if anyone has ever had pneumonia please could you read and help?

[lisalisa]

I am going to make a GP'S appointment this afternoon but wondered whether anyone who has ever had pneumonia may be able to help?

I think I may have it and am wondering whether to skip GP and go straight to A and E.

Story is that about 3 weeks ago I caught a chest infection and was given amoxycillin. Seemed to clear up a bit but 2 or 3 days later caught either a heavy cold or flu and was soon coughing very deep chesty cough and lots of green cattarh ( sorry for tmi!).

Bumbled along this way for a while but then started to get fever in afternoons as well as general body aches and feel extremely tired and weak. I have lost my appetitie too and this morning have a funny tummy and slight diarrhoea. Temperature comes and goes so for eg I've been to tesco this morning but pattern is that by 4 every day I'm feeling feverish ( very cold and shivery) and exhauxted and bed by 8.00pm).

Only symptom I don't seem to have is chest or shoulder pain .

It's a bit difficult for me to get to GPs and I will have to wait ( as emergency appointment) for an hour or so and don't want them to be told to go to A and E for x ray so wondering whether to go straight there. On other hand I don't feel like an A and E case and don't want to take up their time unneccessarily either.

Has anyone ever had these symptoms without the chest or back pain with pneumonia or have any other advice to give me/

I have all that you have plus an aching in my shoulders/top of my chest. I've lost 10 lbs since it started (3.5 weeks ago). I'm trying to get an appointment with the doctors for this afternoon (called this morning and told I had to call back to get an emergency appointment this afternoon). When it started I assumed it was a virus but its just not getting better and I spent practically all of Christmas and New Year in bed.

I doubt it is pneumonia as I'd imagine you'd be completely bedridden with that. Hope you feel better soon.

When I had pneumonia it went as follows:
Blinding headache and aching all over. Went to GP as it was agony to breath. He thought it was pleurisy and gave me antibiotics and said that if I coughed up blood I should go to A&E. Once I could cough again (it just hurt too much before) I coughed up blood. Went to A&E they did an X-ray and diagnosed pneumonia. With DH it was more of a gradual progression but in both cases coughing blood was the defining feature. As far as I know (no expert) pneumonia can deteriorate very quickly and is definitely a medical emergency. If you really think it is pneumonia you should get yourself to a&e. Hope you are OK.

I think if you went to A&E with no chest pain, you'd be hanging around forever.

I had pneumonia and although what you've described sounds horrid, you actually feel like you're at deaths door with pneumonia. The pain in your chest and shoulder is crippling and you cannot focus on anything else and cannot lie or sit comfortably.

I thought I was having a heart attack or had appendicitis before I was ambulanced (is that a verb?) off for some chest x rays.

Best wishes and non infectious hugs to anyone who's ill, get well soon.

If your GP appointment is this afternoon you'd probably see your GP quicker than you would see a doctor at A&E. If you need hospital help your GP will get that sorted for you.

I've had pneumonia too. The pain is horrendous. You can only breath small shallow breaths because of it.

Hope you get sorted soon.

It sounds like your first set of abx didn't fully clear the infection - your GP is probably the best first port of call as they will be able to give you another set which might combat a different bacteria. To prevent complications like pneumonia, it's important that you keep clearing your chest as best you can, and look after yourself and just keep an eye on it. Keep well hydrated to prevent your chest from 'drying out' as this will make it harder to expectorate.

Thank you so much everyone for your advice - I will go back to GP this afternoon and see what they say. I think its unlikley that its pneumonia as I wouldn't be walking round Tesco if it was presumably but when fever sets in each evening I am convinced it must be something like that !

I have had pneumonia, and was still able to walk about. In fact I walked to the GP appointment that I was admitted to hospital from, so ability to carry of with some form of normal activity doesnt rule it out.

It does seem like you will be seen quicker by going to the GP than by A+E. If your GP does think that you need an X-ray then hopefully you will be sent straight to radiology and not have to go to A+E and wait again.

Sounds like your chest infection has not cleared . Amoxicillin not best AB for this. Ask for Erythromycin.I have had many many chest infections, and had pneumonia 2 years ago. As posters have said very different as pain on inspiration is severe and you feel very unwell . I nearly died, ended up in ITU, would not want to experience that again!

