Okay, this will be a little gross, but has me scared to death. My brother coughed up something in his sleep the other night. It was a pale pink, kind of flesh color. It was approx. 4 inches long, and about the diameter of a pipe cleaner. The ends seemed rounded. I did not get to see it, so can’t give any further description.
When he awoke, he was coughing, and this came up. He saw a pulmonary doctor today. The doctor sent it off to the lab, for analysis. And, he sent him to the hospital for lung x-rays. The doctor felt like it was from his respiratory system, but had no clue what it may have been.
Does anyone have any ideas? I had the idea that maybe it was actually a parasite, and came from his stomach, but don’t really have any medical basis for that thought. Any help or thoughts would be appreciated, as the lab results won’t be back for 2 weeks. Also, the doctor said he felt it “could” be cancerous. I wish I knew the basis for that opinion.
Anyway, the doctor mentioned cancer because the description sounds like your brother could have coughed up bloody phlegm, and doctors always give you the worst case scenario, just in case. Bloody phlegm sometimes is a sign of lung cancer. Bloody phlegm is also sometimes a whopping case of pneumonia, TB, ear/nose/throat infection/problem and sometimes it’s just icky ol’ snot that looks pinkish. Knowing which is why doctors go to med school and run tests.
Good luck to your brother.
BTW- it isn’t just a LITTLE gross <insert gagging smiley>
Hmm. Must remember to watch this thread … I once coughed up something that sounded remarkably like the thing in the OP.
Never found out what it was, but I’d had a persistent and annoying cough for a while at that point … This was about seven years ago, and I’m still more or less alive (and the coughing’s stopped). So whatever it was, it wasn’t fatal. (For me. Yet.)
Does your brother have any travel history? The doc do a CBC and did it show eosinophilia? Any history of crampy GI pain? Any history of wheezing?
There is a possibility (wouldn’t say it is the #1 possibility) of it being a parasite. The one that would be most likely is Ascaris, which can be passed out of the mouth or the nose as well as per rectum. It is a fairly common parasite, in fact in the third world most of the population has it. Your description is about the right size for an adult worm, although they are usually beige and about 6 inches to 1 foot.
If you want to see some gross pictures, Google “ascaris bolus” someday.
No, he has not been out of the country, ever. The only test, other than chest x-rays, was to send the “thing” off to the lab at the hospital. Yes, he does wheeze periodically, as well as he has sleep apnea, and uses a Bi-PaP machine while sleeping. I just looked at some pics of the ascaris worms. Now that’s a big “yuck”. My brother doesn’t have internet access, but I’ll get some pics to him, to see if it could be that, in his opinion.
Oh, he does periodically have GI pain. Basically, he has many physical maladies. So much so, that they seem to run together. Sad, actually.
My brother is 40 yrs. old. He’s quite upset about the whole ordeal. As further background, although I’m not sure how relevent it may be, he also has bi-polar disorder, sugar diabetes, high blood pressure, he’s very overweight, and has a condition where his eyelids roll inside out while sleeping. The eyelid issue means that he as to tape little screens across his eyes before bed, to keep the lids from picking up dust, lint, etc. from the bed and pillows. Between that and the BiPaP hose going to his nose, sleeping for him is quite a challenge.
Not if it’s dead…
Seriously, I don’t know. I’ve seen a few cases of it, which were diagnosed by symptoms (GI mostly), eosinophilia, and colonoscopy or EGD, and then treated with mebendazole. We have quite a large Latin American/Mexican population here, so it is never off the differential if someone has crampy abdominal pain or obstruction or something. But I’ve never personally seen passage from anywhere. I’m actually pretty thankful about that.
Yippee!!! The doctor’s results are in. Official diagnosis - Broncial Mucus Plug. The Dr. says mucus hardened in a broncial tube, then he expelled it.
Thanks to everyone for your thoughts, ideas, and concerns. I wonder if this condition could have been brought on by the use of his BiPaP machine? I’m not sure how, but just wondering.
Jeez, this happened to me when I had a bout of bronchitis back in June and July. At least I thought it was bronchitis, and I coughed up some solid gunk a couple of times. The doc didn’t think so, but then I forgot to tell him about these incidents. He prescribed a nasal steroid to ease the post-nasal drip and tickling.
That bug was a doozy. I coughed virtually nonstop for two months.
Well, I sure got that wrong! The BiPaP machine does provide humidity. You add distilled water to the unit. And, the BiPaP doesn’t provide oxygen by itself, but it does have a seperate oxygen concentrator, that feeds the “concentrated” oxygen into the BiPaP machine. Sorry for the misinformation.
