I dont think what I said qualifies as medical advice but Im taking it to ATMB to find out.
Handy Seyz:
That’s not giving advice?.
Personally, I’d put more stock into what the resident MD says over Mr. High post count…
But than again, thats just my opinion…
I called my ex-doctor’s office for an appointment because I suspected that I had bronchitis. The nurse said, “you don’t have to come in. I’ll prescribe antibiotics over the phone for you.” I said something like “how can you do that?” And she said “Doctors offices do it all the time.” I switched doctors of course.
That may have been an isolated case. But this isn’t an isolated case of handy being wrong again.
In defense of Handy, I’d like to say that I think it’s just that his “shoot from the hip” posting style done him in this time. I interpreted his post as just a rather flippant version of “go see a doctor”.
To address the OP, if I may… Yo, Kevin? You still with us? Your parenthetical remark “…as usual” sounds like you have chronic bronchitis. If you’ve got a fever, or feel short of breath, you should definitely see a doctor right away. But you should see a doctor anyway, if you seem to get bronchitis a lot, or if every cold you get seems to descend into your chest and linger, making you cough up green stuff for weeks and weeks, .
That’s the kind of attitude the medical profession is desperately trying to change among it’s members. Change is hampered by out-of-date docs who’ve “always done it that way” and aren’t amenable to change, along with ones who are too busy to deal with patients properly, and even ones with financial incentives to not see patients in the office. It needs to change badly, or most of our antibiotics will soon be about as useful as bloodletting as far as fighting infection go.
Here’s a nice little link recapping the problem of antibiotic abuse:
http://www.aafp.org/fpr/20000300/01.html
But people still expect antibiotics, and bring a lot of pressure to bear to get them. Doctors these days are told that the patient is a consumer, whose wants must be met, or they’ll be lost as customers. The standing joke these days is:
Q: What’s the most common reason for prescribing Amoxicillin?
A: To get the patient out of your office.
QtM
bernse, DDG has it right. If you look up ‘Boy’ in the dictionary you’ll see it’s used to preface a sentence with emotional interjection. I thought it displayed a more caring attitude; society could use more caring people. shrug
Kevin Partida, did you ever get well & what did you do to get well?
The “green stuff”?
Spinich.
You are the Secret Love-Child of Popeye The Sailor
Have a nice day. 
Qadgop, sorry this is late. I was busy & had to research your inquiry (Did you know I wanted to go to UCSD medical school but they wouldn’t give me a sign language interpreter for the classes so I said forget it?). Pls. note that the Registration Agreement does NOT forbid the posting of ‘medical advice.’ Actually, it appears that it’s against people reading it, not writing it, to wit: “Users should be particularly wary of medical, legal or other professional advice posted on the message boards and recognize that it is no substitute for in-person consultation with a competent professional.” If you would like a copy of the agreement let me know.
As for the second half of your inquiry, here are some web links showing that antibiotics can be used against bronchitis. I was going to cut & paste the specific info from the pages; but it looked too much like ‘medical advice’ which isn’t against the rules but you know manhattan says I can’t post that. Hope this answers your inquiries.
http://www.lungusa.org/diseases/lungchronic.html
http://www.mckinley.uiuc.edu/health-info/dis-cond/cold/bronchit.html
http://www.nevdgp.org.au/ginf2/murtagh/Infections/Chronicbronchitis.htm
Good God! handy actually did some research and posted some links! 
Time to go check the weather report and see if Hell has frozen over.
Actually, good job, handy. I sincerely hope this indicates you are capable of responding to criticism (finally) and adjusting your posting behavior accordingly. It would be great if you would do this sort of thing more often.
IMHO, Manhattan was a little harsh on Handy. In this short thread, I count seven posts that are either facetious or apparently meant as jokes (quite lame jokes,BTW). So since no one takes Handy seriously, why pick on his post when you have these other posters wasting our time with what they think are funny posts?
BTW, Handy, if the bronchitis is caused by bacteria (not viruses), antibiotics are appropriate, as your links state.
thanks for the cites, handy. After review, I note that they are patient education handouts, frequently talking about what the doctor may do, like possibly prescribing antibiotics for individuals with chronic bronchitis, which is a different entity, a chronic lung condition. Even there, the role of antibiotics is controversial. They provide no evidence that antibiotic use is desirable for acute bronchitis, which was my point. One talks about your doctor perhaps wanting you on antibiotics if your resistance is low (true if you’re immunosuppressed, but certainly not the general case). Nor do they serve as scientific evidence for either of our contentions.
I’m not gunning for you, handy. I just don’t believe you’re qualified to tell someone that they need antibiotics. Can’t you just admit that much? I’ve had to admit I was wrong on these boards more than once, even in areas of my expertise. (shuddering, remembering the distilled spirits/calories debacle). I just look at owning my mistakes as an opportunity for growth. I expect I’ll still be able to grow a lot in coming years!
QtM
As a side note, about once or twice a year I get some kind of awful sinus infection (more yellow than green) and have to cajole the ENT’s nurse to give me more antibotics without my having to come in. Every time I’ve had to come into his office with this sinus infection for a visit it’s 95. out of pocket to me on my high deductible plan for the same 20.00 prescription.
They always work in knocking the infection out, so the desire for antibiotics is not always some foolish mass hysteria for meds. In may cases people want easy access to anti-biotics because they work.
I’ve got patients I do that for too, Astro. In those circumstances we generally have a definitive bacterial culture result on file, with sensitivities to different antibiotics, along with the knowledge that they have a chronic condition which will tend to be relapsing. Plus, I know them. So it makes sense there to treat without seeing if a relapse is not unexpected. But if relapses occur too often, or the patient doesn’t get better with the treatment, then I need to see them, maybe do some more cultures, and re-think.
Qadgop, no, I can’t prescribe antibiotics. No, they aren’t always necessary for bronchitis I must admit. Technicolor snot is pretty serious don’t you think?
Colibri, I usually post a link to webmd.com in my posts.
We never heard back from the OP, I hope he is alright.
I come up with a perfectly good Popeye joke, & Handy has to steal the scene by doing research.
POO! 
No handy, technicolor snot does not rise to the level of pretty serious in my book. Uncontrolled gastro-intestinal bleeding, pretty serious. Chest pain with falling blood pressure, pretty serious. Technicolor snot rates about a 3 out of 10 on my “this could be a serious problem” meter.
OK, so why is it green? What is the greenness in the phlegm? (phlegm? is that the correct word? because that’s what I’ve always called it, yet I haven’t seen much if any reference to it here)
It seems to me that at some point, usually a few days after I’ve been on antibiotics, I continue to cough up phlegm but it’s lost its color. Usually this change is gradual (i.e. from brown chunky to green to yellow to clear).
What is no longer present in the stuff?
Touchy, touchy. In defense of handy, if someone had said “I think I broke my leg” and handy said “Better get some x-rays” or “Better get a cast put on it real quick”, or if someone had said “I think I twisted my ankle” and he said “better put some ice on it” it would be the same thing and I don’t think that would qualify as giving out medical advice either.
True, Major. I also prefaced my sentence with ‘Boy’ which is an emotional interjection (says so in the dictionary), which really changes the meaning of the sentence. It’s a slight, but important grammar issue. Anyway, I like to post like I talk & ‘hear’.
No you don’t. This is the first time I recall ever seeing you post a link of any kind. I don’t claim you have never ever done it, but it is extremely unusual to see you even attempt to back up anything you say. As I said before, I think it’s a very good move on your part. I hope we see you do it more often.