Pneumonia and Obesity

syedanadia313

Hi everyone.

I am having some really awful anxiety right now. I severely obese with a BMI of 46 at the age of 35. I have actually lost 20 pounds recently because of my weight loss journey. Recently I have gone to ER and was diagnosed with Pneumonia. I have been coughing up blood with phlegm. I am worried of getting blood clots and because of obesity it increases my chances. Has anyone gone through and survived? Thank you for your time

Adventurista

Gosh, scary stuff... but they can do a lot. Hubby ended up on meds for clots, and both of us had meds for the pneumonia.... and everyone we know with these issues were helped with meds, but took time to recover. Take good care...

I did a lot of chicken broth soup stuffed with fozen veggies and heated in microwave. Because it was easy and soothing.

Hope you are on the mend soon.

syedanadia313

Adventurista wrote: »

Gosh, scary stuff... but they can do a lot. Hubby ended up on meds for clots, and both of us had meds for the pneumonia.... and everyone we know with these issues were helped with meds, but took time to recover. Take good care...

I did a lot of chicken broth soup stuffed with fozen veggies and heated in microwave. Because it was easy and soothing.

Hope you are on the mend soon.

Thank you so much for the reply. Are the other people you referring too had the antibiotics as well?

Also were there any sign for clots for husband and if there were can you please mention them?

skuehn48

I had a pulmonary embolism in 2008 after knee surgery. Cough,severe shortness of breath, low oxygen levels. You can purchase an oximeter at the drug store. Normal oxygen levels are between 95 and 100. If you get into the 80s that is a cause for concern.

Adventurista

@syedanadia313 ~ yes on the antibiotics....

for the blood clots - depends on the location... pulmonary in the lungs is like @skuehn48 described. Other places like the legs can cause pain and swelling in the leg affected (assymetrical because only in the 1 leg.)

Here's the thing on illness... things happen - so when we see unusual symptoms that are not normal, WE are worth getting care... from a call to the doctor, to urgent care or emergency care.... Until something happens - whatever we do today to help ourself and our bodies.... will help our future self... and that is always worth it. When we get there - we do what is essential then... It's almost like doing dishes and laundry - we do those things to take care of ourselves so we will have clean dishes and clean clothes when we need them.... and we will do more in the future too... I try not to worry about what the maybe's might be - and do what I can today...

Not sure I am explaining that well... It is so easy to worry, huh? 1 of my jedi-mind tricks is to write down the worry and put it in a little box... then, right now, I start where I am, do what I can and repeat that every day.... Later when I go through those little notes, most of them have either been taken care of or just gone away. I think I saw the idea on some tv show once. It helped because I could acknowledge the worry. Express it. Think about what I can do about it. If I can do something about it, then I do... But if I can't do anything now, I can set it aside until it is time to think about it later - when I can do more or to just reassure myself that it is ok to have thoughts that fret me.... but do what I can, and then set it aside until later... Sometimes I have to do that a lot - like even middle of the stupid night when I'm trying to sleep. I'll make a note on my phone to get it out of my head, then set it aside.

I use some deep breathing to calm the body, or stretching or a warm soak in the tub or some laugh tv like funny animal videos... Depends on time of day and what not - but I try to talk back to the wild things my mind tosses out - if I acted on those thoughts, I'd end up in a candy store or ice cream shop and welp, I wouldn't let a 2 year old go live in a candy store, lol... so, I just think it is ok to 'parent' ourself and replace the fret thought with a good thought.

and always, if you think there is something weird physically - do check with a doc or medical place - that is always better safe than sorry! You are worth it! (hugs)

cmriverside

Really good post from @Adventurista above.

The other thing is that pneumonia by its nature makes breathing harder, and then worrying increases the feeling. Shallow breathing causes anxiety all by itself. Like Adventurista said, breathing exercises really help.

Look on Google for "Navy Seal Breathing" or "Box Breathing."

Here's a link with a great visual tool: https://quietkit.com/box-breathing/

Box breathing is a technique used to calm yourself down with a simple 4 second rotation of breathing in, holding your breath, breathing out, holding your breath, and repeating.

Also known as Navy SEAL breathing technique, or tactical breathing, it’s a surprisingly simple and effective way to help regain calm and control of your thoughts when under stress.

A perfect visual meditation for when you can’t listen to audio, or just need a quick second to refocus.

Use this image to help you keep time!

Here are the directions:

• Inhale for 4 seconds (as the circle expands)
• Hold your lungs full for 4 seconds (as the circle stays fully expanded)
• Exhale for 4 seconds (as the circle shrinks)
• Hold your lungs empty for 4 seconds (as the circle is contracted

That’s it!

Repeat for as many times as you need to calm down.

AnnPT77

I understand why you would be anxious. However, the odds of mortality from pneumonia are relatively low. There's even some suggestion that mortality rates from pneumonia may be lower in obese people, such as:

https://bmcmedicine.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/1741-7015-12-61

I hope and assume that your pneumonia is being treated medically. Bloody mucus is a common symptom of pneumonia, and doesn't mean that you're producing blood clots.

I had pneumonia a couple of times while obese and recovered fine; even though I was below BMI 46 there was still increased risk.

One of my friends recently experienced blood clots in his lungs after a surgical infection. He was hospitalized for around 2 days and treated with blood thinners. On release from the hospital, he was told he could resume normal activity (but of course see doctor/ER if shortness of breath developed). When I saw him earlier this week, only a few days post-hospital, he was up and moving around, looking entirely normal. He's not the only person I know who developed blood clots for one reason or another and was treated successfully, just the most recent.

I agree with those above that stress management techniques like the breathing exercises would be a good thing for stress management in addition to the point that it can help lung function. Of course see your doctor or other medical service if symptoms worsen. Truly, although there are no guarantees for anyone . . . even with risk factors, odds of developing problems are low, and treatments for those problems typically quite successful.

I'd suggest you not keep up a big calorie cut while actively sick. Healing requires calories and nutrition. You can resume a bigger calorie deficit when you're well again, which I hope will be very soon.

Hang in there!