Can Bronchitis be connected to a Cruise?

[navybankerteacher]

I am very prone to bronchitis and have gotten it on cruises, possibly from cold windy sea air in my lungs.

 

After the first cruise episode, from then on I have Amoxicillin with me on our cruises to start using at the first signs of bronchitis.

 

"Cold windy sea air" can not cause bronchitis. In fact, if you only breathed "cold windy sea air" you might feel chilly, but you would be a lot healthier than if you breathed nice, warm inside air shared with other people who are, in fact, capable of infecting you.

 

Then, once you have bronchitis, you are wasting your money and kidding yourself by taking Amoxicillin - which is an anti-bacterial agent and is utterly ineffective against viral infections such as bronchitis. It might help against bacterial infections to which you might be more susceptible once your resistance has been diminished.

 

At the end of the day, it is pointless use of antibiotics which contributes to their decreasing effectiveness. Do not trust me, talk to your doctor, and pay attention to his advice.

[Pepamom]

The college of Cardinals cloistered in the engine compartment were unable to elect a new Pope during your cruise.

 

You are sooo bad! LMAO

[sanger727]

I've certainly come home with a cold following flights and cruises. I will tell you that I suffered from a horrible cough from mid-may on this year and we ultimately determined it was a seasonal allergy issue. Never in my life had allergies until this year. So if that's an issue in the area where you live it may be worth considering. It may be just the date you returned overlapped with the season.

 

 

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[Hlitner]

We have been cruising for about forty years, and DW has had more then her share of bronchial issues after cruises. A term that is often used by long time cruisers is "cabin cough." Our family physician has done a great job in treating DW....but its still somewhat of a mystery. Her last bout (a few months ago) was difficult to heal. Even a chest X-ray was inconclusive. Our "Dr Welby" finally cured DW by using a combination of powerful antibiotics and, later, a steroid based inhaler.

 

Why does this happen? We have no clue. Several different physicians have looked at DW (over the years) and also have no clue. The good news is that eventually she is cured....but not until she coughs for weeks (or even months). We do a lot of travel and she does not get this from flying. It only happens on cruise ships...and usually after longer cruises (we sometimes cruise for two months. About the only thing we know for sure that it is some type of URI (upper respiratory infection) that is not serious enough to show up on X rays. I would add that it does not happen on every cruise and has nothing to do with a specific cruise line or ship (we have cruised on 14 lines and more then 60 different ships). One other observation is that the cough is normally triggered by what seems to be a normal common cold (which is viral). The cold goes away in the normal time (about 4-5 days) but the cough just lingers.

 

Hank

[NMLady]

 

At the end of the day, it is pointless use of antibiotics which contributes to their decreasing effectiveness. Do not trust me, talk to your doctor, and pay attention to his advice.

 

What makes you think I did not talk to my Dr?

Who do you think prescribed Amoxicillin for a severe case of bronchitis?

[Underwatr]

I'll just take this opportunity to mention that bronchitis can have bacterial or viral causes.

 

http://www.uofmhealth.org/health-library/hw49584

[bennybear]

This past May/June there was a lot of influenza on the west coast and Alaska cruises that resulted in upper respiratory infections. Seems late in the year, and lasts a long time, not much fun! Hopefully you will recover soon.

[OzKiwiJJ]

At the end of the day, it is pointless use of antibiotics which contributes to their decreasing effectiveness. Do not trust me, talk to your doctor, and pay attention to his advice.

 

It depends on whether the bronchitis is caused by a viral or bacterial infection.

Viral - antibiotics are not recommended.

Bacterial - usually needs antibiotics to clear the infection - at least in my case.

 

The difference between the two is very obvious. If the mucus is clear it's viral, if it's thick yellowish/green it's bacterial.

[zqvol]

I got seriously sick with Acute Bronchitis within a week of getting off the carnival Valor on May 25, 2017. Am still sick and doctors aren't sure why I can't get better. Since I'm not sickly and got so bad so soon after the cruise we are starting to wonder if any connection. Can anyone offer suggestions?

 

You could have been exposed to the whatever virus or bacteria caused you illness on the ship, on a plane, at the grocery store, when pumping gas for your car, at the mall, etc. It is nothing more than an upper respiratory illness that has settled into you bronchial tubes. There might be a connection to the ship or maybe not.

 

Some things that didn't cause it were getting cold, or too hot, you did not get it from "sea air", you did not get it from anything emissions coming from the smoke stacks on the ship, no matter what color they might be, you do not get it from sleeping under a fan or air conditioner unless there are bacteria or mold in the ducts.

 

The bottom line is that you have the illness. Do what the MD says. If it is bacterial it should clear up in a couple of weeks with the cough persisting for maybe a couple of months. If it is viral then it might take 90 days to completely clear up.

[emerald6273]

I never had any respiratory issues on any cruise until I did a 19 night one. It got to the stage onboard that all you could hear were people coughing like seals including myself. This lasted throughout cruise. I tried staying in cabin for 3 whole days and still respiratory issue wouldn't clear. You can imagine my frustration as Bora Bora was in our itinerary. It was to be trip of a lifetime for us.

 

We do a lot of travelling and only time this happened was on a ship. It's put me off long cruises.

 

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[sanger727]

Just to point out that OP mentioned that they started getting sick 5-7 days after the cruise. Think the incubation period for a cold is usually 2-3 days. So if it is viral was probably picked up at home. I'm not disagreeing with people who suffer from a cough on a cruise due to environmental factors (A/C, humidity, etc) but I wouldn't think you would get a cough due to that a week after you got home. You would get the cough on the cruise and it would linger after you got home. It's unlikely this is related to the cruise.

