pneumonia recovery

[Hazel1010]

hello all x I was in hospital for ten days from 19/12 with the most painful pneumonia I’ve ever had and all hail to the NHS they were wonderful.

My question is has anyone out there any input on self help etc to get back to normal 🤷🏻‍♀️ I’m so breathless, not wheezing, just so out of breath walking on the flat it’s crazy

I do have an appointment with the doc next week and a follow up with the hospital end of feb ….am I being impatient…..I still have some pain on breathing deeply and coughing a bit but I can’t seem to get my strength back and try as I might I'm trying to walk and exercise to help so any ideas would be good x

[Bevvy]

Sorry to hear what you have been through. I have had pneumonia and also pleurisy several times. In (purely) my experience it can take significant time to recover. I think you need to listen to your body and rest when required. Take care when walking to not push too hard, too quickly or you could end up worse off than you are currently. Try to eat as healthily as possible with plenty of fresh food. Also won’t harm to eat live yogurt and or probiotics to replace the “good” bacteria that antibiotics will have destroyed. Be kind to yourself and you WILL recover, it’s just going to take sometime.

[Patk1]

Take it easy til youve seen the dr.get plenty of rest.xx

[Homely2 Administrator]

I have been fighting issue of retaining fitness and fighting breathlessness for five months now. Each time I get anywhere I get a severe asthma attack and back to hospital.

What I have learned is that I can swim much easier than I can walk.

I start walking properly in a gym rather than outside, so it is easy to stop, and I can adjust speed etc easily.

Breathlessness I am attacking by learning to breathe properly through nose etc.

Take it really slowly, if you push hard it just goes backwards. It is not like trying to get fit when pushing hard was a good idea.

[Poobah]

Have you seen the respiratory physiotherapist while you've been in hospital? You should be referred for respiratory rehabilitation, it would be extremely helpful if you were given breathing exercises to ensure your lung rehabilitation is professionally assessed and tailored to ensure you're looking after your lung health given the episode of pneumonia and the need for a good recovery. And that will include increasing your general exercise at a suitable and safe pace over an extended period of time.

A good diet, nutritious food and regular meals will help you recover. I agree about the pre & probiotics for gut health as it affects everything else.

It will all take time and with appropriate support you should do just enough to build up your strength and stamina. Over doing things can be just as wrong as doing nothing.

All the best for a good rerecovery.

[Bemoresquirrel]

Yes, recovery is definitely slow! When I had pneumonia & pleurisy the consultant told me that it would take at least 3 months to recover & to delegate any strenuous tasks such as vacuuming. He also said that there was a high chance of being re-admitted if I over did things, so please be kind to yourself.

Walking wise, I started slowly doing just 5 minutes to begin with, walking around from room to room inside the house to avoid cold damp air, but then was able to progressed to a treadmill. I read somewhere that it’s better to walk 2 x 5 minutes, increasing 2 x 10 in a day than one longer session, if you can. I also found guided breathing exercises helpful.

I hope you start to feel better soon. Rosey

[Patk1]

Try to walk and do yr exercises much more slowly than yr healthy ' normal'