Pseudomonas aeruginosa to lungs, will I need time off work to recover?

[Stillkickin123]

Hi Folks, I’ve been coughing hard for two months and had multiple antibiotics, steroids antihistamines, even asthma inhalers. No improvement. Last week I had bloods, Xray for pneumonia and sputum test. The sputum test was a very firm white decent chunk of something. (Sorry). Doctor rang me late yesterday exclaiming ‘no wonder you weren’t getting better’ and told me I have an uncommon bacterial infection pseudomonas aeruginosa. I just took my first elephant killer cipro as I type this. Will I need time off work to recover? I have a cold as well, blocked sinus and blocked ringing ears. When I research this bug it makes me concerned.......

[MELNEL]

Hiya, sorry to hear that you having such trouble with this bacterial infection. I just remembered that 2greys has written an article about it 19 days ago.

I believe recovery is different for each person, depending on how fit your immune system is, if you already suffer from a lung illnesses it will be harder to get rid of it.

In normal case I would guess 6-8weeks with the right medication. With a weak immune system much longer, but I am no Doctor to give you a time for your recovery. That you should ask your Doctor.

Sorry is not much I can tell you, but try eat and drink healthy, to stay fit to support your recovery. Best wishes that you getting better again. 🍀🍀🍀🍀

[Stillkickin123 in reply to MELNEL]

Thank you for your comments. I will be doing everything I can; diet, rest complementary supplements and of course what the doctor prescribes. I think I will arrange some time off work. Can’t take any risks with lungs and breathing. J

[MELNEL in reply to Stillkickin123]

No worries and you welcome, 😊 yes I would take time off, to get better again. Take care 😃👍🌹oh and 2greys have provided the link for it as well. Thanks 😊

[2greys in reply to MELNEL]

Here is the link to that post:

healthunlocked.com/blf/post...

[MELNEL in reply to 2greys]

Ah there it is, cheers 😘

[Pricley in reply to MELNEL]

Hi stillkicking123 , hi, I had pseudomonas about 6 years ago. The pills made me poorly, the nebuliser treatment closed my lungs up. The only thing that worked for me was ,i/v treatment in hospital. I am left with a colonisation of pseudomonas. I think it means I have it but not bad enough to do any damage. I hope the pills work for you. Lots of hugs pricley.

[Caspiana]

Hello Stillkickin123

I would definitely take time to recover. If you can take time off work then it is probably in your best interest. For the healthy this is not serious. But for the chronically ill it can be dangerous.

Take care.

Cas xx 👋🙂

[Stillkickin123 in reply to Caspiana]

Thank you, I think yours is good advice. Need to get the best chance for recovery given the time I’ve ad this..... I will be taking some time off (remove stress) maybe a couple of weeks.... j

[Hidden]

As someone with bronchiectasis I have lived since 1986 with pseudomonas colonising my lungs. Most of the time the numbers are kept low enough to live normally. Occasionally they have a party and the go to oral antibiotic is cipro with the occasional IV if it really gets out of hand. I hope that the cipro helps you and that you soon feel better. It is really up to you to decide whether you feel well enough to work as nobody else lives in your body and we are all different.

[Stillkickin123 in reply to Hidden]

Thank you. I’ve always had a bit of a cough and I’m learning in here about illnesses like bronchiectasis. Maybe i’ve Always had that illness undiagnosed hence the P. A. Infection. As for taking the time off, yes very fatigued from coughing and fighting an infection so I know i need to.

[knitter in reply to Stillkickin123]

Check with your doctor about a sick note and sick pay too. I struggled on after pneumonia as my job was then no work no pay . A bad decision.

[Stillkickin123 in reply to knitter]

Thanks I will be back to my doctor tomorrow for a medical cert. I am in a fortunate position to have a lot of sick leave banked which will take some pressure off.

