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chronic pneumonia
I am 59 yrs old and have had pneumonia 3 times in last 7 months. I have had pneumonia many many times since I was born .Have been told many years ago that my lungs are scarred from this. Each time i go to my doctor he says I have bacterial infection adn treats me with Levaquinn for 7 days(500mg).Had an xray done reclty and now he wants me to see a lung specialist saying I need to find out why my immune system is weakened.I am queit familar with Pneumonia and its symphtoms but within last few years seems they have changed. I can now be diagonsied with pneumonia and have never even gotten a cold(which i used ot always get a codl lst)Now I get what i refer to as Lung Spasms(feels like a sudden charliehorse in my lung lasting a few minutes and then turns into what feels like pleurisy. At lst I have red tinged mucus adn eventaully leaves and then its yellow n thick. I run a low grade fever to a below normal temp.This time the Spasm has jumped from lung to lung and moves to a diff spot every few days.Levaquin helps but only given a 7 day treatment and im thinking this is not enuff to completely rid me of bacteria. Anyone out there have this and may offer suggestions before I go thru the run of the mill testing?
Best Answer
Thank you for your advice. Yeah my doc is very reluctant in giving me the Levaquin but he says that the other I used to use Erthomycin nolonger work on "bugs. I found this medicine to be a life saver for me anyways. One pill and I notice massive improvement by the time Im down to my last one on day 7 i feel 100 perc better but I know the bug hasnt left completely. I feel after I finsh the meds I have to b extremely careful on everything I do. I cant get stressed or anything and I feel symphtoms coming back. My prolem is I feel my doc isnt giving me anuff of hte Levaquin to knock it out. Back IN sept when I got my lst bout of pneumonia I had to beg this man to giveme 3 more!!!!! I knew I was better but i also knew I was still borderline infected. Yeah now im thinking real hard on his next option which was to go to a speciliist for htis. I have tried to recall how many times in my 58 yrs I have had pneumonia and lORD!!!!! I would be safe in saying 60 times at the least. I was told in the 80s my lungs scarred very bad from this so bad that when they do a xray they see stuff. Which is OLD scarring. Today I feel like a person. Last week I wasnt sure who or wht i was!
take care n thank you.
take care n thank you.
Sputum tests don't work very well. It is better to insert a sampling probe through the trachea.
That being said, mother nature deals with bacterial infections by encapsulation, often with a biofilm. This prevents the organism from being destroyed by antibiotics.
Once bacterial infections become established in the lung surgical removal is the only option. If they become too widespread, this option becomes impractical.
Keeping up the immune system to keep the little critters in their beds is the only way to deal with such a situation. It is not always possible.
I might add the very last thing you want to do is to "take one or two antibiotics". That is a recipe for developing an antibiotic resistant infection. Levaquin is a controversial drug that has many serious side effects. Many physicians are reluctant to give this medication for along periods. There are alternative antibiotics for lung infections that I would consider. They may have to be administered intravenously. This, of course is a decision for your treating physician.
I am a staunch advocate of treatment for serious chronic diseases in a teaching hospital, rather than by an individual practicioner, no matter how well-regarded.
The best of luck.
That being said, mother nature deals with bacterial infections by encapsulation, often with a biofilm. This prevents the organism from being destroyed by antibiotics.
Once bacterial infections become established in the lung surgical removal is the only option. If they become too widespread, this option becomes impractical.
Keeping up the immune system to keep the little critters in their beds is the only way to deal with such a situation. It is not always possible.
I might add the very last thing you want to do is to "take one or two antibiotics". That is a recipe for developing an antibiotic resistant infection. Levaquin is a controversial drug that has many serious side effects. Many physicians are reluctant to give this medication for along periods. There are alternative antibiotics for lung infections that I would consider. They may have to be administered intravenously. This, of course is a decision for your treating physician.
I am a staunch advocate of treatment for serious chronic diseases in a teaching hospital, rather than by an individual practicioner, no matter how well-regarded.
The best of luck.
Well at least I made you laugh! You either have more problems then me are your like me trying to figure this out before they probe me to death.
you say you havent had any blood work done, your doctor could do a blood test to see if your susceptible to pnuemonia, and other immune problems, which could be causing this recurrent pnuemonia.
Have you had the pnuemonia jab, to ward off you getting pnuemonia?
Have you ever had a CT scan of the lungs, to check for sarcoidosis, or other lung diseases?
The sputum test , which is simple, you spit the mucus which comes up off the chest in to a little bottle, and the doc sends it off to find out which bacteria is causing the pnuemonia, then treating it with medication for that persific bacteria, which is in your mucus.
Your doctor sounds rubbish to me, as playing with pnuemonia is very risky, and he should be pulling his finger out now to find the reason, of your recurrent infections to this awful condition.
Lol you made me laugh when you wrote you would rather talk to someone sick than the doctor, that says it all, your doctor is rubbish in your eyes, rofl
Keep warm and drink plenty of fluids, so you keep hydrated, and maybe try a good anti-inflammatory for the pleuritic pain.
Keep in touch
Nicola
Have you had the pnuemonia jab, to ward off you getting pnuemonia?
Have you ever had a CT scan of the lungs, to check for sarcoidosis, or other lung diseases?
