Pneumonia Facts
If you contract pneumonia, chances are, you have been infected with a virus, a bacteria or a fungi. It may be a mild case, or it may become serious, and even life-threatening.
• Pneumonia is a relatively common disease in the United States, and it affects millions of people each year.
• The most serious type you would generally get is bacterial pneumonia. Facts indicate that this is the type most adults have when they are diagnosed.
• Sometimes pneumonia may follow a cold or the flu, especially if you are an elderly patient or in a hospital or nursing facility.
• People who cannot swallow properly are more likely to develop aspiration pneumonia. This is caused when the food or liquid goes into the lungs instead of down the esophagus. If these people cannot pass a swallow study test, they are generally candidates for G-tube feeding tubes.
• Some of the symptoms of pneumonia include: Cough that produces a greenish or yellowish mucus; shaking chills, and fever; chest pain that is normally very sharp, especially when coughing; shallow and rapid breathing; shortness of breath.
• Other symptoms include: Excessive sweating, sometimes with clammy skin; headache; excessive fatigue; loss of appetite and confusion. The confusion is especially possible with older patients.
• If you are suffering from pneumonia, you will usually have trouble breathing, and you may be breathing shallowly and quickly. Part of this is due to the congestion, and part due to the pain it causes to cough or breathe deeply.
• When your doctor listens to your breathing, he will hear crackling sounds in his stethoscope. The congestion can also be heard if the doctor does chest percussion. He will order an x-ray to confirm his suspicion of pneumonia.
• If you have bacterial pneumonia, facts will let the doctor know to treat you with antibiotics. If your pneumonia is a viral case, then he may put you on an anti-viral medicine. If you have a mild case of pneumonia and are otherwise healthy, the doctor may elect to use oral anti-biotic.
• If you do not have a serious case of pneumonia, you may be treated at home with anti-biotic or anti-virals. But if you have a more severe case, or a lot of trouble breathing, or if you have other diseases which complicate the pneumonia, you may need to be hospitalized.
• If you are hospitalized, you may receive breathing treatments and oxygen, if you O2 levels are low, and you may be treated with steroids if you are having trouble breathing, and are wheezing.
• Pneumonia facts have been gathered over many years of diagnosing and treating the various types. Unless you have other health issues, or a very serious case of pneumonia, the treatments will like be effective for you.