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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To think I have pneumonia?

75 replies

catgirl1976 · 18/04/2015 21:15

I had it a while ago and this feels exactly the same.

I've got a fever, shivers, a productive cough that's bringing up brown gunk, my chest hurts like hell, I'm wheezing, my chest is crackling low down in my ribs, it hurts to breathe in and I feel dreadful - dizzy, exhausted, aching everywhere etc.

I saw the Nurse Practioner about a week ago when it was just a chest infection and she said it was a virus, but over the last 2 days the fever and chills have started and the phleghm has gone from green to brown (Sorry for the TMI)

DH is acting like I have a bit of a cold and not being overly sympathetic.

AIBU to think I've got pneumonia again and should I go back to the GP after the nurse said it was a virus a week ago? Can a virus turn into pneumonia or am I just being a big wuss and should suck it up?

OP posts:
nocoolnamesleft · 18/04/2015 22:14

Pneumonia's just medical speak for chest infection...but it does sound like either way you might well have it. You need to get checked out. Promptly. First time I decided to leave a chest infection to the next morning to see my GP (chest pain, coughing brown stuff, tachycardia, tachypnoea, mild fever - pretty obvious what was wrong)...I gave up at 6 am and caught a taxi to A&E. Where the triage nurse told me off for not dialling 999, before taking me through. To resus. Embarassing.

Original poster
catgirl1976 · 18/04/2015 22:50

I feel bloody worse for the bath. I've had some more coedine and I'm going to bed and going to the walk in in the morning.

Tis grim :(

OP posts:
ilovesooty · 18/04/2015 23:08

If your husband won't take you and you feel so ill he's a dick.
I'd get a taxi but if you decide not to please take care.

NolanThorne · 18/04/2015 23:13

Don't go to A&E. Call 111 and let them advise you.

RusticBlush · 18/04/2015 23:20

nocoolnamesleft pneumonia is far worse than a chest infection and very serious.
catgirl you need checked over asap.

MiscellaneousAssortment · 18/04/2015 23:47

Hope you're getting some sleep and you get some useful medical help tomorrow.

MerynFuckingTrant · 19/04/2015 00:22

OP you really need to call 111 and they'll probably advise you to get seen. It sounds awful, I hope you feel better soon.
Your DH sounds rather selfish, I hope he shows you some sympathy tomorrow.

IamtheDevilsAvocado · 19/04/2015 00:30

Please get it seen to! Imho it can get very horrid very quickly....

Shame on your husband!!

Hope you feel massively better soon! X

IamtheDevilsAvocado · 19/04/2015 00:31

PS.. Unless, of course, your husband is a doctor with an interest in respiratory medicine... Confused

RJnomore · 19/04/2015 00:38

Cat, seriously mate, I had pneumonia 8 years ago almost right now and it nearly killed me. I was in hospital when madeleine McCann went missing.

It went into peritonitis and septicemia and then my lung collapsed as well, I am bloody lucky to be here. Don't mess around, I wouldn't be here if DH hadn't kept on and on at the GP and eventually Thr out of hours.

Pneumonia isn't just a chest infection, it's a specific set of bacteria which can run rampage through your system.

Bettercallsaul1 · 19/04/2015 01:10

From your description, I would say you have pneumonia - the fever, chest pain and exhaustion are all symptoms, as are the "crackles" deep down in your chest which are more serious than "wheezing" sounds. I hope you have seen a doctor by now, OP, but if not, seek help as soon as possible. This is definitely an occasion for going straight to A and E. I would not be at all surprised if they kept you in.

nocoolnamesleft · 19/04/2015 03:08

"nocoolnamesleft pneumonia is far worse than a chest infection and very serious."

Honestly, nope. Pneumonia is just medical speak for a chest infection, not specifically for a serious chest infection. It might mean a serious one, it might not. And neither "pneumonia" nor "chest infection" technically tells you whether it's viral or bacterial (or fungal...though that would be rarether unlikely without significant underlying disease). You don't work for coding do you? We keep having this argument with them...

