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

The OOH drs rang back and suggested A&E because I coughed all through talking to him and was sick whilst on the phone . So I've woken up DH to take me in, the dr said to expect to be admitted :(

Oh crikey Still - at least you'll be in the right place - hope that you feel better soon

Hope whatever's wrong gets diagnosed and treated ASAP.

For me like others the extremely painful stabbing pain bad enough to make me pass out instantly (and I have a HIGH pain threshold).

However - that said I've been very ill last couple months with a bad cough that's just easing now, various treatments tried not worked but I don't have great faith in local medics (long story).

Then an article on whooping cough popped up on fb, I did some further research and apparently there's a rise in whooping cough at the moment partly due to vaccinations done way back when have either lost efficacy or the bugs mutated. My symptoms match almost perfectly.

I had chest pain as the only symptom. Come on fairly suddenly

Partner couldn't breath in the end, after slowly over a couple of days feeling worse and worse

Mother in law started horsey, then a little cough, then was sick twice, brought some stuff up, then couldnt breath

I was being treated for a chest infection but couldn't really follow medical advise to rest as DD was a toddler. Felt gradually more and more unwell and walked the buggy and DD a couple of miles back to GP. Collapsed there and husband was called to take me to hospital for Xray. At X ray told to go home immediately and GP would contact me. GP arrived at the house and tried to get me to agree to be admitted to hospital. I didnt want to go and we made an agreement that DH would take some time off work instead. In bed for next six weeks, 4 courses of antibiotics ( never worked as clearly viral) temperature of 40 most days. Weight loss of two stone in the six weeks, constant nausea and illness that can be compared with six weeks of flu. It took me a year to re gain the weight and be functioning properly again. If you have pneumonia you know it!

I didn't have a cough until I was already in hospital. I thought I had flu. Passed out twice in quick succession and took my first ever ambulance ride to A&E. Discharged 4 days later, still feel a bit wrong a week later. Agree that the neck and back pain were awful, and I also struggled to eat as I couldn't breathe.

For me it was the exhaustion, breathless & high heart rate. I do suffer chest infections & have had the flu before but with pneumonia I was also vomiting. 33 wks pregnant & just didn’t feel right so phoned 101 & they asked to sent an ambulance. I didn’t want that so got a lift instead. Hooked up on heart monitor, 4 days of IV antibiotics plus steroids for baby & then another 10 days of oral antibiotics. It was awful. Get better soon OP

I coughed so hard I thought I had broken a rib. In reality I had strained the intercostal muscles between my ribs trying to breathe, which then developed into pleurisy. My DH said that during a coughing fit my lips went blue and I couldn't catch my breath. This was after taking a course of antibiotics for a chest infection that evidently didn't work. I only vomited once but I was really struggling to breathe. In the end I had to sleep sitting up for 3 weeks as lying down made me feel like I was drowning (in reality I had enough fluid on my lungs it was possible). It took 5 simultaneous courses of antibiotics to shift it and some hefty painkillers for some time. It was a pretty shitty month but the weight loss meant my pre wedding "diet" consisted of chocolate and milk shakes so I could fit into my dress. Every cloud and all that...

I hope you're in hospital and getting the treatment you need now OP.

Op hope all is well for you. DH is in hospital right now with pneumonia, he has been in both the resus unit and now in the HDU because his lung has filled with fluid. It took 2 ambulance visits and a&e at a different hospital to get him there, he just couldn’t breathe and has been on oxygen for days. I hope they catch yours soon

My cough never went, even after weeks of it. It was so painful and even being on antibiotics I was getting worse. I could barely stay away or think straight.

Fortunately I caught it early, plus I was young and in good health. So got put on very strong antibiotics and within a week I shock it off. It was nasty and I can see how it kills vulnerable people. If you think there's even a chance you have it, get to the gp.

When ds had pneumonia he was only a preschooler but they couldn't hear anything in his chest but a chest x ray showed double pneumonia. He actually wasn't coughing that much but did have a temp of 40.5 with medication answers was delirious.

