Um, ew...

[slipjig3]

I ask with the knowledge that it falls firmly in the TMI camp: What does it mean if you have a deep chest-cough for two weeks, occasionally coughing up phlegmy stuff without bothering to look at it, and then you finally decide to take a glance, so you get some of this aforementioned gunk into a Kleenex, and it's...um...a cocoa-ish, just-ate-an-Oreo-and-brushed-my-teeth-right-after dark brown?

Sorry. Do carry on.

Comments

[sionainn.livejournal.com]

Infection phlegm is green... always green. Think like infection pus is green (helpful image, eh? ;-)

Brown phlegm is (as mentioned above) dried blood mixed in. Coughing up blood of any kind is worrisome, but I agree with previous assessment that it's probably because you've damaged tissues from coughing so hard.

If your cough sounds like a "seal bark" then it's a good sign that it's bronchitis or the ilk. Ugh.

(just my two cents *clink clink*)

[slipjig.livejournal.com]

Lemme check... *hacks unpleasantly* Yup, definitely seal bark; I think you hit it right on the nose. Oy.

Thank you most muchly for that info, by the by (green pus image and all :) ); bronchitis isn't pleasant, but it's dealable. Good to know.