Does It Ever Get Better?

[K & L]

I was diagnosed with pneumonia almost a month ago and I'm still feeling terrible. I took my doses of antibiotics, started feeling better, but went downhill again. I've had 3 chest x-rays all showing I still have pneumonia. The Dr. is not prescribing anymore antibiotics saying she doesn't want to over-load my body with them, yet I'm miserable. One day I think I'm getting better only to feel horrible the next. Should I move on to another Dr., or is this normal?

[Craftlady]

I'd get a second opinion.

[Prairie Purrs]

I felt lousy for a long, long time when I had pneumonia. I couldn't even get out of bed for two or three weeks, and I didn't feel normal again for several months. It's a nasty illness.

[cassiesmom]

Another opinion, please

[Logan]

I suspect you haven't allowed your body the time to heal, without getting all too busy, all too soon, just knowing how busy you always are, Lisa.

But, if you are in any doubt that your doctor is handling things properly, you need to get a second opinion. Please.

Logan

[kimlovescats]

Lisa, a few years ago, I had a very bad case of double pneumonia! I was in the hospital for 8 days, went home and had to go back in for another 5 days. Even when I came home after the second stay, I was on home-care oxygen! I had a tube that stretched from my bedroom all the way to the kitchen, though I rarely had the strength to go that far on my own. Pneumonia is a horrible illness and it can definitely wipe you out for a long time!!! It was really about 2 full months before I was completely over it. I was also allergic to so many antibiotics, including ones known to be "best" for pneumonia, so it was hard to find the right medication. They put me on steroids and I had to endure the wonderful steroid acne from that. I felt so horrible that I kept an online journal, not sure if I was even going to survive it. PLEASE don't mess around with this! You may need breathing treatments as well. If your doctor isn't making a big enough deal of this, then FIND another one!

HUGS,
Kim

[joycenalex]

if you've had 3 chest xrays still showing pneumonia, and you're not responding to the antibiotics, you need a chest ct to look at your lungs in a different, more detailed view. and you might need a visit to a pulmonologist for a second opinion. your lungs and chest muscles work every single second of your life, it means that area never sops moving, so you have got to rest. often, and nap, often.

[KYS]

I say get a 2nd opinion.
I had double pneumonia and was off from work for 5 weeks.

It started as bronchitis while I was on vacation and I was given the wrong anti-biotic.
In 3 days it developed into pneumonia in one lung, and when I got home
my Dr. prescribed the same anti-biotic in a stronger dose.
Soon I had double pneumonia. My Dr. baffeled called an infectious disease
Dr. in the same hospital and my anti-biotic was changed.
I was feeling better with-in a few days, and continually was
getting better with the new drug.
Make sure you are getting the right antibiotics.

[K & L]

Well I just got back from Urgent Care and I've had a relapse. It's back and worse than before. So here I go all over again. This is getting SO depressing. I've been going to work through all this, but took tomorrow off. I'm going to do nothing but lay on the couch and in bed the whole 3 days. If I'm not better in a couple weeks I will seek a pulmonary specialist. Thanks for all your input here!

[krazyaboutkatz]

Lisa, I'm so sorry to hear this.:( I think that you may need to take a leave of absence from work so that you can allow your body to heal properly. If you keep going back to work too soon your body will never heal completely and you'll continue to have relapses.:(

I've only had pneumonia once and I was very young but I was home from school for a whole month and I had to stay very still and I spent most of my time in bed. I sure hope that this time you'll rest enough and continue to get better and also feel better. I sure wish that I lived closer to you so that I could help you and Kevin out. Please take care. (((HUGS)))

[wolfsoul]

Hi Lisa,

I would seriously consider going on a cleanse. Go to your local health food store and see if they have any lung cleanses. Try finding one with Scutellaria Biacalensis in it especially -- VERY good for draining the lungs and helps to treat infection. Honeysuckle also drains the lungs. A good lung cleansing kit will have both of these as well as man other herbs that increase blood flow in the cappilaries(sp), nourish and repair lung tissue, dispell mucous and regulate mucous production, aid in killing bacteria, boost the immune system, etc. Of course during a cleanse it is REALLY recommended that you drink alot of water and eat alot of fruits and veggies and avoid anything artificial. Eating alot of parsley should help you as well.

I cleanse often and I can tell you that it works. I have never done a lung cleanse but I think one day I might. I think it would be a very good idea in your case. Good lck!

[crow_noir]

I agree on getting a second opinion.

Have they made sure that it isn't Tuberculosis?

Also, please consider some natural remedies. Sure some of them are hoaxy, but there are others that work 10 times better than conventional medicine. (anti-parvo medicine for one. ...and not the recipe that's on the net. I know of one in a book, but i can't find the book any more. Elk Velvet Antler for arthritis is another example.) I use Grapefruit Seed Extract against the flu. I've even used it for food poisoning once. (Sucks that i had to have fp once before to recognize the symptoms. That trip to the hospital was NOT fun! I'll take the taste of GSE over that any day.)

I had pneumonia for the first time last year. Luckily I caught it early and was given double-spectrum antibiotics for it. Yes, it sucked horribly. I can't imagine having it for any more that the three months i did. Well, it was one month, but it took me two more to fully fight it off. Two months of sleeping for 16 hours a day is NOT fun!

http://www.elsonhaas.com/articles/article_12.html


I was diagnosed with pneumonia almost a month ago and I'm still feeling terrible. I took my doses of antibiotics, started feeling better, but went downhill again. I've had 3 chest x-rays all showing I still have pneumonia. The Dr. is not prescribing anymore antibiotics saying she doesn't want to over-load my body with them, yet I'm miserable. One day I think I'm getting better only to feel horrible the next. Should I move on to another Dr., or is this normal?

[crow_noir]

I Agree!!!


Lisa, I'm so sorry to hear this.:( I think that you may need to take a leave of absence from work so that you can allow your body to heal properly. If you keep going back to work too soon your body will never heal completely and you'll continue to have relapses.

[crow_noir]

Hmmm... I wonder if i should try that with all of my allergies and asthma. I've been wondering if I'm just not getting enough oxygen and if that is why my muscles don't heal as fast as they should any more. (I'd say don't heal, but that would imply that i was dead... which obviously I'm not.) I'm also thinking of applying to have a sleep study done to see if i have apnea.

Do you know if with any of those ingredients i'd have to watch out for caffeine content? I have a really bad reaction to it... even ginseng based things.


I would seriously consider going on a cleanse. Go to your local health food store and see if they have any lung cleanses. Try finding one with Scutellaria Biacalensis in it especially -- VERY good for draining the lungs and helps to treat infection. Honeysuckle also drains the lungs. A good lung cleansing kit will have both of these as well as man other herbs that increase blood flow in the cappilaries(sp), nourish and repair lung tissue, dispell mucous and regulate mucous production, aid in killing bacteria, boost the immune system, etc. Of course during a cleanse it is REALLY recommended that you drink alot of water and eat alot of fruits and veggies and avoid anything artificial. Eating alot of parsley should help you as well.

[Freedom]

Lisa - pneumonia is SERIOUS. People still die from it, young healthy people. I am surprised your doc has allowed you to keep working.

When I had pneumonia in the 1980's, I was out of work 5 weeks, and then returned part time for 4 before getting back on my feet. At the start, the doc yelled when he learned that I was walking form the bedroom to the living room twice a day for a "change of scenery." He said if I couldn't stay put in bed he's send me to the hospital.

When we over stress a muscle, say in the arm, we jsut use the other arm for a few days. You hold books in the other arm, use the other hand to open doors. But when we stress the lungs, which are expanding and contracting like muscles, we can't NOT use them. So it takes much longer for them to recover. Using the lungs - walking, stairs, moving about - just puts more stress on them.

I say seek another opnion BECAUSE this doc let you keep working! Just my opnion.
Sandra

[lizbud]

I say get a 2nd opinion.
I had double pneumonia and was off from work for 5 weeks.

It started as bronchitis while I was on vacation and I was given the wrong anti-biotic.
In 3 days it developed into pneumonia in one lung, and when I got home
my Dr. prescribed the same anti-biotic in a stronger dose.
Soon I had double pneumonia. My Dr. baffeled called an infectious disease
Dr. in the same hospital and my anti-biotic was changed.
I was feeling better with-in a few days, and continually was
getting better with the new drug.
Make sure you are getting the right antibiotics.


I agree with this. My sister just recovered from pneumonia also, but had
a hard time finally shaking it off. The Dr. tried a stronger antibiotic after
the first one didn't work well enough. Best of luck getting 100% again.

[K & L]

Thanks everyone! I'm on a new antibiotic and feel just a bit better today after my first dose last night. Maybe the got the right one this time. I will continue to rest and hope this time will be the cure. In a few months I will get the pneumonia shot.

[crow_noir]

Hijacking the thread, hope you don't mind.

I know it's been a while, but hope you ARE doing better.

~~~
Ugh! I have been so worried about possibly having pneumonia again that i didn't realize that i may finally be over a miserable head cold... that started out as a non-infectious ear infection. Well, a couple days ago i noticed that it was really hard to breath and i'd get 10 times worse after exercising. Usually getting out and about helps me heal faster. Thinking maybe it's pneumonia again (since the only thing that has ever felt how i'm feeling was when i had it last year...) I decided to start sleeping inhumane amount of hours. ...starting to feel a tiny bit better. S.O. desperately wants me to go for x-rays though. I'm convinced i can beat this with sleep (and not taking the dog for walks when i'm supposed to be resting.) And this is really personal for me to share... but sort of vital information... I had my first yeast infection (last year)(and only) and the doctors narrowed it down to being the antibiotics that i was put on for pneumonia. They were 95 - 100% sure that's what it was from after i answered about a zillion of their questions on everything from my personal life, to my hygiene, to foods i eat. It was one of the worst things i've ever experienced!!! (The yeast infection, not the questions.) I'd rather live with pneumonia for three months that go through that again.

Would now be a good time to send S.O. to the health food store for some of those herbal remedies?

How long does pneumonia live in/on stuff? I'm wondering if the stuff was laying on the floor in the bedroom. When we turned on the AC last week it kicked up a bunch of dust, mold, and mildew spores from all the hidden crevices (and stuff we don't vacuum behind. *blush*)

Any advice will be helpful. (Besides vacuuming behind the dresser and such... I already know that we *should* :p )

[carole]

I do empathise with you really i do, it took me seven weeks to recover and even then it was not a full recovery,i have never felt so exhausted in all my life, and i know all about chronic fatigue,it is part of my normal life, but even just ironing my hubby's shirt was a mammoth task, and i had to sit down several times in between, i do hope you improve soon, watch out for the depression that can sometimes set in,being sick that long can have that effect, it sure did for me anyway, take care and all the best.

[crow_noir]

Just knowing that helps. I had a feeling it was from being sick, but i just wrote it off from my seasonal depression. (I'm weird... I get depressed around May or June instead of in Jan or Dec like most people.)


I do empathise with you really i do, it took me seven weeks to recover and even then it was not a full recovery,i have never felt so exhausted in all my life, and i know all about chronic fatigue,it is part of my normal life, but even just ironing my hubby's shirt was a mammoth task, and i had to sit down several times in between, i do hope you improve soon, watch out for the depression that can sometimes set in,being sick that long can have that effect, it sure did for me anyway, take care and all the best.