Please or to access all these features

Add post

Watch this thread

Save thread

Start a new thread

Flip thread

Hide thread

My feed

Active Unanswered threads

Getting started FAQ's

Unanswered threads Acronyms Talk guidelines

Hide shortcut buttons

Talk

General health

Mumsnet doesn't verify the qualifications of users. If you have medical concerns, please consult a healthcare professional.

Flip

1 2 3 4 5 6

Original poster

Pneumonia-anyone ever had it?

140 replies

spacecadet · 04/01/2006 18:32

I became very ill almost overnight with a fever, chills, etc and a hacking cough last thurs, after 24 hours i was feeling worse with an agonising backache, as an ex-nurse i suspected i had pnuemonia but couldnt get an on call gp to come out! eventually one cameon NYD and confirmed it and put me on anti-biotics, i saw my usual gp yesterday who said i def had it and would need to go for a chest x-ray in a week, he told me to go home and rest as much as poss, but i have 4 children, dh only had 3 days off over christmas and went back to work on NYD, so ive been managing on my own, but i feel exhausted, every breath is agony, ive still got a temp etc, has anyone else ever had it? if so , how long was it before you felt better? im not sure why i got it in the first place but i have been very low since losing a baby girl at 23 weeks in oct and picked up several virus;s since then which i found hard to shake off, im guessing that must have lowered my immunity.

OP posts:

Aloha · 04/01/2006 21:12

So sorry notasheep
PPH why does your dh get it so often? Can you have a predisposition?

PrincessPeaHead · 04/01/2006 21:17

he had a terrible accident in 1990 which involved a punctured lung, pneumonia, double pleurisy (...broken back, broken ribs etc etc etc). He mostly gets pneumonia in his left lung and they think that the bottom lobe might be so badly damaged that it is actually dead. But he didn't get pneumonia again until 4 years ago and now it is practically every winter. His last bout was in Nov this year and then last week he got chesty again so he is back on antibiotics. We tend to catch it when his lungs are "moist" just before the pneumonia starts now, but it is becoming worryingly frequent....

expatinscotland · 04/01/2006 21:21

K, I didn't want to frighten you, space. But others have taken the reigns here.

A climber friend of mine suffered permanent lung damage from not taking pneumonia seriously enough. He is 36 now and his health still suffers - he gets every respiratory infection going. He has a pneumonia vaccination every year, but he still gets bronchitis, etc. all winter. He has virus induced asthma - his pnuemonia was viral - and although he's always been a fit man, he now has an increased risk of later developing COPD - emphysema.

I didn't take it seriously myself. I thought, Oh, I just had flu.

It made me very, very sick. I spent Xmas in hospital and felt weak for months.

If I'd taken it as seriously as it was, I'd have been back on track weeks sooner.

I honestly think your doctor should have a word w/your DH.

expatinscotland · 04/01/2006 21:23

PPH
My mother gets pneumonia often as well. She developed it as a complication from rubella when she was 17 back in the 1950s and ever since then has had recurrences. She gets a pnuemonia vaccine every year and that's helped a lot!

Aloha · 04/01/2006 21:24

Oh PPH, that's awful. How horrible and frightening for you both. I had no idea.

PrincessPeaHead · 04/01/2006 21:27

funnily expat I had booked him in for the pneumovax vaccine last friday, but when he went in he was chesty and "moist" again (don't you love that word!) so came out with anti-bs.
You can't have the vaccine unless you are 100% healthy in the chest so we have to wait until he is. Hopefully by the end of this month.
He hasn't had it before, I hope it is going to help reduce the episodes...

expatinscotland · 04/01/2006 21:30

It works for my mom (she has the vaccine w/her flu vaccine each year, usually in October) and for my pal Rich, who also has it at the same time as his flu vaccine.

Is he also getting the flu vaccine as well? He should be eligible for it.

My mom was getting 'walking pneumonia' often until she started the vaccine.