OP: Whatever we're calling it, I suspect you have one. Probably, from your description, bacterial (there have been some weird respiratory viruses hanging around this winter, and later into the spring than usual, so it may actually have started as viral, then developed into a secondary bacterial infection). I would strongly recommend that you get yourself checked out. Chest infections can be very serious.

nicenewdusters · 19/04/2015 03:30

Had pneumonia a couple of years ago. Whole family unwell, chesty coughs/colds etc. Got up about 3am to call out of hours for advice about my young son. Within a couple of hours I was lying on the floor with excruciating back pain. Taken to hospital by ambulance, suspected kidney infection due to site of pain. Admitted and later diagnosed with pneumonia.

Whilst waiting in a & e the ambulance man who'd brought me in saw I was still there. I asked him if I was right to have called an ambulance. He looked at me as if I was mad, and said don't you remember we were talking about blue lighting you ? In follow up with GP, he said from now on you come here at the first hint of any chest infection or pain, and I do.

I also have a close friend who is ambulance crew. She said about 70% of her calls are not emergencies, lots of time wasters. You would absolutely not be one of these.

As for DH. take his advice when he's done 7 years at Med school. Also, don't rely on his lift, call a cab or ask a friend.

laughingcow13 · 19/04/2015 03:46

op I would call you ooh gp NOW if you haven't done so already

Sirzy · 19/04/2015 07:14

Nocoolnamesleft is right. DS has had pnumonia but been happily walking around playing and had 'just' a chest infection and been hospitalised. (He has also been hospitalised with pnumonia a couple of times.

Pnumonia isn't always serious, or worse than any other chest infection.

But what the op describes needs checking ASAP before whatever it is has a chance to develop

RachelRoyce · 19/04/2015 07:24

What time does the walk in clinic open OP? Hopefully you are on the way now, you definitely need seeing asap. Good luck Flowers

LumpySpacedPrincess · 19/04/2015 09:50

I hope you get to a clinic today.

Northernlurker · 19/04/2015 09:59

Hope you are ok Op (and that dh apologises!)

madhairday · 19/04/2015 10:10

Hope you're ok op. It sounds like pneumonia or another serious bug in your lungs. Pneumonia can indeed be serious or not and is just a chest infection, yours sounds pretty serious and needs to be seen. Your dh should be ashamed of himself :(

I have pneumonia, pleurisy etc regularly and know how miserable it is - and also how it can escalate if left - I hope you've seen a doctor by now op and getting treatment?

TattyDevine · 19/04/2015 10:21

Its not pneumonia that is medical speak for a chest infection, it is "chest infection" that is the generic term. Pneumonia is in the lungs, bronchitis is a bit further up, tracheaitis is further up still...all of these things could be described as a "chest infection" but pneumonia is the most serious one.

Pneumonia is not generic for chest infection. If I had tracheaitis and the doctor said I had pneumonia because its "medical speak for chest infection" then he'd be seriously misdiagnosing me. Pneumonia is generally diagnosed with a chest x-ray, however it is generally possible to tell how far down the infection is by tapping the back and chest whilst listening with a stethoscope and listening to breathing and particularly that crackle and where it is situated.

I have had pneumonia after I got swine flu and it can be quite serious.

TattyDevine · 19/04/2015 10:23

I was also told when I got bronchitis last year that "I don't have pneumonia, but I do have a chest infection".

Psipsina · 19/04/2015 10:34

Our GP never tells us what something is. He just prescribes something. Ds3 had a bad chest infection around Christmas, he was almost 2, and he was nearly hospitalised but in the end had two lots of antibiotics at home.

Never found out which it was.

Hope you are Ok OP. Let us know if you can.

Original poster
catgirl1976 · 19/04/2015 13:07

Been to the walk in. I have got pneumonia (it's an infection deep in my lungs hence it 'crackling' at the bottom). They've given me antibiotics and told me to rest and to see my GP in case I need a chest X-ray.

Thanks for getting me to get it checked. Hopefully I'll be right as rain in a day or two now I've got the anit-b's and if I can get some rest. Thanks

OP posts:
Penfold007 · 19/04/2015 13:15

Catgirl take it easy, rest and drink plenty of fluids. Let DH look after any DCs, do the cooking and any other chores. Flowers

Original poster
catgirl1976 · 19/04/2015 13:44

Thanks Penfold. I will.

OP posts: