Phlegm after Cold

Dear Ask The Doctor: For the last two days, I've been spitting out brown, rusty looking phelgm every hour or so. About two weeks prior, I was spitting out bloody phelgm. Just a few days prior to that, I had a cold for a few days during which I coughed up regular looking phelgm. I don't ever recall seeing this sort of phelgm and I'm extremely nervous. Could this be something serious that I should go and see family doctor about?

Dear Paul: Hello, I know how concerned you feel about your condition.  In my opinion if you only present phlegm at the moment without any other sign or symptom such as cough, fever or chest pain the possibility of it been caused by your last cold could be considered.

I wish you have been more detailed about your respiratory process but if you presented sore throat when you had the cold a few days ago, the inflammation of it might be on remission at the moment and could be the cause of the phlegm color. During an inflammation process little vessels called capillaries could leak blood into the area causing the brown color of your sputum.

However if you are a smoker or you present during the next few days high fever, night sweats, chest pain with cough with yellow-green or bloody; then I will suggest you to consult your health care provider to rule out possible Pneumonia. I wish you a prompt recovery.