Pneumonia?

[Liberty Belle]

Is it easy to catch? My oldest is just getting over it. He's been really sick. Yesterday my youngest started complaining of not feeling well all over. Today he's got a fever and a bad cough. We're going to the doctor in the morning, but...I'm just hoping he doesn't have it, that maybe it's just bronchitis or something.

Does anyone here have experience with pneumonia?

 

[NHdisneylover]

My understanding is that pneumonia itself is not contagious. It is a secondary infection that sometimes develops when one has something else (like a cold or flu).

My son had pneumonia last year. He was really sick and it took a while for him to build his strength back up; he even only went to half days at school the first week back. The rest of us also had the cold he had had, but it did not develop into pneumonia with anyone else.

 

[The Mystery Machine]

Is it easy to catch? My oldest is just getting over it. He's been really sick. Yesterday my youngest started complaining of not feeling well all over. Today he's got a fever and a bad cough. We're going to the doctor in the morning, but...I'm just hoping he doesn't have it, that maybe it's just bronchitis or something.

Does anyone here have experience with pneumonia?

Bronchitis can lead to pneumonia.

The pneumonia "sweats" esp. at night is a good early indicator. Have you seen any "sweating" on him?

I would say the fact he has a fever is not a good sign. Sorry.

Glad you are going to the doctor. Pneumonia itself is not "catching" however the initial virus that may be in your household may be something that can lead the body to get pneumonia.

If they want to prescribe an inhaler ask for a script for an "Aero Chamber". It works in tandem with the inhaler. It does cost a few pennies but it is so worth it with the treatment.

ETA...My dd's inhaler chamber is called, "Opti Chamber Advantage". I highly encourage getting it esp. if your son is young. My dd is 17 and still uses it.

 

[Poohforyou]

I had pneumonia when dd was in elementary school. I was still very hands on with her and neither dh or she got it. Of course I was careful to not cough on anyone and wash my hands frequently. I've had other family and friends with pneumonia and no one caught it from them.

I agree the soaking night sweats and inability to climb a flight of stairs without stopping are red flags that it isn't simply a bad chest cold.

 

[quandrea]

First of all I'm so sorry this is happening. My dh husband had pneumonia in September. We actually didn't make it to Disney because of the illness.

Pneumonia lives in all of us--in our throats and nasal passages. Usually we are strong enough to fight it off. Sometimes a person gets bronchitis, flu, etc and they cannot fight it off. They inhale the bacteria while they sleep and pneumonia develops in the lungs.

The previous poster who mentioned the night sweats is right.

Get your son checked out and be conscientious with the antibiotics.

YOur son who is recovering will take some time to be his old self. Lots of rest, a good diet, vitamin C.

Also if they have been prescribed puffers, keep them on them a good long time. At least a month after the disappearance of any symptoms and then wean them slowly.

This will leave your son (or sons) weakened. Try to keep them away from sick people, practice good hand hygiene. If you attend holiday services, I'd suggest skipping them this year.

Dh just got a cold from our twins and I'm a bit nervous. He's back on his puffers as a precaution and I'm watching very closely for any complications such as the development of fever. Pneumonia is notorious for causing relapses. It tends to lurk.

Good luck. I'll be thinking of you.

 

[Laura66]

I'm 46 and it snuck up in me last month! I had no idea you cld catch it so quickly and get sooooo sick. I came very close to being hospitalized.
I did not get a cough until after I was diagnosed. It started out with high fever and sweats, extreme fatigue and I felt like someone punched me in the back!
The terrible coughing started later and I slipped a disk from that - which lead to tingling and numbness from my tailbone down thru my legs.
I was sick for a good three weeks - didn't eat (just liquids and Popsicles) for a week, couldn't drive for 2, was weak and tired!
I was on an inhaler, steroids, musinex and antibiotics.
The doc told me it was contagious - but thankfully no one else got it.
Good luck at the doc!

 

[Liberty Belle]

Thank you, everyone! I appreciate you taking the time to respond. Sorry some of you are going through it/have gone through it, too.

I always thought it was a secondary infection type thing, but then read some information about pneumonia (specific) bacteria, so was confused. This clears it up for me.

My oldest got it when he was working 5 hrs a day with kids, pulling a 15 hour college schedule, which includes an EMT course, and doing 12 hour shifts with EMTs to get his hours and patient contacts in, so it's no wonder he came down with it.

My youngest is pretty healthy and not physically or mentally stressed right now, so I'm not sure why he has (if he has), but we'll find out for sure in a bit. He has a doctor appt at 10:00.

It started Monday night. He said he just didn't feel good. Said his whole body was sore and he felt so weak. It was a long day and I thought he was just tired. Tuesday at school, he continued with the tired feeling and started coughing a little. I'm sorry to say I thought maybe he was just trying to mimic his brother's symptoms to get out of school. There was no fever then. Yesterday morning he woke up and looked and sounded terrible. Was coughing hard consistently and said his throat hurt some, but mostly he was just so weak (kept emphasizing that, rather than the cough), then the fever came and I called the doctor. I don't know if he had night sweats last night. He felt a little wet (still hot) this morning, so maybe so.

Here's another question: my oldest's doctor did not give him an inhaler or cough medicine. She said she wanted him to cough as much as possible. He has an appointment in two weeks to get another chest X-ray, but he is still coughing a lot (though feeling much better). He had a car accident two days ago (sigh) and the doctor at the ER, said he still heard the pneumonia. Should he go back to/call his doctor, or just wait for the chest X-ray?

 

[lovemygoofy]

Thank you, everyone! I appreciate you taking the time to respond. Sorry some of you are going through it/have gone through it, too.

I always thought it was a secondary infection type thing, but then read some information about pneumonia (specific) bacteria, so was confused. This clears it up for me.

My oldest got it when he was working 5 hrs a day with kids, pulling a 15 hour college schedule, which includes an EMT course, and doing 12 hour shifts with EMTs to get his hours and patient contacts in, so it's no wonder he came down with it.

My youngest is pretty healthy and not physically or mentally stressed right now, so I'm not sure why he has (if he has), but we'll find out for sure in a bit. He has a doctor appt at 10:00.

It started Monday night. He said he just didn't feel good. Said his whole body was sore and he felt so weak. It was a long day and I thought he was just tired. Tuesday at school, he continued with the tired feeling and started coughing a little. I'm sorry to say I thought maybe he was just trying to mimic his brother's symptoms to get out of school. There was no fever then. Yesterday morning he woke up and looked and sounded terrible. Was coughing hard consistently and said his throat hurt some, but mostly he was just so weak (kept emphasizing that, rather than the cough), then the fever came and I called the doctor. I don't know if he had night sweats last night. He felt a little wet (still hot) this morning, so maybe so.

Here's another question: my oldest's doctor did not give him an inhaler or cough medicine. She said she wanted him to cough as much as possible. He has an appointment in two weeks to get another chest X-ray, but he is still coughing a lot (though feeling much better). He had a car accident two days ago (sigh) and the doctor at the ER, said he still heard the pneumonia. Should he go back to/call his doctor, or just wait for the chest X-ray?

Is your son still on antibiotics? If the ER doctor could still hear the rattle, I would go back to your doctor. Coughing is not a bad thing but it should be controlled coughing because constant coughing just causes more mucus to be created. It can be a vicious circle. Of course I'm am an asthmatic which is part of the problem when having pneumonia.

I would think at least at night she would give something to settle down so he could rest easier. Make sure your son is drinking lots and lots of water. It is one of the easiest ways to help get the gunk out. If he isn't at the stage of actually coughing anything up but constantly coughing, ask about a mucus thinner.

Sounds like you have a lot going on. Hope both the boys get better soon. Rub some vicks vapor on the bottom of their feet and put some socks on them at night. Weird but totally helps for some reason.

 

[Laura66]

When was the last Xray? My doctor only took them once a week.

I think coughing does break it up - but mine was sooo bad (when I did start coughing). I cldnt sleep or catch my breath. He did prescribe a rx coughing med. it was my understanding the OTC Musinex was taken to loosen the mucus/phlem?

 

[Liberty Belle]

Is your son still on antibiotics? If the ER doctor could still hear the rattle, I would go back to your doctor. Coughing is not a bad thing but it should be controlled coughing because constant coughing just causes more mucus to be created. It can be a vicious circle. Of course I'm am an asthmatic which is part of the problem when having pneumonia.

I would think at least at night she would give something to settle down so he could rest easier. Make sure your son is drinking lots and lots of water. It is one of the easiest ways to help get the gunk out. If he isn't at the stage of actually coughing anything up but constantly coughing, ask about a mucus thinner.

Sounds like you have a lot going on. Hope both the boys get better soon. Rub some vicks vapor on the bottom of their feet and put some socks on them at night. Weird but totally helps for some reason.

When was the last Xray? My doctor only took them once a week.

I think coughing does break it up - but mine was sooo bad (when I did start coughing). I cldnt sleep or catch my breath. He did prescribe a rx coughing med. it was my understanding the OTC Musinex was taken to loosen the mucus/phlem?

He's still on antibiotics and he is taking musinex. He was diagnosed (with xray) on Wednesday, so it's been over a week. I really thought she would have given him an inhaler, but she didn't.

