Pneumonia??

phys72

Anyone had pneumonia that can share some thoughts? I've had it for two weeks now and I'm still miserable. I'm on my second round of antibiotics and am taking prednisone and albuterol when I need it. I was hoping I'd feel better by now. It was not from the flu or any other illness. Just came on suddenly as pneumonia as a gift from my kids. They recovered within a week.

Obviously am not exercising and taking it easy. Would love for anyone with this experience to share some hope? Is it normal to still feel like crap after 2 weeks? How long did it take for you to get over the worst of it? Any advice? I'm missing out on life and it stinks. :-(

evileen99

Pneumonia is no joke; I would expect you to be out of commission for at least a month.

Pneumonia used to be the number one cause of death in the world; and after the invention of antibiotics it's still in the top ten.

nowine4me

I had the flu strain B a few weeks ago and I’m still recovering. I can’t even imagine pneumonia. Try to keep lots of moisture when sleeping, drink as much tea/water as you can choke down. Dehydration makes things worse. And rest, rest, rest.

jc1961AA

I had a nasty chest infection last year (obviously not as bad as pneumonia), it took me 4 weeks to get back to some normality

rileysowner

Pneumonia will wipe you out for a month, and you will not have your energy back for even longer most likely. It will also deplete your immune system, so be careful about getting other infections in the first few months. I had it and was out of commission for a long time.

vingogly

I had pneumonia some years ago, which made me fully understand why so many older people die from it. You feel like you have one foot in the grave. My doctors said once you have it you're more susceptible to getting serious respiratory infections again, and said I needed to make sure I got yearly flu shots for the rest of my life, and pneumonia vaccinations against the bacterial varieties.

I get the senior strength flu vaccine every year now that I'm a geezer, and have had two bacterial pneumonia vaccinations over the years. I'm also careful to avoid being around people who are coughing during flu season, and keep hand sanitizer handy.

Be sure to finish your antibiotics completely as directed, and don't push yourself until you're fully recovered. And be sure to let your doctors know if anything changes.

LifeWithPie

phys72 wrote: »

Anyone had pneumonia that can share some thoughts? I've had it for two weeks now and I'm still miserable. I'm on my second round of antibiotics and am taking prednisone and albuterol when I need it. I was hoping I'd feel better by now. It was not from the flu or any other illness. Just came on suddenly as pneumonia as a gift from my kids. They recovered within a week.

Obviously am not exercising and taking it easy. Would love for anyone with this experience to share some hope? Is it normal to still feel like crap after 2 weeks? How long did it take for you to get over the worst of it? Any advice? I'm missing out on life and it stinks. :-(

Yes. I had it about 10 years ago. I was on strict bed rest for 2 weeks and it took several more weeks to recover enough to feel normal again. I remeber it feeling like an anvil was pressed against my chest. The struggle to breath was horrible. My cough lasted 6 months! I had a severe case though.
Pneumonia is serious business.

Maxxitt

The one time I had it, I was sick for at least three weeks and it was probably another month to return to normal. But because you asked for hope .... I DID return to normal and you will, too.

victoria_1024

Ugh yes! I had it 2 years ago and it was 2 weeks of feeling absolutely miserable, then started to slowly get better but like others said it was a good month before I felt back to normal. My husband got it the same time as me, he was recovering from a major surgery and he had a bad cough and symptoms for a reeeeally long time. It was scary actually!

RodaRose

I had what the doc described as walking pneumonia. I needed lots of rest and patience. I did get better. Some people need to increase calories a little --consider going to maintenance.

Francl27

Just a cold and chest congestion took over 2 weeks to get better here. I don't joke with those because I have asthma and it landed me in the hospital last time. They gave me the pneumonia vaccine 6 months ago or I might have got that one too...

RodaRose wrote: »

I had what the doc described as walking pneumonia. I needed lots of rest and patience. I did get better. Some people need to increase calories a little --consider going to maintenance.

Yeah.. but with no activity it can be hard to keep a deficit anyway (at least it was for me).

tinkerbellang83

Took me about 5-6 weeks to get completely over it.

aokoye

Francl27 wrote: »

Just a cold and chest congestion took over 2 weeks to get better here. I don't joke with those because I have asthma and it landed me in the hospital last time. They gave me the pneumonia vaccine 6 months ago or I might have got that one too...

RodaRose wrote: »

I had what the doc described as walking pneumonia. I needed lots of rest and patience. I did get better. Some people need to increase calories a little --consider going to maintenance.

Yeah.. but with no activity it can be hard to keep a deficit anyway (at least it was for me).

And without rest you'll stay sick if not get worse. When I had pneumonia I could barely drag myself the two blocks to he bus stop to see my GP.

Nevermind that your body needs calories to get better.

phys72

Thanks everyone. Feeling frustrated and it's nice to hear reassurance that things will get better. I am not at all worried about deficits and exercise at the moment. While it would be nice to have lost some weight before dreaded bathing suit season this puts things in perspective. I just want to be healthy enough to have a life. My fitness goals will have to wait a little longer.
Thanks again for taking the time to reply. Really appreciate it.

Colorscheme

Yeah, it's a real pain to get rid of. I had it and didn't feel right for a month. My son keeps getting it and for him, it's being caused by strep pyogenes which is group A strep. And he goes on abx but he keeps giving it to me because his never fully goes away. So it's a really vicious cycle.