I coughed up blood this morning.

[Alexander]

It's the first time this ever happened in my life. It scared the hell out of me.

I quit cigarettes years ago but still occasionally smoked the ganj. Looks like that won't be happening any more either.

I never thought I'd have such a rude awakening. But then, I am a young and stupid kid. What do I know? :shrug:

While I doubt it was brought on entirely by smoking weed (many people I know here smoke cigarettes, giving me their secondhand smoke, and the air is a noxious, foul chemical cocktail), I'm sure that aggravated it.

I always justified smoking by thinking "It's not nicotine, it won't kill me". But the reality is smoking anything is terrible for the human body. I'm amazed at how blind (and in many cases, stupid) the stoners I hung out with were about this, thinking it's a perfectly harmless habit.

Looks like I have a sober rest of my life ahead of me, as I don't really like drinking either. Oh well.

[LeftyMom]

1. Did you go to the doctor?

There are toomany really serious things that could be not to get it looked at.

[Alexander]

3. If it happens again I will head to the ER.

After all, I was already coughing shit up, with my habit. The only difference is some of the nasty mucous I hacked up had a dark reddish tinge to it.

So it wasn't coughing up straight blood per se, and it could've been something else entirely. I don't feel any ill health effects besides what happened this morning, so my best guess is the smoking I did within the past couple of days was the culprit.

Besides, I absolutely loathe the community of MDs in the Phoenix area (most I've encountered are totally incompetent and/or fraudulent), and while I'm insured, the copay is pretty pricey for a starving college student.

So my plan is to stay off the smoke and hope I don't cough anything up any more.

[SeattleGirl]

2. Get thee to a doctor ASAP!

This is nothing to mess around with.

[Alexander]

4. Thanks. See post #3.

If this is just a one-time thing because I smoked too much herb (and I mostly coughed up mucous, assuming what I saw was in fact blood), there's no sense wasting time and money on a visit to some quack.

[SeattleGirl]

5. Understood. But again, please do not wait if things don't improve.

This is NOT something to mess around with.

[marzipanni]

6. I suppose you've probably investigated this already

but here's some info if not-
http://www.mothernature.com/Library/Bookshelf/Books/16/49.cfm

[Alexander]

8. Thanks, I will use the info on this page if I have to.

I also read about police poisoning fields of weed, and the growers dyeing it and passing it off as perfectly fine weed. Some who have smoked the poisoned stuff complained of headaches, nausea and coughing up blood.

Hopefully it won't happen again. Which is why I must quit - I don't really need a serious health problem to add to my list of unfinished business.

[necso]

7. There have been some nasty, persistent

lung (bronchial) infections (both viral and bacterial) going around this season, which can cause this symptom.

And if it's a relatively minor infection, it can be hard to recognize.

[Alexander]

9. My biggest concern is that it's valley fever.

Valley fever only occurs out here, in the Sonoran desert. It is just about impossible to get rid of and makes life hell for those who have it.

Then again, coughing up blood is not a common symptom of valley fever.

[necso]

10. An infection that causes a lot of coughing/irritation

can have secondary effects. And blood (mucus) from your nose or throat could be "contaminating" what you cough up.

I tend to look first at what trends I can see, and this season many people I know (people who normally don't get sick) have had the viral infection, which can be hard to shake. And several people I know have had a secondary bacterial infection, which can also be hard to shake. My buddy took two weeks of amoxicillin (plus some cephalosporin?), thought he was over it -- then it came back.