Chronic fatigue, feeling sick, pain between the waist and chest area, cough, so poorly I couldn't get out of bed, high temperature

Oh OP, that sounds horrible.

I’m glad you’re going to A&E. Best of luck.

I didn't have a cough until I was already in hospital.

honeysuckle - I didn't have a cough either. Had been fine, was at work and noticed an ache in my lower chest which hurt more if I took a deep breath. Thought it was muscle strain as had been training for London marathon.
Went home early, took panadol and went to bed.
Woke up at 3am shivering cold soaked in sweat and pain much worse, hard to breath, called an ambulance. Dr at hospital thought it was a pulmonary embolism but x ray showed left lower lobe pneumonia. Was in hospital 3 days on IV antibiotics and had to have physio to get me coughing stuff up - horrible "red currant jelly" sputum.

I'm glad you're in hospital now. Brown sputum is a definite go to the doctor sign. You sounded quite poorly, so I'm sure they'll be fixing you up

No cough for me. A deep, deep tiredness, lung pain, spaced-out. I got halfway up the stairs in the Dr's surgery, laid down on them and threw up. I was too ill to be embarrassed about it!

Hope you get better soon OP.

Because you can’t breathe and would be too Ill to post on Mumsnet ...

I’ve had pneumonia twice. The first time was worse because I didn’t realise and left it too long before seeking medical attention. Both times I was out of breath just moving, exhausted and coughing constantly. I remember sitting at the end of my bed just crying because I felt so poorly and couldn’t imagine ever feeling well again.

Because you can’t breathe and would be too Ill to post on Mumsnet ....

That simply isn't true AngryBird.

My Father was talking to me on the phone around 9pm. He was coughing but he has COPD so not unusual. He was bluelighted from work with respiratory failure into resus literally hours later. He had pneumonia and later developed sepsis too.

This misconception many people have that you can't be 'that ill' if you can still function slightly really does need to stop.

I couldn't stand up. I crawled to the bathroom to be sick

I've just come out of hospital having had pneumonia. Four days of multi antibiotic IV and oxygen etc and now on antibiotics at home. At first I thought I had bad flu but never actually had any "mucus" felt like my lungs were filling with water and bubbled when I tried to breathe. Breathing started to become a real problem. Husband dialled 111 and they sent paramedic who then took me in ambulance to hospital. I had very low amount of oxygen in blood (which I guessed as could barely breathe) I have had viral bronchitis in the past, which was more like you describe. Felt bloody awful, terrible pain when coughing but the difference was lumpy mucus comes up. I never felt like I was "dying" with that, just felt ill, but with the pneumonia I was actually felt scared as I felt I was beginning to lose to it. Hope you feel better soon.

Your symptoms sound a lot like mine when I had pneumonia.
How are you now OP? Did they admit you?

I had what’s called ‘walking pnuemonia’ Had a high temp, got misdiagnosed at the doctors and sent home with the wrong sort of antibiotics for a week, which didn’t work on pneumonia. Spent the week in bed delirious with a high temp, sweating buckets, unable to eat and lost half a stone that week. Went back to drs, they realised their mistake and spent the next 4 days in hospital on the right antibiotics which sorted it out. Had to have physio on my lungs in hospital to clear them (basically a man shaking my boobs, v weird!)

DH couldn't carry on a conversation. Coughing so much he can't converse sign that makes me twitch, now. Was coughing up a lot of sputum and barely sleeping, too. Don't think he had a temp, though.

We'd both had annoying cough for weeks and weeks. It was due to Hib, but vaccinated baby DS was fine, btw. I got better & DH got worse.

After 5 weeks with the cough, he was diagnosed with asthma... then chest infection (turned out to be antiB resistant bacteria)... before we got to pneumonia at the end. It turned out to kind of asthma that goes away with many antibiotics.

Hope you are ok and getting the help you need.