Original poster

spacecadet · 04/01/2006 21:30

notasheep, im so sorry about your brother.
i have just sat and read a lot of gumph from google out to him, about complications, the worst case scenario etc and he has gone quiet.
the daft thing was, i knew straight away what was wrong with me, i recognised the signs but explained them away, like you expat, i told myself i just had flu, but at its worst over the new year weekend, i admit at one point i thought i was dying, it was quite scary. my gp said that there has been quite a few cases of pnuemonia in our village this christmas strangely enough.

OP posts:

acnebride · 04/01/2006 21:30

space, i hope you are in bed and anyway lots of much scarier stories, but a friend of mine had pneumonia, only took 2 weeks off work, went back while still feeling weak and has had post-viral fatigue for the subsequent three years. She doesn't have kids to look after. This is the time to send the kids to a family member and go to bed for 2 weeks. Seriously. NB dh would still need to be there for you while the kids were away.

notasheep · 04/01/2006 21:35

Space-do what you need to do

Original poster

spacecadet · 04/01/2006 21:37

im going to bed in a min! i dont sleep brilliantly at the mo, have to sleep propped up on pillows but at least i will be resting.

OP posts:

PrincessPeaHead · 04/01/2006 21:38

haven't thought about the flu vaccine, he doesn't get flu really.
Glad to hear about your mother, gives me more ammo for my fuckwit GP who told me that it wouldn't benefit him at all, since he wasn't over 65! What he ACTUALLY meant was that he didn't get paid for giving the vaccine to anyone under 65. I've told the GP he is giving it to him anyway and he has agreed in a slightly sulky way.

This is the same bloke who told me, when I asked for an oral vitk prescription for my last baby, that it would cost him £1.27 whereas an injected dose was only 47p. I pointed out that since I was having my baby at home, with an independent midwife, as opposed to a full emergency CS after a load of epidurals etc in hospital, that he should consider my son to have started off life having saved the NHS approximately £7000. and to be in credit until further notice. At least he had the grace to laugh at that one.

Original poster

spacecadet · 04/01/2006 21:42

pph, your dh should be having the flu vaccine on the nhs, he is entitled to it, dont be fobbed off.

OP posts:

PrincessPeaHead · 04/01/2006 21:48

BED, Spacey!
With a nice cup of cocoa to wash down your anti bs!

Original poster

spacecadet · 04/01/2006 21:51

oopps!-im going! thank you everyone for your advice, i will get dh to make me a cup of tea and i will go directly to bed

OP posts:

expatinscotland · 04/01/2006 21:58

he should DEFFO have the flu vaccine! i got pneumonia as a complication of flu - this appears to be one of the most common ways to contract it.

LadySherlockofLGJ · 04/01/2006 22:34

Spacey

ANSWER the question woman ..........

Where are you and can we help......???????

Sorry to hear you are so poorly.

LGJ

mummytosteven · 04/01/2006 22:38

Don't think Spacey will mind me saying she's in Cambridgeshire.

MarsLady · 04/01/2006 22:40

Right! So who are the netters in Cambridgeshire and who can provide at least one meal for the family whilst she's ill?

MarsLady · 04/01/2006 22:44

methinks I should start a separate thread!

LadySherlockofLGJ · 04/01/2006 22:46

Sounds like a plan...........off you go,,, chop chop..........

LGJ runs~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ whilst she still can.......

MarsLady · 04/01/2006 22:48

there, started one

Spidermama · 04/01/2006 23:17

I had it about two months ago. I ignored it as I also have four kids, dh was away, and mum refused to come and help. It literally brought me to my knees and I ended up in hospital for four days on I-V anti biotics.

It was horrible. On the positive side, I responded really well to the anti biotics and started to feel better after about ten-fourteen days. I was still a bit weak and you really need to try to rest and get help.

I wish you all the best and a speedy recovery spacecadet. There seems to be a lot of it about. There were several children with pnuemonia in hospital when my son was in.

Good luck. Eat well. Sleep as much as you can. x

Spidermama · 04/01/2006 23:18

Oh! and don't forget the pro-biotics during and after the ABs.

Nemo1977 · 04/01/2006 23:19

aww spacecadeyt no advice on pneumonia but just sending you huge hugs and hope you get better soon
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Flip

1 2 3 4 5 6

Swipe left for the next trending thread