Need doc opinions on our daughter who has....

[recycled sixtie]

bacterial pneumonia. She is into her sixth day of it. She got prescribed penicillin Monday and has been coughing a lot. She got a chest xray but no results yet. She is trying to catch up with her sleep because she has been coughing a lot at night. She is also asthmatic but has not needed to use her puffer medicine.

Any opinions on how long recovery takes? She is supposed to go to LA with her husband for a convention next week. Do you recommend that she fly or not go? Any opinions would be appreciated! Pavulon or any other docs please respond.

Thanks in advance,
Guy

[SeanPizzle]

not a doctor, but have a daughter who has suffered through lung issues since her premature birth. I would be taking a steroid like pulmicort via a nebulizer to help her lungs heal. Advair inhaler also can be used. Albuterol to keep the airways open will help in getting the steroids into the lung tissue. At the end of the day, liquids and rest rule if she can shut down for 2 or 3 days.

[speeder]

Sorry to hear this but what do the doctors who are actually treating her say? No MD worth a schit is going to treat someone over the Internet. They haven't examined her and it's against medical ethics in the USA as well as could open them to liability.

I'd talk to the ones that are treating her.

[Tobra]

Typically, bacterial pneumonia would respond pretty quickly to the appropriate anti-biotic, but it can take a while to get over it. It is liable to be more than one thing going on at the same time. Don't know that I would want my kid travelling with a significant respiratory problem, even if they are an adult kid.

When did she get a chest x ray and what does her physician say?

[aigel]

I am not a doc, but since there has been little offered so far, I will weigh in with personal experience. Every time I had pneumonia or heavy bronchitis that was at least partially bacterial, an antibiotic would hit it over the head within a couple of days. I am always in awe how well this works and grateful I live during these times.

As far as your daughter goes, my recommendation to her would be to go back for a follow up and stay home and get this cured out 100%. You can't mess with pneumonia. Last thing I'd want to do, coming off lung disease, is sit in a plane with 300 of my closest friends during flu season ...

G

[J P Stein]

I'm not a doc either, but I had Pneumonia a couple years back. Didn't feel that rocky till I took the meds. That put me in bed for a week....but the cure was done. Dunno WTF it was but it worked.

[pavulon]

Had pneumonia in March of this year while traveling. Although my chest x-ray did not look "real bad", I felt pretty roughed-up (coughing like crazy, fever, drained of energy, no stamina for simple things like driving). Was prescribed azythromycin. I enjoy pretty good health and it had me feeling functional in one day and much better in 2 days--I was thankful for the medication as it also cleared my sinuses of whatever was happening in there. However, I continued to cough for about 10 days.

Not everybody starts with azythromycin for various reasons. If she has pneumonia, is feeling terrible and not responding to PCN, her chest film should help her get onto something more powerful. If her doc is not calling her, she should call them and let them know what isn't happening.

Good luck!

[KOH]

I picked up pneumonia 3-4 years ago. It came from strep. I thought I had the flu, so I went to the doctor, got an antibiotic, thought I was good. 5-6 days later I was in the hospital with a pulse-ox in the fifties.

I spent the next 23 days there. The infection started a growth around my lung, which they operated on me to cut it out. After that the antibiotics started to work. They told me I almost checked out the night I arrived.

Don't fool around with pneumonia.

[pavulon]

circling back here....any update?

[unclebilly]

We have free health care in this country (actually we pay a fortune for it). If you want a second opinion, go get one. This is not the place.

[recycled sixtie]

Originally Posted by pavulon

circling back here....any update?

Thanks for asking. If you are asking about my daughter Jill she is almost recovered from pneumonia. She went down to LA for a convention with her husband and was considerably better. However after the flight back she relapsed somewhat. The doc says it could be the aircraft flight doing a number on her plus it could be a virus. Overall she is a lot better but we do get concerned as she has asthma as well.
Guy

[pavulon]

Glad she's on the mend. Did she end up getting something other than the penicillin originally prescribed?

[recycled sixtie]

Originally Posted by pavulon

Glad she's on the mend. Did she end up getting something other than the penicillin originally prescribed?

No she did not need anything else. Thanks for your insight. That was all I needed(not a diagnosis as some others have suggested).
Guy

[scottmandue]

Originally Posted by speeder

Sorry to hear this but what do the doctors who are actually treating her say? No MD worth a schit is going to treat someone over the Internet. They haven't examined her and it's against medical ethics in the USA as well as could open them to liability.

I'd talk to the ones that are treating her.

I was a t a BBQ and chatting with a doctor and he said:
"People go one the internet and diagnose themselves then come to me and ask for treatment when they are almost always wrong... you know what I do when I'm sick? I go to my doctor!"

[speeder]

Apparently he was seeking medical advice on a public forum but only "insight", not diagnosis. SMFH...

[Tobra]

To the OP, google "Inspiration Spirometer" and get her one.

[rfuerst911sc]

Originally Posted by recycled sixtie

Thanks for asking. If you are asking about my daughter Jill she is almost recovered from pneumonia. She went down to LA for a convention with her husband and was considerably better. However after the flight back she relapsed somewhat. The doc says it could be the aircraft flight doing a number on her plus it could be a virus. Overall she is a lot better but we do get concerned as she has asthma as well.
Guy

Guy please don't take this the wrong way but maybe your daughter got sicker on the flights to/from L.A. because other people like her were already sick getting on the plane. No one is doing the general public any service by getting on a cattle car when they are sick. I'm glad she is feeling better.

[pavulon]

great! Glad it worked out for you guys. Pneumonia is no fun.

Originally Posted by recycled sixtie

No she did not need anything else. Thanks for your insight. That was all I needed(not a diagnosis as some others have suggested).
Guy