 

[lovemygoofy]

He's still on antibiotics and he is taking musinex. He was diagnosed (with xray) on Wednesday, so it's been over a week. I really thought she would have given him an inhaler, but she didn't.

Oh it's been a week? No it can take a good while to get over the pneumonia. Make sure he is drinking a lot of water especially with the mucinex. There is a mucinex that has a cough suppressant in it. If you are going to the doctor today, and it's the same doctor, I would just ask about a cough medicine or if you can up the dose. Always take even more water though!

 

[North of Mouse]

You 'can' get pneumonia without any other signs of illness beforehand.

My ds (8 at the time) was very healthy, came home from school one day with high fever, fatigue, and literally collapsed at my feet. We nearly had to hospitalize him before it was brought under control.

He was weak and sick for two weeks. It hits the young and old - any age can get it - had a 6 wk. old nephew get it and 'was' hospitalized.

Was just at my Dr. office for my flu shot - wanted me to also get the pneumonia shot and said it was good for 7 years. They used to say lifetime.

 

[The Mystery Machine]

He's still on antibiotics and he is taking musinex. He was diagnosed (with xray) on Wednesday, so it's been over a week. I really thought she would have given him an inhaler, but she didn't.

Water, water, water as lovemygoofy said AND SLEEP. He should be resting as much as possible.

I would put in a call to your doctor anyway and see what he says, esp. since he was in a car accident.

It can take several weeks to months to get back to normal.

Bad thing is once you get it you will get it quickly again if you get sick again.

 

[U2_rocks!]

You 'can' get pneumonia without any other signs of illness beforehand.

That happened to me many years ago! One day I wasn't feeling great, achy, no appetite, a bit of fever (not high though). I still went to work, it wasn't that bad, but then while I was at work I coughed once and had this really foul taste in my mouth even though I wasn't aware of having coughed up anything. I immediately knew there was infection in my chest or lungs and went straight to the doctor. He heard a slight rattle in a lower quadrant by listening to my back, and he put me straight on antibiotics. I went from the doc to our company Christmas party but only picked at my food. A couple of days later I felt fine! It was very weird - I never had any nasal symptoms, and I never coughed again after that one time!

 

[The Mystery Machine]

That happened to me many years ago! One day I wasn't feeling great, achy, no appetite, a bit of fever (not high though). I still went to work, it wasn't that bad, but then while I was at work I coughed once and had this really foul taste in my mouth even though I wasn't aware of having coughed up anything. I immediately knew there was infection in my chest or lungs and went straight to the doctor. He heard a slight rattle in a lower quadrant by listening to my back, and he put me straight on antibiotics. I went from the doc to our company Christmas party but only picked at my food. A couple of days later I felt fine! It was very weird - I never had any nasal symptoms, and I never coughed again after that one time!

I can add to that. My hair stylist got pneumonia from a haunted house this past Halloween.

The "fog machine" they had did her in. She was not sick at all prior to going.

So I guess you can add "outside influences" as a cause to getting pneumonia too.

 

[Liberty Belle]

Just got back. It's bronchitis. Thank you all so much for all your help.

I think I'll talk to my oldest son (he's 20) about putting a call in to his doctor today and see if he can get some relief from his coughing.

 

[The Mystery Machine]

Just got back. It's bronchitis. Thank you all so much for all your help.

I think I'll talk to my oldest son (he's 20) about putting a call in to his doctor today and see if he can get some relief from his coughing.

Well, bronchitis is no fun either.

Hopefully all will be well in time for the holiday's.

 

[wdwmom2]

So I guess you can add "outside influences" as a cause to getting pneumonia too.

Pneumonia can be caused by bacteria, viruses, physical contaminates (esp older people with a poor swallow that inhale food into their lungs), and inhaled chemicals (hence the fog machine).



Pneumonia is simply an inflammation of the lungs. Pneumonia, in itself, is not contagious. It is what causes it that may be contagious (viruses, bacteria, and rarely, parasites).

And never in all my life have I been taught that it lives in all of us

 

[Liberty Belle]

Well, bronchitis is no fun either.

Hopefully all will be well in time for the holiday's.

No, he's a sick little booger.

Thanks, me too!

 

[minkydog]

Pneumonia can be caused by bacteria, viruses, physical contaminates (esp older people with a poor swallow that inhale food into their lungs), and inhaled chemicals (hence the fog machine).

Pneumonia is simply an inflammation of the lungs. Pneumonia, in itself, is not contagious. It is what causes it that may be contagious (viruses, bacteria, and rarely, parasites).

And never in all my life have I been taught that it lives in all of us

It doesn't. But there are certain strep and staph bacteria which live in our mouths and nasal passages. Most of the time these strains don't cause a problem, but occasionally they do. When that happens, you need an antibiotic to kill the bacteria.