The sputum test , which is simple, you spit the mucus which comes up off the chest in to a little bottle, and the doc sends it off to find out which bacteria is causing the pnuemonia, then treating it with medication for that persific bacteria, which is in your mucus.
Your doctor sounds rubbish to me, as playing with pnuemonia is very risky, and he should be pulling his finger out now to find the reason, of your recurrent infections to this awful condition.
Lol you made me laugh when you wrote you would rather talk to someone sick than the doctor, that says it all, your doctor is rubbish in your eyes, rofl
Keep warm and drink plenty of fluids, so you keep hydrated, and maybe try a good anti-inflammatory for the pleuritic pain.
Keep in touch
Nicola
Yeah we can be buddies alright! I have basicalyl become a expert at pneumonia. When I was born I had pneu 5 times so I was told.Born in 1951.Back in 80s when i can recall my lungs becoming a issue I had gotten a case of pneu that was so bad that I was actaulyl hallucinating form lack of oxygen.The xray was so bad at first they thought TB. Well as the yrs went by I contnued to get pneumonia over n over, but seem to be like every 5 yrs or so. Starting in 2006 I noticed I got a sever case adn they did xrays every other day to watch if antibotic Levaquin was taking care of it. Well u only get 5-7 pills of this. On the last xray they stated they wanted a scan coz they"saw something". Since I am so scared of docs of course i got well and went on bout my business. then i got pneu like every other yr then every year. Well i began to notce that it used to be a cold that wud turn bad that penu set in but now I can b cold free and get entirely new sympthoms. In Sept 09 I got wht i call a sever lung spasm(felt like a charliehorse in my right lung) which u cant move r anything until it lets up.I was fine one minute and then it came on. Once it lets go u get the feeling that u get when u have pleurisy.Pain but not like the spasm!
When i get my spasms I also cough up blood tinged sputum . once i take 1-2 levaquin that clears up to. Well this past yr i seem to notice now I dont get a cold only the spasms and everytime now i cough blood tinged sputum for a couple days of anti kik in.To make this short I have been feeling bad for over a mth but due to fear put it off till I cudnt handle pain any longer. Went to doc on Mon 4/12 xrayed and told pneumonia agin. SO i had it in Spt 09,Dec 09 and agin April 12. I know the more u get it the worse ur lungs become scarred and thus the more u get it!! I see a Internist now but after Mon he wants me to see a lung spec saying we ned to se why ur resistance is down. HE never said wht the spasms are adn really both he and I had no idea it was pneu coz sypmthoms totally diff then in the past. I now see this doesnt matter anymore. I run fever every single day which usally goes no higher then 101 and can go below norma of 98.6 when it fdrops to the 97 mark i think penumonia. SO here i sit today with this pleurisy pain after taking my 3rd day of leviquin. I only get a 7 day treatment which i personalyl feel is part of my prob it only helps but not enuff to elimante the infection. He has never done blood work, or anything to try n find out wht kinfd of bacteria we talking! I felt like you seems like that would help huh. well so far i havent gone to the spec coz i see so many things out here im not about to let em do some of the test they want before I get more info. They req a lung redction back in 83!
now u kow if i wudda done that!
lol ok lets keep in touch coz id rather talk to someone sick then doc!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
When i get my spasms I also cough up blood tinged sputum . once i take 1-2 levaquin that clears up to. Well this past yr i seem to notice now I dont get a cold only the spasms and everytime now i cough blood tinged sputum for a couple days of anti kik in.To make this short I have been feeling bad for over a mth but due to fear put it off till I cudnt handle pain any longer. Went to doc on Mon 4/12 xrayed and told pneumonia agin. SO i had it in Spt 09,Dec 09 and agin April 12. I know the more u get it the worse ur lungs become scarred and thus the more u get it!! I see a Internist now but after Mon he wants me to see a lung spec saying we ned to se why ur resistance is down. HE never said wht the spasms are adn really both he and I had no idea it was pneu coz sypmthoms totally diff then in the past. I now see this doesnt matter anymore. I run fever every single day which usally goes no higher then 101 and can go below norma of 98.6 when it fdrops to the 97 mark i think penumonia. SO here i sit today with this pleurisy pain after taking my 3rd day of leviquin. I only get a 7 day treatment which i personalyl feel is part of my prob it only helps but not enuff to elimante the infection. He has never done blood work, or anything to try n find out wht kinfd of bacteria we talking! I felt like you seems like that would help huh. well so far i havent gone to the spec coz i see so many things out here im not about to let em do some of the test they want before I get more info. They req a lung redction back in 83!
now u kow if i wudda done that!
lol ok lets keep in touch coz id rather talk to someone sick then doc!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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I am really interested in this post as ive been suffering with streptococcus pnuemonia for three weeks now, and have just finished my second course of antibiotics for this, and just had my second chest x-ray, to check to see if the shadowing as gone of my lungs.
I think you can catch pnuemonia, as well as getting it when you are really run down and susceptible to illness.
I had my sputum tested to find out which bacteria was causing my pnuemonia,
So thats were i would start, then you can get the right treatment.
Good luck my pnuemonia buddy.
Nicola