Pneumonia Support Group
Pneumonia is an illness of the lungs and respiratory system in which the alveoli (microscopic air-filled sacs of the lung) become inflamed and flooded with fluid. Pneumonia can result from a variety of causes, including infection with bacteria, viruses, fungi, or parasites. Typical symptoms associated with pneumonia include cough, chest pain, fever, and difficulty...
Hi,
I just got out of hospital after a six day stay for pneumonia, both lungs, and I’m feeling a bit scared and overwhelmed and lost and confused by it all. I thought I’d feel better almost immediately but I could hardly walk home and today I am exhausted. I already had CFS, chronic fatigue, prior to this that had made my life barely big enough and this feels like the biggest and most unfair blow. Like: why? I’m very pissed and angry and struggling to lovemy body for letting me down again. And taking the antibiotics is heartbreaking too after two years of building my immune system back up with talc, good food, colonic therapy and super strong critical care probiotics.
Anyway, sob story aside, I was wondering what to expect. How long before I can start to exercise? Like swim? How long before I will be able to work? How long will my chest hurt and I have a cough?
Your help and personal stories would be a great comfort comfort to me right now. Just to not feel so alone. I didn’t even know what pneumonia was before this, it was a word from the past not something people got these days, at least not people who are only 40 and of ish/average health. Ok, so obviously not great but ok enough.
And for everyone else going through this or who or who has had it, I am so sorry. I you my sincerest love.
Take care, Rebecca.
I’m still here but, apart from you, no one else is really active. So I’m answering because I really wanted someone to reach out to me and no one did and I know how helpful and comforting that would have been.
Good news. I’m not sure how old you are or how badly you were ill. But, I’m feeling so much better than I was and am back to doing lots of things and pretty much feel normal, or as normal as my previous version was.
I’m swimming again. But I had to be patient and build up slowly and I still get tired. I’m walking around fine. And managing to think more clearly and do some work.
Sleep took a while to return to normal and I had to take sleeping aides. Melatonin and valerian and passiflora and HTP and Gabba (or Gamma?) helped me out.
I’ve also been taking oregano oil, 3 drops three times a day in water. Betaglucomine for the immune system, 1 teaspoon in water or juice a day. MSM, twice a day one spoonful in water. Grapefruit seed oil, 5 drops in water three times a day. And seawater minerals, which I buy in a bottle and dilute, again in water. I think it’s cleaned seawater so it’s full of natural minerals and great for rebuilding. On top of that I’m eating a low inflammation diet and avoiding sugar. Because I got a Candida flare up and I’m still treating that. The antibiotics actually proved to be the worst and least forgiving part. The pneumonia stuff went after two to three weeks. But the bloated stomach, the inflammation in my intensities and colon and gut, the thrush on my tongue... that’s another story. So lots of natural supplements and also a few colonics with a specialist as well as weekly physio for my tense and aching parts. I had a lot of back and joint pain afterwards from the coughing and being so ill. And that has also taken a while to get released.
If you have any questions I’m happy to help. And all of the above is not a recommendation or a suggestion just my path. I didn’t want to take more pharmaceuticals on top of those I’d already taken the afterwards pain or the inflammation or Candida. So I decided to go the alternative route. Which is more expensive and longer but less harsh on the body.
I wish you a peaceful loving gentle forgiving patient healing. Be kind to yourself. In time you will heal. It’s all about allowing it to take as long as it needs. And to not be scared in the meantime. You will trust yourself again. Your body will bounce back. It’s very forgiving. It’s the mind that creates the holes. Mine got all paranoid and that was hard to ease. There, self hypnosis and meditation really helped.
Much love, xxxx
I would recommend you keep exercising your lungs. They usually provide an instrument which you put your mouth on, then inhale. This will help your lungs get used to expanding again.
Recovery time varies depending on the person and the severity of the pneumonia, so I can't just tell you how many days or anything. For me it always took about a week to a week and a half.
A tip would be to breathe in deeply, and listen closely to your lungs as you do. Same about breathing out. If you hear a sort of wheezing sound, or a sound like something is moving around inside, you still need to rest a bit. You should not be out doing things that stress your body if you are not fully recovered.
One thing to make you feel a bit better. This is also a tip for if it happens again, which I hope it doesn't.
This didn't happen to me, but my dad instead. He suffered from pneumonia through his life on and off. One time, though, when I was about 5 or 6, I recall he would be on the floor in the living room, rolling around coughing terribly. He ended up with pneumonia for literally 6 months. The doctors had no idea why it wouldn't stop.
It turned out that it was the room he slept in itself causing the pneumonia. He couldn't sleep in the same room as my mother due to his ears being sensitive and she would snore loudly. So he slept on the couch. In the living room there was a large aquarium. A doctor finally asked if he had something like an animal, an aquarium, etc., and he said yes. As soon as we moved the aquarium to the other side of the house, in a room far away from the others, he began to improve. Eventually he fully recovered.
So if it reoccurs, check your environment. Mold, cat litter, trash, even if it isn't obvious, it could very well be that which causes it. 6 months of him rolling around every night coughing his lungs out and barely being able to breathe made me feel a lot better about myself when I ended up with severe pneumonia and was hospitalized for a while.
Also, the more times you get pneumonia, the weaker your lungs are to it, making it more likely for you to get it again. This is contrary to most illnesses where you are less likely to get them again. It's because pneumonia damages the lungs, which makes it easier for the lungs to succumb to it.
Generally, if you get a cold, and it doesn't get better, it can lead to bronchitis, which can lead to pneumonia. So anytime you get some sort of trouble breathing, be careful and make sure to keep track of how long it is lasting, if it's getting worse, and so on. Also NEVER be afraid to head to the doctor to get it checked out just in case. That has saved my life before, especially the most recent time I had pneumonia, which almost killed me, no kidding.