To ask if you've had Pneumonia, how did you know it wasn't 'just a cough'

[Christmastits]

Had a cough since Tuesday, I've called in sick for the weekend. I'm not starting to feel any better.

I have a temp of 39.5 and my sputum is now brown, it's really hard to cough up anything but it's always there. Lots of vomiting caused by the coughing, I feel bloody awful.

Drs on Thursday said it was viral but I'm not so sure now, I feel like I have the flu, I also have a uti which I'm on antibiotics for but they won't treat a chest infection.

Is it time to go back to OOH tomorrow? Or tonight? I all of a sudden feel really unwell. I'll have to wake DH up to take me but I don't feel like this is just a cough any more

Oops forgot.. so if you've had Pneumonia or something other than 'Just a cough' how did you know?

I knew when I vomited so hard I burst the blood vessels in my eyes.

@Kursk Christ that's awful!

Phone 111 tonight to see about OOH GP, it sounds like you have a raging chest infection.

DH had pneumonia last year. He knew it was more serious than just a cough or bug because he was so exhausted all the time and couldn't breathe.

I think you should be seen tonight given your symptoms. The antibiotic for your UTI may not be effective for your chest and there is the need to rule out sepsis.

I was coming out of work and realised that I couldn't stand up straight and walk. I'd managed to carry on working but was exhausted. My colour didn't look right and I had no appetite. I had been sleeping on an incline for a few days, i couldn't breath when i was flat.

If you are struggling to breath then go to A&E.

The antibiotic for my uti won't even touch my chest it's Nitrofuratoin and that won't have any affect on a chest infection. I'm on the phone now. I need to get this looked at. Even if it's just to be told again it's viral

I couldn't stop coughing to take a breath. Was slightly surprised when OOH shouted for a nebuliser though as I thought it was a cough rather than my breathing until I realised I couldn't say a sentence
Two lots of antibiotics, two lots of steroids and 8 nebulisers later I felt a lot better!

I passed out in the car in a car park and only came to when someone chapped on the window. I’d been struggling on with cough but that was my turning point to get seen.
I hope you feel better soon.

Utter exhaustion, intense blunt pain in the upper back so lung area.

I'm probably a bad example, but I ended up with about half a lung still fully functional and the only reason they allowed me to go home was because I lived 5 minutes away from the emergency hospital!

Treatment wise all I remember was that I had to take so many bloody tablets that I wasn't hungry.

More likely bronchitis than pneumonia, I had the former repeatedly when I was very prone to chest infections and they were reluctant to give me antibiotics. Call 111 and make an emergency appointment with your GP for tomorrow, call them first thing. Look up their phone hours so you don't miss the slot.

I had pneumonia with sepsis a couple of years ago, started with the flu. I was really really unwell, felt nauseous, couldn't eat, could barely sit up and coughing up brown phlegm. GP said it was a very bad cold!

Called 111 and was rushed straight to A&E. If it had been left any longer, the sepsis could have cause all my organs to shut down. Was in hospital for weeks and on very strong antibiotics.
Another sign was the excrutiating pain where my ribcage was, just under the breastbone. I thought it was a pulled muscle, but turned out to be pleuresy.
Please, please, please go to A&E immediately.

Funny thing is, I didn't seem to have a fever. I might be wrong, but from what I understand, with sepsis, it is possible to have a very high temperature or a low one.
Another sign was the struggle to breathe - so short, shallow breaths rather than deep ones.

Please don't mess around with this. My mother held of for days with similar and almost died from what became Microndiol pneumonia. All her organs shut down and was on life support for weeks wasn't expected to survive the first few hours. Somehow she managed to pull through although she's never quite been the same vibrant full of life social being she once was. Doctor's quick smart.

Just thought, can't you ask for your antibiotics to be changed to something with a wider spectrum?
Then viral or not, you're covered.

Everything is viral according to my GP .

The brown sputum you are describing, is what made me finally call 111 as I felt I would finally be taken seriously!

@CheshireChat and mine. She was so shitty with me on Thursday. I was crying with the uti and she said to go and do a sample so I did a pathetic amount and she was like 'how big was the wee?' You're looking at it love and it feels like I'm peeing a hedgehog.. she didn't want to prescribe anything for it but there was blood in it so she couldn't leave me.

Didn't even listen to my chest and she said it was viral. I'm waiting a call back from a dr

I had stabbing pains in my upper back on the right side that kept me awake at night.

You sound like I did when I had pleurisy - glad you are getting some help x

I got blue lighted to hospital when I stopped being able to breathe properly. Fun times.

I kept thinking I just had a really, really bad bout of flu, OP. I was so out of it and sleeping constantly by the time it became quite 'critical', that I have no recollection of the doctor coming to examine me at home or the paramedics loading me into the ambulance. I woke up in hospital wearing an oxygen mask, not knowing what the fuck was going on. At the time, they weren't sure if it was swine flu or pneumonia, so I was put in isolation.

Spent over a week in hospital, had serious scarring on my lungs and it took me a year to feel back to full health - no word of a lie. It really fucked up my life. I promise I'm not trying to scare monger, but Pneumonia is no laughing matter. I genuinely thought it was the flu. That train of thought nearly killed me though, because by the time we realised I wasn't getting ANY better, the infection had grown so much worse. I was only 22 and very healthy when it happened.

If you have even the slightest worry it could be pneumonia - please get checked out ASAP

For me, it was realizing I couldn’t eat and breathe at the same time. Every time I’d go to choke down a piece of toast or a glass of water, I’d have to stop because my breathing would be so labored that I’d feel like I was going to pass out. I remember trying to shower and just needing to stop and lay down about halfway through too.

I have it at the moment! Cough for months and then last week I felt utterly exhausted. Lay down for a sleep and woke up an hour later with stabbing pains behind my breast every time I breathed, coughed, laughed, bent over...
Pain radiating up my neck and down my shoulder (the most painful part of it).
Headache, fever and pains in my legs. Went to hospital the next day and was put on an ECG machine immediately because my heart rate was through the roof and my blood pressure was so low.
Oh, and was nauseous all week beforehand and was being sick in the mornings like pregnancy sickness.

Still feel absolutely wiped out.

I couldn't breathe out...or walk.

God these are awful.

How are you, OP?