Topic: Pneumonia - Has anyone here had it?

[ElCheapo]

I ask this so I get maybe a feel for what more I am in store for. This has been 8 days of hell so far. Yes I have been to the Dr. and got anti-biotics as well as kick ass cough syrup. Let's say it may not be better right now, but it is different. The first few days I was coughing so hard one would think I had Whooping Cough or TB  . At one point I thought I cracked a rib coughing so hard.

The first part of this week was absolutely wasted. I try to start out and it takes me until 11:00am to even get in gear. By 1:00 I am very much so done. It was bad enough this past weekend that I had to skip the "Big Bobs" ride to Boscobel, WI. I washed the bike, got it home, and then decided I was just WAY TOO sick to make the ride.

[Slapguts]

Twice a couple years ago, within about 3 weeks of eachother.

Keep taking the antibiotics, they'll eventually help. Even if you start to feel better. Otherwise it will just come back.

[Ratfink]

I came down with it a few years ago....Wished I was dead. I see how that #$%* can kill you. Couging, sweating, draining mucos, it was hell. Stay in bed and sweat it out.

[Jerry Rxman Griffin aka MuthaF'er]

Take the full course of your antibiotic and get plenty of rest. It will take a while to get your strength back. If you're not better near the end of your medication call your doctor back. Pneumonia has been known to kill the organism it occupies. It can be bad. Be careful with the cough syrup too. It should only be taken on a prn basis - meaning only when needed and according to the labeled directions. It will decrease your cough as well as your respiration. Narcotics are respiratory depressants. Excessive doses (OD) of respiratory depressants while sicker'n #$%* (medical term) could also, shall we say, be detrimental. Get your rest!

[loonymoon]

I had something approaching what you describe last year. lasted  at least 2 weeks and I didn't feel right for ages, it was the worst illness I've had in a LONG time. I can identify with the coughing til you crack your ribs. I went to the doctor and he said I had bacteria in my lung. I thought that it may have been Pertussis (adult whooping cough) as a couple of people where I worked had been diagnosed with this, the doctor didn't beleive it was this but I insisted that he gave me Erythromycin and it cleared up when I started the antibiotics - don't reckon it was pertussis but whatever it was it was sensitive to ery.

 I also took Seven Seas Tonic - not sure if you have this in the states but it's a liquid tonic that contains lots of vitamins and ferric iron it's kind of greenish colour- it really helped me get back on track.

Incidentally I am a scientist and work onthe bug Streptococcus pneumoniae the commonest cause of pneumonia. I'm not a clinician though so I can't tell you much about symptoms and treatments but I can tell you about the DNA etc of the bug!!!

[Jay B]

Bad, bad stuff. Follow the good advice given here, get plenty of rest to give your body the strength to fight it off. I'm a big beleiver in that.

[burmashave]

El Cheapo, prayers for a quick recovery.  I had it when I was a kid, but it was a mild case.  They put me in the hospital for 18 days and fed me lots of ice cream (I doubt the ice cream had anything to do with the pneunomia.)

[ElCheapo]

Update:

Still struggling through..Don't feel a whole lot better right at the moment. Basically i can stop coughing when I get my lungs drunk on medication and Halls. Took everything I had to get eBay parts shipped out yesterday. The 3 wheeler is still in the middle of teh shop upside down after I had installed the rebuilt motor. I just can't manage the strength to start finishing it.

[fishtoft]

Its a real nasty condition, had it about 6 or 7 years ago, didn't eat anything for at least two weeks and had really bad back pain, like loonymoon I was also put on Erythromycin, two courses of it, didn't have any effect, only started recovering after my lung was drained by fine needle biopsy. Hope yours is less severe, took me about four months to finally shake it.

[flatblack]

I got a lung-and-a-half many moons ago. Was hospitalized for 10 days and spent a lot of time regaining my energy.

Don't screw around with this.

fb

[Jerry Rxman Griffin aka MuthaF'er]

Hey El Cheapo,

Forgot to mention one thing in my treatment plan for you. Don't smoke anything while you are recuperating provided that you do. 

[ElCheapo]

Hey El Cheapo,

Forgot to mention one thing in my treatment plan for you. Don't smoke anything while you are recuperating provided that you do. 

This is about the hardest part of it. I still sneak a smoke or two, reallly the truth is that I can barely get through 1/4 of one and smash-o that cancer stick has to go.. Stupid addiction..... Might be a real good time to quit

Right now coughing has  breaks that can last for hours or minutes. At least I dont feel like I am dying when coughing. I'll heal up ok, I am too stubborn not to....

[Jerry Rxman Griffin aka MuthaF'er]

Yeah, you gotta be real damn onery and from your posts that's pretty obvious so a "minor" issue like this won't get you down for long.

Since you mentioned "might be a good time to quit" I'll throw in a little counseling at this point. I'm not going to get on a soap box here about smoking so, please, no feedback. Everybody do what they want!
If you have contemplated quitting then this WOULD be the best opportunity. I know those few small hits, er puffs, are really hurting you and your lungs right now. If you can get by without smoking for the next 7 to 10 days while this is going on then you have the hard part behind you.  Get well fast.

[Chris Schneiter]

I feel for you man..I have a really bad cold right now that started at the top and now is settling in my lungs...The best cough medicine I've found (prescription) is Phenergan with Codiene...It settles the cough down and is an expectorant...as my doctor explained to me, when you get into coughing spasms, you start coughing from the irritation of coughing..Phenergan slows down the cough, and make sthe cough effective and lets Your cough rest so that the irritation goes away.

[nickjtc]

When I bought my BMW we flew to Montreal to pick it up and ride it back across the country. Long story. The missis got pneumonia along the ride so it was a week of sheer misery and it then took forever for her to get over it.

Follow the med intake instructions to the letter and do as little as possible!

Get well soon.

[mennedy]

Great advice from everyone. I had the big P about 20 years ago and for 5 years afterwards my doctor watched me real close for a recurrence. You are susceptible for that long. Of course I now have chronic bronchitis and impaired lung function from smoking so something like pneumonia would be a disaster.

My advice is to make sure you get your sleep for the next 6 - 8 months. We all have an amount of sleep that our bodies like daily and you should get that religiously. Getting enough sleep really helps the immune system and general resilience.

You will survive in spite of everything.

[Uncle Ernie]

You're married aren't you?  Send me your address so I can send your wife a baseball bat to use on you.  As long as you try to be all macho and do Ebay stuff, you will NOT get better.  You don't have to quit smoking, but smoking now will mess you up more. You're not getting enough air as it is. 
This is bad stuff dude.  Don't play with it.

[nickjtc]

We sound like a bunch of nursemaids, don't we?? Never having smoked I cannot relate to the realities of that habit, but I have seen what happens to people who continue smoking when it is perhaps not a good idea... Do your best!

[ElCheapo]

We sound like a bunch of nursemaids, don't we?? Never having smoked I cannot relate to the realities of that habit, but I have seen what happens to people who continue smoking when it is perhaps not a good idea... Do your best!

It's almost like have a drive chain attachment on your 750 (which you cant get enough of) that repeatedly eats your crotch at random  . Fun to ride until it does that, but damn if you don't get back on it 

Will do my best to just get better 

[sparty]

Yeah, I got wacked with it about ten years ago.  I had to be hospitalized for a week and a half and they had to drain my right lung.  I thought that I was a gonner - I was only 24 at the time.

Sparty

[ElCheapo]

Maybe I'll just rant on it, and scare it away 

[jtb]

Cheapo, I had it 2 years ago, it took me a couple of months to get to feeling good again.  The most important time is now, stay down, don't overdo, and don't smoke.  I took two rounds of antibiotics for mine (20 days).  When you're better, don't smoke.  Use the money to buy more bike stuff.  Feel Better.

John

[Sam Green Racing]

Shut the fcuk up man and get back in bed, if you have got pneumonia the cigs will see you off and we don't want that.

Sam.

[ElCheapo]

Shut the fcuk up man and get back in bed, if you have got pneumonia the cigs will see you off and we don't want that.

Sam.

 

[dusterdude]

yea,what he said