 

 

 

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[Suzieanna]

I am always sick with upper respiratory infection after a vacation. It generally kicks in about day 10, and I think in my case its because I am running around too much, drinking out of wet glasses and hanging out in the casino!

 

seriously though, I always had a suspicion it was caused by A/C?

 

I went to the doc because I have had pneumonia in the past, but on this occasion I got three days of steroids and was soon back firing on all cylinders.

 

I have LOADS of allergies... so I don't suppose that helps.

[bUU]

The fact that we're still talking about this in terms of something acquired by way of the cruise, instead of the far more likely scenarios, acquired by way of a port call or the airline flight, is mystifying.

[Aquahound]

The fact that we're still talking about this in terms of something acquired by way of the cruise, instead of the far more likely scenarios, acquired by way of a port call or the airline flight, is mystifying.

 

What's so mystifying about it? :confused: My wife gets these same symptoms on cruises and we were able to narrow it down to the ship's AC. It's possible this is the cause for the OP's problems, along with a few others who posted that they get the same symptoms on cruises.

[bUU]

To make such a statement, you clearly have inside information that they were cruises without ports of call or airline flights to reach the port of embarkation. :rolleyes:

[Aquahound]

To make such a statement, you clearly have inside information that they were cruises without ports of call or airline flights to reach the port of embarkation. :rolleyes:

 

Sheesh....relax bUU. It just a suggestion and it's meant to help those who are actually experiencing this problem narrow down the possible causes.

[bUU]

Narrowing down the possibilities to the smaller of two possibilities makes no sense.

[navybankerteacher]

Narrowing down the possibilities to the smaller of two possibilities makes no sense.

 

Actually, if it is recognized that there are two possibilities, narrowing them down to identify the smaller does make sense in that it changes possibility to probability.

[missthesea]

As a physician, I recommend ignoring all of these posts and just following up with your own doctor. Something cruise-specific is unlikely, but not impossible.

 

 

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[POA1]

I'd guess that it's related to being around someone sick and not the air conditioning. We are in A/C all the time since we've moved to Florida and I've not gotten bronchitis once while staying in place. I have gotten it while traveling though. (I blame rest stops on the interstate highways.)

 

If you are prone to getting respiratory infections, I'd look at places with people - particularly confined spaces where there's coughing going on. That can be a plane, an airport, the ship, or even an interstate highway rest stop.

 

Someone in a thread a while back said that their doctor recommended nasal irrigation a couple times a day. That sounds like a good idea and my allergist recommends it as well. If you are flying and don't want to mess with the liquids, you can get a mix your own version that comes with an irrigation bottle and packets of the saline powder mix. If you are really worried about contamination, you can get a bottle of distilled water from the ship. (The stock it for CPAP users.) I just use the ship's tap water because I'm not keeping the solution long. At home, I use distilled water.

[Suzieanna]

It could also be the fact that when we are on a cruise (or indeed any place where we are confined with a lot of people) we are more likely to pick up "new" bugs, that affect us in different ways dependant on our own capacity to fight infection.

 

The reason so many of us here on this board say "I get sick on cruises", is because that's how we spend our time. If we went to a AI resort where we were in close proximity with 4,000 other people and breathing their re-circulated air, chances are we could say "I get sick on AI land vacations"

 

 

Does that make sense?

[Cruzaholic41]

I live in Miami. I rarely fly to cruises. I too frequently got sick on cruises. It would start as a cough and later turn into larger issues such as bronchitis. I also have a mold allergy. My doctor, along with my husband who was a Engineering Officer in the USCG, helped me narrow it down to the HVAC systems on board. I started taking Zyrtec while on board and resisted the urge to turn down the AC in my room. Now, I don't get sick anymore.

 

So while we could never know what is ailing the OP, there is absolutely nothing wrong with posting our own experiences.

[lady_cruiser]

Right before I retired in 2010 I took a week off from the office to go on a cruise. I came back with bronchitis and missed another week and a half of week. My doctor said it probably was caused from our cabin's air conditioning blowing directly on me at night then going out in the hot sun during the day. Even though I came home sick I had a great time.

[navybankerteacher]

 

...

 

Some things that didn't cause it were getting cold, or too hot, you did not get it from "sea air", you did not get it from anything emissions coming from the smoke stacks on the ship, no matter what color they might be, you do not get it from sleeping under a fan or air conditioner unless there are bacteria or mold in the ducts.

 

...

 

quote]

 

Actually, fumes such as gasoline vapor, cigarette smoke, and cruise ship stack gasses can contribute to bronchitis by irritating the passages and making them much more subject to infection.

 

So, given the same level of possible exposure to other people's infection, breathing second hand smoke in the casino or inhaling traces of stack gasses while sunning on the after deck, does increase your chances of lung problems while cruising.

 

Of course, those contributing factors can be experienced at airports while flying to, or from, your cruise.

 

The bottom line:

"CRUISING CAN BE HARMFUL TO YOUR HEALTH".

[bUU]

Actually, if it is recognized that there are two possibilities, narrowing them down to identify the smaller does make sense in that it changes possibility to probability.

Ice cream has no bones. Let's do it this way: Odds of possibility is, let's say, 60%, and the other 40%. Narrowing it down to the 40% and ignoring the 60% is silly.