Wunderbar

Hello folks. I have a question for any pseudo-doctors out there. For a little while now, maybe a month or so that I can remember, I randomly spit blood. The two times I can remember each day when this happens is in the morning when I'm in the shower, or when I'm at work outside smoking. There's no pain involved whatsoever, but the taste of blood is pretty evident and it's pretty thick and dark.

I am going to be calling the doctor tomorrow morning first thing and scheduling an appointment to get looked at, but was there anything else I should know and/or do for this?

Thanks for the input!

Plaid13

First step... quit smoking. then go back in time to the first time it happened and go to a doctor then. cant really be anything minor when your spitting up blood. Hopefully its just some sort of erritation from the smoking and nothing too bad. But thats not really the sort of thing you should put off getting checked out.

JustJess

Unfortunately, that just plain doesn't sound good. "Thick and dark" aren't words you want to use to describe anything coming out of you other than shit. Let us know how things go after your CT scan and blood tests. Oh, and make them get you in to see the doctor TODAY. Seriously. If it's minor, great, but if it's not, time is of the essence. Good luck and please let us know!

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Sorcha

Yeah, let us know. I've had sinus infections that make my nose bleed, so if it's in the morning, you may have gotten a nose bleed at night and had it drain into your lungs.

Dilbert1234567

Is it coming from your mouth or from your throat or below? Either way, go se a doctor.

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MuadDib

Definately see a doctor ASAP. Whenever you are bleeding somewhere internally it is not a good sign. With just this symptom it could be anything from something minor (like your cheek being damaged from something eaten thats having a hard time healing) to something major (I don't think I need to scare you by getting into this, I'm sure all these major possibilities have already crossed your mind). Regardless, you need to nip this in the butt and quick. Once may be nothing, but the continual presense of blood in your saliva over a month means something is wrong. Your smoking may be a clue, but it could also be unrelated to this. You can't be sure without further investigation but, I really can't stress this enough, get on top of it and take the initiative in finding out what's wrong and fixing it. If it's nothing big then it'll fix it or stop it from growing worse and if, G-d forbid, it is something big then the sooner you act the more likely it can get fixed. Best wishes and let us know what you find out.

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Yakk

I'm not gonna pussy foot around it.

Cancer can be cured if caught early. Blood coming out of your lungs is a sign of cancer -- not proof of cancer, but cancer can cause you to cough up blood.

Go catch it. Don't be an idiot and wait for it to kill you.

It is most likely not cancer. It is probably a nose bleed caused by dry air. But treat it as if it where what it could be, and you aren't harmed.

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Last edited by JHVH : 10-29-4004 BC at 09:00 PM. Reason: Time for a rest.

Wunderbar

ok well I just got back from the doctor not too long ago. I managed to stump 2 doctor's as to what could be going on, so they took a couple vials of blood and said they are going to run some tests on it.

I feel fine, I mean, I don't feel like I'm ill whatsoever, that's why I never bothered to get it looked at before. I don't know what to expect at this point other than the results of my blood test. From there we'll see what happens.

Thanks very much for your kind words and thank you for seeming to care about my health even though you don't know me. That truly means a lot to me. I'll let you all know what comes from this. They said they should have my blood test results by the end of this week.

Something odd did occur to them today though. They took my blood pressure (3 times actually)and it was 146/96. I'm not too familiar with blood pressure numbers, but they said that's a little high. They said a 24 year old man shouldn't have those kind of numbers. Does that mean anything significant?

Plaid13

it means its time to get on a better diet and get a little exercise basicly. i dont remember but i think like 120/80 or something is whats considered normal. but i could be way off. Basicly just eat a little better quit smoking get a little exercise and it will go down and be fine. thats not high enough to really worry about yet.

Oh almost forgot to ask but did they take a chest xray or do a cat scan or antyhing to look at your lungs or anything? Coughing up blood is bound to mean blood is leaking out of something its not supposed to and i would assume they would do more then just a blood test. Hope your doctors are not total quacks. But if all they did was take some blood you might want to go to a better doctor.

Sorcha

If you are under stress, it can raise your bp significantly. It is supposed to be 120/80, and if the top number gets above about 170, you have to go to the emergency room. That should give you a kind of scale But I'd cut back on salt for awhile if you can, to try and lower it.

snowy

It's likely that quitting smoking would be more effective than cutting salt out of his diet.

The NIH also says that changing your diet completely is more effective than just cutting out sodium (as not all people with high blood pressure are sensitive to sodium).

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Yakk

Pharmacies often have blood pressure machines. They can be inaccurate, but they are still fun to use.

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Last edited by JHVH : 10-29-4004 BC at 09:00 PM. Reason: Time for a rest.

Sorcha

Oh quitting smoking would fix a lot, but I figure he's sick of hearing that lol. It makes your artery walls less stretchy, which does contribute to BP.

And changing your diet to include low salt foods would help significantly. Na[+], the ion, is what's directly responsible for blood pressure (I have a test on this tomorrow, trust me :P). Changing your diet to include healthier foods will help, yes, but much of that is about changing the salt content. High salt causes blood volume to increase, thus causing high BP, thus causing the kidneys to have to work harder to get rid of the excess volume. Some people's kidneys, I'm sure, can handle it, but since he's 23 and his BP is still pretty high, I think his are just working in overdrive, and still can't quite cut it.

Plus, the reason they say "low salt" all the time is because a lot of the things people eat are high in salt and preservatives, like for example those frozen dinners. So they focus on the salt factor, because that really IS what causes the problems, but a healthy diet will help even more, because your kidneys and your body in general will be able to handle things better.

In short, a healthy diet is better for you across the board, but if push comes to shove, most likely cutting salty foods out of your diet will lower your BP

Oh and to the OP, you also might want to try something called "Lite" salt. It's KCl instead of NaCl, and K (potassium) doesn't stay in your blood, and therefore keeps your BP under control. Tastes just like real salt too and you can get it iodized if you want.

thingstodo

That is very high, especially in one so young. Do you have weight issues? Stop Smoking!! That would be a huge help as your BP will only get worse and stopping smoking only gets more difficult. I'll be surprised if they don't put you on BP meds. You definately need to get some excercise!

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Pip

About the BP, does your family have a history of high BP? Lifestyle is not the only contributor to a high BP, genetics can be as well. (Not that I'm saying you should relax and blame your parents, but it might be good to know how much of it you can control and how much medication can.)

rosh10

hi there. I have similar symptoms. After smoking excessively on two occasions, three weeks apart I spat out about a tsp of blood. Then I went to see a doc. I had a CT scan and the signs are all clear. The doc has referred me to a specialist which he said wasnt really needed but i could go if I wanted to.

Then recently ive been trying to quit but find it very hard. Last night I think I smoked 7 or 8 cigs. This morning I spat out about a 1/3 of a tsp.

Any advice please. Im going to try even harder to stop now. Its just difficult but possible esp in light of these health problems

Titan_Uranus

Coughing up blood ,made me quit smoking cos it scared the shit outta me ,stop it's not worth it.