Elaine Posted September 25, 2004 Share Posted September 25, 2004 What is purulent sputum? How do you know if your sputum is purulant or not? Sorry for the graphic question, but I have been asked this and I don't really know what it means. elaine Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stand4hope Posted September 25, 2004 Share Posted September 25, 2004 Elaine, I looked it up. The answer is equally gross, but here goes: purulent Consisting of or containing pus, associated with the formation of or caused by pus. Origin: L. Purulentus (18 Nov 1997) This, of course, meant I had to look up "pus": pus A liquid, usually yellowish (to green) that is formed in certain infections and is composed of white blood cells, bacteria and cellular debris. (27 Sep 1997) Peggy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Elaine Posted September 25, 2004 Author Share Posted September 25, 2004 So it has to be yellow or green, then? Sorry for this grossness...I really am. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Amy P Posted September 25, 2004 Share Posted September 25, 2004 This made me chuckle - I don't think it is gross at all - of course my kids are heavily into nose picking so my threshold for gross is considerable higher :0 Elaine - I hope you don't have this yucky sputum!!!! Much Love, Amy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stand4hope Posted September 25, 2004 Share Posted September 25, 2004 Green and yellow are obviously typical, but purple or blue would probably be really bad. JUST KIDDING, ELAINE!!!!! I don't have a clue, but according to the definition, it definitely has to have "cellular debris". Have you checked for that? LOL! Sorry, Elaine, I know you mean this as a serious question, but I don't have a serious answer. Hopefully oncodoc will be here later tonight or tomorrow and give you a real answer. All my love! Peggy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Elaine Posted September 25, 2004 Author Share Posted September 25, 2004 Darn, wish I would have saved that chemistry set, lol. Gotta go, on a hunt for cellular debris! elaine PS. I just thought of a wonderful fund raiser!!! We could have a LC Scavenger Hunt!!! Now THAT Could be GROSS! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
luvmydog2 Posted September 25, 2004 Share Posted September 25, 2004 Sorry Elaine. I don't have an answer for you but I can tell you this, to which you probably already know. When I mention coughing something up the first thing doc ask is what color. I always thought they could tell something by the color. I don't mean to sound gross but I told doc once that my nose had been running and I blew it alot and he wanted to know what color. Sorry I did not help any. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Elaine Posted September 25, 2004 Author Share Posted September 25, 2004 As for the LC scavenger hunt, sheesh, we could have several different categories just for sputum color.... Ok ok, I know I need sleep--slap happy, I am, signing off elaine Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kaffie Posted September 25, 2004 Share Posted September 25, 2004 Elaine When I had my pleural effusion with empyema, the pus coming out through the tube was whitish in color and of course there was some blood. Kathy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MayFrog Posted September 25, 2004 Share Posted September 25, 2004 Elaine, Actually, this question is really low on the Gross-O-Meter!! (coming from a nurse and mom to 4 kids anyways!! ) Purulence is associated with pus, which in turn indicates infection. The colors to watch for are yellow and green. Yellow isn't so bad (usually enviromental causes)but should still be reported to your doc; but when it starts turning green, that's a sign of infection. Hope all is well, Mary Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ry Posted September 25, 2004 Share Posted September 25, 2004 Yep, with 3 kids here it is registering low on the gross out meter too. I give it about a 1 . I saw a bumper sticker the other day that said, "You can't scare me, I have kids!" Elaine, wishing you only nice clear sputum... Rochelle Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Elaine Posted September 25, 2004 Author Share Posted September 25, 2004 Ok. if the gross quotient was low, let me step it up! Really, the reason I asked is that about three or more years before DX, I would somtimes cough up clear sputum with some kind of greyish/brown things in it. I mentioned it to a Dr. and was told that it was happeining because I had quite smoking and that "smokers always do that". ! It happened seldomly, but has increased over the past year. Since that time I have been asked if I had ever coughed up prulent sputum and I have said no, believing that to be the green/yellow stuff that indicates infection. I am writing an article and wanted to make sure this grey matter is not the same thing as prulent sputum, which would mean I had inadvertently lied to Drs since the first time I asked about this symptom. I am not sure what I am coughing up, but I have a bad feeling it ain't good.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
melaniem Posted September 27, 2004 Share Posted September 27, 2004 i am LOL reading these posts. mother of 4, it's gonna have to get better/worse than this to gross me out. seriously, i have to admit, 2 times before dx i had bloody sputum and it scared me so bad, i rinsed it down the drain before i really even looked at it. i read Lance Armstrong's book and he did the same thing. i think seeing blood is so shocking you just want to get rid of it. flushing it down the toilet or drain is like saying you didn't just see that, but of course you did. hey, i kind of took this sputum thing and ran with it, huh?? it's nice to laugh though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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