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Old 05-13-2005, 12:37 PM   #1
rush_rulz
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Join Date: Jun 2004
Location: Louisiana, USA
Posts: 666
Pneumonia Treatment

My husband has pneumonia (Atypical, it's in both lungs we know that much), but the Doctor a general physician, we went to on Tues (I am sick too but was told I do not have pneumonia and I do not know what I have),and the Dr then gaveus both antibiotics (Doxcycycline) and a steroid, not a shot. Now mind you my husband is graduating on Saturday, tomorrow and yet this dr didn't give him any shots, just the pills Rx, and said he should be completely better by Thurs. Well he isn't. In fact, he only had a marked improvement of about 15% and he feels he needs more antibiotcs to really clear up. We were told to call back (ha year right like they answer their phones) on Thurs if we were not both better. We werent neither one of us, so I call and get the run around. Dr didn't even write in that he had pneumonia in our charts/files so the nurse wasn't sure if she bleieved me about our condition. Dr according to her, said he wanted to call in Allegra for me(which has never worked for my sinues/nasal conditions I have chronically yet!) and a cough medicine for him even though my husband's cough has imroved on it's own from OTC Robitussin. We were told to take that as well, but no instructions on if we should keep taking it along with the new Rx's. Well we didn't get them filled b/c we cannot keep spending $$ (plus the 200$ just for the visit) just to see if the pills would work or not--the nurse told me to just take 1 allegra and id know by today if it worked or not. ***? So we didn't do it, but I am curious as to how the Dr seems to think antibiotics will kill the pneumonia---how does he know it was caught bacterailly? He seemed to think because I got sick the day before my husband that he caught it from me, yet I do not have it as my lungs were clear (no X Ray for me just him listening to my lungs), but from the reading up on it I've done, if he does in fact have atypical pneumonia the symptoms are quite different than what he has....he has most of them but his cough was not dry until last night, he was able to produce sputum on his own. Some has blood in it, at least what comes from his nose. But, if he were to have caught the viral kind of pneumonia, assuming that is how he got it, then antibiotics wouldn't work in that would it?? It is just confusing because he didn't say what kind of pneumonia (bacterial, flu virus or what) he has and so I am thinking because we aren't sure what kind of pneumonia he has, that this is why the meds he gave us aren't working. And when my husbands mom had it long time ago, she said it took her a good 3 weeks to get over it and an entire week for the antibiotics to kick in....yet this Dr thought we'd be better by Thursday??
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Old 05-13-2005, 09:43 PM   #2
smithn
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Re: Pneumonia Treatment

If you have Pneumonia, then there is no way you can recover in two days. Viral Pneumonia usually resolves within 2-3 weeks whereas Bacterial Pneumonia can linger for up to 8 weeks or longer.

Your doctor cannot tell you for sure what kind of pneumonia (or even if that is truly what you and your husband have) without ordering a chest x-ray. Without the chest x-ray, your doctor is gambling on the antibiotic. Depending upon the severity and cause, the only way the proper antibiotic can be ordered is to have proper work up.

Because your husband is spitting or coughing up blood, he should have a sputum test performed. It's a culture and sensitivity test that can identify the organism that is causing the problem. You need to see another doctor.
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Old 05-16-2005, 12:03 AM   #3
rush_rulz
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Re: Pneumonia Treatment

Well, he did take a chest X Ray, if that helps. He didn't say that my husband was close to recovering, he just said he'd be better in 2 days. I thought that sounded kind of fishy though. I know that it will take time for him to recover, but he won't listen to me and is insisting on returning back to work tomorrow.
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Old 05-16-2005, 01:14 AM   #4
smithn
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Re: Pneumonia Treatment

It sounds like the doctor feels as if your husband is on the mend. If he is close to recovery and on antibiotics then it's not going to harm him to return to work. If he has a setback with symptoms of any kind, then he should stay home and let the antibiotic do its job. Usually, a follow up chest x-ray is ordered to make sure that the antibiotic has worked and that the pneumonia has cleared. If the antibiotic didn't kick it, then he may have a set back and have to start treatment all over again.
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Old 05-16-2005, 01:28 PM   #5
rush_rulz
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Join Date: Jun 2004
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Posts: 666
Re: Pneumonia Treatment

That makes sense! I am much calmer now with him going back to work--I think it was his friend that called our house telling me about how her son almost died of pneumonia and she scared me. He seems to be doing better than me, today, now I am coughing up the same yellow goo he was coughing up!! It is scary, it is a labor just to breath. He only coughed roughly last night, this morning he sounded clear to me, but then again I was very tired from not getting much sleep and up all night blowing my nose...or should I say trying to. This is so miserable! I hope I didn't catch it from him now. I didn't have the cough until yesterday, and I've been taking (from that same Dr's orders) Robitussin for the last few days, but it almost seems like it's worse after that. The only way I can breath right now is by using Vick's nasal spray.
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