Is it possible to have viral pneumonia without any fever?

[Elibean]

dh had a ? chest infection six weeks ago, which ended up with viral induced asthma and him on high dose steroids and codeine. He was better after treatment, but seems to have 'relapsed' a week after stopping it.

He has a slight cold, is wheezy, short of breath, bright eyes, no fever, achey pain in upper back, and a slightly productive cough...its getting worse. He's gone to A&E this afternoon as he doesn't want to get much worse (shortness of breath wise) over the weekend without seeing a doctor.

He's also lost some weight, but then again his appetite has been on/off.

I of course am worrying...is it even possible to have viral pneumonia wihtout fever? I sort of hope it is, am imagining far worse

my dad did just recently.

he can count on one hand the number of times he has actually had a fever, however, and at the age of 72 he's had just about everything a person can catch because there were no vaccines when he was young.

he was in A LOT of pain, however, with his cough and his breathing.

Thanks, expat. Sounds horrid,your poor Dad. dh is in some pain, but not lots - just very wheezy and out of breath. It cleared up completely on steroids/codeine, but is definitely back.

he should really go and see someone.

my dad started out with a cold that got out of control, not unusual in someone his age who has hypertension and a history of heart attack.

so he did the usual cold meds (he can't take much because of his hypertension) and rest and hot drinks.

but it just worsened until HE actually wanted to go to A&E one Sunday morning - must have really hurt because he has an incredible tolerance for pain and hates going to the doctor.

but they did tests and xrays to diagnose.

that was back in late august and he's only just now cleared the pneumonia from his lungs.

it dehydrates you terribly and in his case he got a kidney infection as well (he has had prostate cancer/prostatectomy and since then has had urinary problems).

get him at least an out of hours doctor appointment.

Thanks both. He went to A&E (off his own bat, was feeling rough enough to want to) and was given nebuliser within 20 minutes of arriving in spite of 4 hour wait. They assessed him and his O2 was low, I guess.

He's had a chest x-ray, and nothing sinister was found - slight shadow at bottom of one lung that was there a month ago too and is probably residual infection that never quite cleared up. The doctor reckoned he was on the mend, caught another cold and the infection - whatever it is - just came straight back. He's on double antibiotics, and strict orders to keep using steroid inhaler....fingers crossed thats it!

I'm so glad he had the x-ray, I was beginning to think the worst.

Glad your Dad is ok now expat, hope your ds is too Kerrymum. My BF had pneumonia a couple of years ago and took ages to recover too, its nasty.

I'm glad he went, Eli. Load of worry off your minds.

Pneumonia's bad stuff.

Hope he rests up and gets rid of whatever this is.

The nebuliser will make him more comfortable hopefully.

He says the nebulizer made him feel hugely better after about 5 minutes. Here's hoping it lasts!

Thanks again, yes, load off. He had a nasty moment when the doctor looked at his x-ray, then came over and asked him if he was a smoker (he's not) - a friend's dh died of lung cancer a couple of years ago, it was on both our minds.

yikes.

i hope he can get some rest. it's the best thing for licking it.

and eating lots of oranges or drinking OJ for the vitamin C.

Oranges, easy. Rest? but will definitely try...