse I think I will be okay.

Thanks for the good advice. I don't know that I could handle two vials of saline at one time. I'm usually pretty worn out after using one vial. I am using a nasal rinse which I think helps too and, yes. plenty of fluids.

I'm sure that doctors want to be very cautious about handing out antibiotics, especially if they haven't seen you in person recently to be sure you really need them. We were going on a 5-wk trip, and I had had an issue earlier where I should have taken antibiotics, so my doc decided that he could trust that I would know the symptoms of a flair-up and would only use the antibiotics if necessary. Thankfully, I didn't have any such issue on our trip.

What he prescribed is Amoxicillin 250mg

That makes sense

Scoop, what "abx" stands for? Antibiotics?

Ling