[Tinker26]

I was off for 4 months when I had it as I'd had 2 other bugs on top of that that had colonized my lungs ,was really quite poorly ,after iv drugs (touch wood ) I've been really well ,good luck 🍀

[Stillkickin123 in reply to Tinker26]

Thanks for sharing your experience that helps. I’m trying to figure out what impacts this has. Based on how I feel now (and worked over difficulty breathing) I need to just take the cipro and focus on controlling the infection. Last night I almost went to hospital, brutal coughing......

[Hidden]

I would ask your GP about the possibility of a CT scan to rule out any underlying respiratory problem. There are occasional exceptions, but pseudo generally only occurs in two very specific groups of people: those that are immunocompromised somehow, including those that are very unwell, and those with an underlying lung condition that makes the lungs more hospitable to environmental bugs like PA. For me, the priority would be establishing why you’ve got it, as if there is an underlying lung disease, managing that is going to be key to everything else in the longer term. Different conditions have different treatment regimes, and in some cases a normal 5 or 7 day course of antibiotics will be of little use e.g. in bronchiectasis, where PA is pretty common, antibiotic treatment is required for 14 days for any infection as standard. In terms of the pseudo itself, for most people with lung conditions, it’s a pain in the bum, but not serious as such as long as it’s managed. It’s far more problematic and potentially serious in people that are immunocompromised.

With regards to time off work, there’s no particular reason to take time off unless you feel unwell and can’t manage your job. You won’t be contagious to anyone else, unless you’re working with medically compromised individuals where you could potentially pass the PA on, but the risk of that would be extremely remote even then as I understand it.

[cofdrop-UK in reply to Hidden]

Excellent reply-spot on as usual Charlie. With PA many consultants will treat hoping for eradication but frequently with people with wonky lungs PA has to be managed. Cx

[Stillkickin123 in reply to Hidden]

This is so helpful, thanks for taking the time. I think you just laid out everything I need to talk about with my doctor tomorrow (I haven’t spoken with him yet apart from him ringing me on close of business to say I had something serious and I needed to pick up a prescription right away). As you say need to understand the underlying conditions that led to this and take it from there.

[Hidden in reply to Stillkickin123]

Glad it helped. What I will also say, though, is the GP is going to be the gatekeeper here - they’ll know what pseudo is, but the rest is likely to be over their heads to some extent. Depending on the response you get, you may need to educate yourself and push a bit. The reason I suggested a ct scan is because it would be the easiest/quickest diagnostic route; it’s the gold standard for diagnosing 95% of respiratory conditions, and anything respiratory that explains culturing PA will show up on CT e.g. non-cf bronchiectasis (ncfb), and some of the conditions that fall under COPD.

Good luck, and let us know how you get on - the boards are not a place any of us want to be, but between us we quite literally have thousands of years of lived experience, either as patients, or as hands on carers for patients. We’re also a fairly friendly bunch, to boot 👍

[Stillkickin123 in reply to Hidden]

I saw the doctor and raised the ‘why PA’ concerns, underlying conditions etc. he declined to send me for ct because I’d had a lung test only three months ago (for dust diseases board) which ‘showed’ I was normal. He said my blood tests showed I didn’t have leukaemia, so he thought I was just very run down (probable reason for infection). So I’m supposed to take cipro for 2 weeks then go and get more blood tests for things like diabetes, thyroid problems etc? I raised the possibility of cf and Bronchiectasis but he seemed to dismiss those depsite my reasoning, because cf would have been picked up sooner, and that my long term cough was likely caused by reflux?? Time will tell. Meanwhile d4 on the cipro, still having a bad cough, but I seem to be removing some of the ‘set glue’ from my lungs.

