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A question for, if possible, Dr. Höllering!

March 27, 2017 | 20,00 EUR | answered by Dr med Hans-Jürgen Bartels

Good day. I (male, 40) have a question regarding coughing up blood. Yesterday evening, I accidentally swallowed something while exercising and coughed strongly twice. After that, I had slightly bloody sputum. I then became very scared and have been feeling exhausted since. About 30 minutes later, I had no more bloody sputum, only slightly whitish. I don't have any cough at all. This morning, I tried to provoke a cough and there was no blood. I actually feel very well, occasionally I have had slight sore throat (dry throat) recently, nothing else. I have been a non-smoker for almost 9 years and had my last X-ray examination in 2011. Should I be very worried now? Can I observe for now? I have googled several times during the night and now I am naturally very afraid of having lung cancer or metastases! Thank you in advance! Best regards, Björn

Dr med Hans-Jürgen Bartels

Hello and good morning, I believe you don't have to worry too much at first. It is likely that a small vessel was irritated during sports, causing some bleeding. I would recommend getting a chest x-ray and scheduling an ENT doctor's examination just to be safe. But for now, there is no need to panic.