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Does anyone have pneumonia while treating abscesses
After four months on meds my abscesses is negative but in the meantime got a really bad pneumonia infection. In hospital 5 days on IV antibiotics and home with 3 days oral antibiotics. But I am still really sick, on oxygen 24/7 for shortness of breath and rapid heart rate, night sweats and coughing up a lot of mucus. Has anyone found something else helpful? Thanks!
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Sorry to hear you are suffering with pneumonia. You'll need to be patient with your body. Really patient. You'll see incremental improvement but it takes time. A physician once told me for every day in the hospital equals a week of recovery time. So for you that's 5 weeks, plus the recovery from pneumonia.
Practically what can you do? Speaking from experience (recovering from pneumonia not NTM) I can share with you what I did.
-Rest, fluids, small meals. Always be sipping something, warm herbal tea I found comforting as were soups for meals.
- Sleep/rest elevated as I found this helped with breathing
- Has your doctor ordered a bronchodilator? This will help open up your lungs for clearing and breathing
- Continue airway clearance at least 2x daily with hypertonic saline (has your doctor recommended this?) It will help with clearing the infection. You want that gunk up and out!
- Long acting mucinex 1200mg (also check with doctor on this)
- Analgesics (I alternated tylenol and motrin; check with doctor also)
- Use an Incentive Spirometer (maybe they gave you one in hospital); if not available via Amazon
https://www.amazon.com/Incentive-Spirometer-Breathing-Inhalation-Medical-Grade/dp/B0D9K326FZ
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2 Reactions@scoop25
Thanks for all your tips, some I am doing the rest I will add. The hospital could not verify pneumonia strain so I was given a wide spectrum. I am worried about still having pneumonia and not on any more antibiotics, I can’t go backwards again.
@rizzinator I understand your concern, especially with the h9liday coming, where care will be difficult to get. Can you call your primary care provider tomorrow to get an extension of the antibiotics? Then ask your doc whether you should continue taking them or just hold an d wait. That way if your symptoms get worse or your fever spikes in the next few days, you will have them on hand.
Do you have a pulse oximeter on hand to track your oxygen level? If not, can you have someone get one for you? These are usually available at Walgreens, CVS ans WalMart for understanding $50
Having to trek again to the ER on a holiday would be awful, but if you have trouble breathing, please don't wait.