I couldn't get a doctors appointment today and was told to go to our local walk in clinic. Got there and was told that they couldn't see me if my symptoms were more than 48 hours old! So I lied and got seen immediately. Chest and sinus infection so on antibiotics. The only good thing is the kick start to my New Year diet!

Thanks again everyone. Now it is just after 5.00 and my fever is in full swing - feel hot and shivery and achey all over . MollieO yes it is good for weight loss! Thanks for hint on abs madondogs and for your experience catsareevil. Will report bcak after GP appointment which is at 5.20 and prob wont' be seen till about 6.30 such is our surgery!

Hope your GP appt goes ok. I had pneumonia last christmas. Was in hospital on IV antibiotics and oxygen BUT I didn't get any chest or back pain so no pain doesn't rule out pneumonia.

My DH had pneumonia in both lungs and I can assure you that on the day he was taken to A&E (at my insistance, he didn't think he needed to go), he WAS capable of walking round a supermarket. You can have "walking" pneumonia. ie you can walk!

I think our point was generally that if the OP presents herself to A&E with her current symptoms, she's going to keep getting pushed down the list by triage as people come in with chest pains and limbs hanging off.

Better to see the GP and get referred if it looks like its something more serious. And no reason to get her all worked up if it's not life threatening. No reason not to take your health seriously, but it's the best way to get the appropriate care which was the original question.

And hopefully will prevent a massively long wait, also bad for you if you're ill to start with. (fondly remembers NHS direct advice to go to A&E with a migraine)

Hope your GP appointment went ok, lisalisa.

Well! GP said my chest was clear and no temperature despite the fact that I was shivery in the surgery and had taken nurofen and paracetomol ! I did try to say that if I had taken temperature reducing meds then that may be why I was only 37.4 ( which is borderline fever anyway). She dismissed the other symptoms and said it was just a cold.

I will see how it goes I think but if it continues I'll just have to sit in A and E with a good book for 5 hours I think.

Sorry you've not had a definitive answer from your GP.

DS1 had pneumonia when he was 5. He had no cough and no chest problems at all - it actually presented as appendicitis . They were dithering about taking his appendix out but did a chest Xray as a slot came up and pneumonia was one of the 3 diagnoses they were arguing about.

Just wondering how you are doing now Lisa?

Sounds just like when I had glandular fever to me. Are your glands up/stiff neck at all?

Hi, my 8 month old baby boy has had the bug/infection that's going around for 6 weeks now. It started with a cold, runny nose etc and now very bad cheery cough, cough making him sick, off and on temperature, grizzly, crying. I've got it too now and I've had it for 3 weeks so far.
My baby just finished a course of amoxicillen, no difference yet.
It seems to be going around, symptoms all sound same plus lasting long time.

I would just go back to your GP or out of hours. I wouldn't go to A and E.

Hope you are feeling better today Lisa - I had pneumonia this autumn and ended up hospitalised but that is not always necessary - did your GP listen to your chest? as that is the indicator my doctor used to refer me to the Hospital for a chest xray and then she informed me that I did have Pneumonia in both lungs and gave me a new AB perscription. wWen the new drugs did nothing after a couple of days - I went back to the GP and I was sent to the hospital Acute Assessment ward and ended up in the Chest ward for a week. But that was due to unusual complications.

So even if you do have pneumonia AB's won't necessarily work (I ended up on steroids they did the trick) - also you won't necessarily need to go into hospital - it all depends on how well your lungs are functioning. Take care of yourself and keep going to the GP if you are experiencing severe breathlessness and fever.

Thanks all - glad to report that am feeling much better so must just have been a very bad bout of lurgies or as others said just the chest infection which hadn't quite gone and was still lingering.

Wish everyone better from the horribl ewinter lurgies!

When I had pneumonia I could not even manage to get out of bed. It was a nightmare to get up and go to toilet even.

Glad you are feeling better!

I have an illness that makes me prone to chest infections and i've had Pneumonia . It's horrendous as people have rightly said. I do hope so much you haven't got it but get to hospital if you're worried. My local one was useless and was sending me away, i was getting sicker and sicker...exhausted with coughing. In the end a lovely Indian Doctor in a neighbouring town saved me. I couldn't walk no. Hope all goes well.