[Hidden in reply to Stillkickin123]

Reflux can cause respiratory symptoms in some circumstances, but the easy way to prove or disprove that would be to try a PPI like omeprazole, and your GP generally just seems a bit too dismissive to me. He’s right that the likelihood of cf is relatively minuscule, which is the condition where my background is, as although very late diagnoses do occur, it’s more than a predisposition to chest infections, so even with an atypical/mild disease course, you would expect to see more than an isolated PA infection. I would say he’s not right about completely dismissing bronchiectasis, though, particularly if you routinely have a productive cough. When you say tests, did you have spirometry done? If so, do you know what your results were (the actual figures)? We’re not qualified to offer medical advice or diagnose anyone with anything at all, but if you had access to any spirometry results and could post them, it would potentially help guide us in advising you on next steps. You can get PA with an underlying COPD diagnosis, and whilst you can’t have COPD with completely normal spirometry, it’s possible to have mostly normal results in the earlier stages. As with many things, GPs are not particularly qualified to interpret them, but often to fail to realise that.

[Stillkickin123 in reply to Hidden]

I suspect I have an underlying condition... have often been to doctors over the years complaining of a throat clearing cough, they test for asthma (say no) and they have tried me on meds for gastric reflux) no change so I just accepted it. Now I have the impetus to delve deeper and I will be making notes from your great comment for the appointment. I need a plan!

[Lfcpremier]

Hi..I’ve had Bronchiectasis 11 yrs & taken azithromycin 3x weekly for 10 of them.Shocked to find out June 2020 pseudomonas in my sputum sample & apparently it was identified earlier on in the Feb when I wasn’t told & the GP assumed I was colonised.My consultant was surprised too & said we had to try & get rid of it. Being 65yrs old & not good with antibiotics I found oral ciprofloxacin very difficult to take, lots of muscle pain etc but I did stick with it & seemed to get rid of the pseudo.

However, since thenit has shown up on occasion. My consultant doesn’t think it will cause me trouble & so far so good.

Wishing you well soon!😊

[Hidden in reply to Lfcpremier]

Good news that you are on top of it. It lurks in the depths even when no longer enough numbers to show up in a petrie dish. Azith is a very useful drug against other organisms but not effective against pseudo. Cipro is the only effective oral drug against it can be difficult for many to take. Pseudo can be kept down by long term nebulising of various antibiotics and occasional 14 day IV abs if really out of hand. A good consultant should help you with this.I hope that you continue to go along ok.

[Stillkickin123 in reply to Lfcpremier]

Thanks for the message, this helps me understand a bit more of what I’m dealing with, thanks j

[Gardeningdays]

I am currently having my second attempt to clear the infection unfortunately the first course of ciprofloxacin and IV antibiotics did not clear it. I’m now having a further course of IV antibiotics. I have long standing lung issues to which bronchiectasis was fairly recently added. Whether you can work will depend on how you feel on the medication. I felt well on both the last antibiotics but then also developed tendinitis and muscle cramps from the Ciprofloxacin. I am fortunately self employed so can work when I feel able, downside no sick pay. I have brought my laptop into hospital and will work when I feel able. Follow your own body and rest as much as possible to allow your body to heal. Hope you feel better soon

[Stillkickin123 in reply to Gardeningdays]

Thankyou, just waiting to see ‘what happens’ with the cipro. Too soon to tell, and as yet too focused on how brutal my cough is. I”d been on other strong antibiotics and strong steroids the week before, and I put the worsening off my cough down to the end of the steroids prednisolone 50mg per day.... i’ll See how today plays out. Not coughing at all now (early morning lying in bed) But the tell tale crackling as I breath in is there ready for all hell to break loose when I get up.... really appreciate your advice as it helps me know what to expect. J

[Gardeningdays in reply to Stillkickin123]

Rest seemed to be the only thing that helped my cough with prednisolone. I’m now on a different IV antibiotic and my cough has settled down .

[Hidden]

Even if you feel reasonably well, you’re fighting a nasty bug here so I’d take time off if you can, say, for the duration of the antibiotics. You need all your resources if PA isn’t going to get the better of you. Good luck x

[Stillkickin123 in reply to Hidden]

Thanks that makes a lot of sense and this is what i’ll I am for. I am fortunate to have some leave built up, good advice thankyou. J