On Tuesday morning I was taken by ambulance to hospital (they suspected I had another pulmonary embolism) and I was diagnosed with pleurisy and bronchial pneumonia and sent home that evening with 7 day course of amoxicillin and Co-codamol. My wife called an ambulance after I collapsed through pain putting my shoes on to go to my gp with chest pains and breathlessness but I had no cough at all. Friday about midday I coughed up a lump of blood and about 45 minutes later I coughed up another bit of blood in mucous. I've got to have a chest xray done in 6-8 weeks but I'm wondering if I'm going to be able enjoy being around my kids on Christmas day. I've only had a total of 6 hours sleep since Monday evening and hoping that I can get more sleep. I'm 39 and ive had 2 tia's and a pulmonary embolism plus I've only got 40%sight left in my left eye. What sort of recovery time should I be looking at?
Any input will gratefully received
Mark
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MarkHavant
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Hi I've had pleurisy a few times, usually with pneumonia and i agree with hopetorun it'll be around 6-12 weeks. I can honestly say its one of the most painful things I've ever been through. Try lying on the side with the pleurisy and put gentle pressure on that lung area. I found that helps, and keep taking the medication correctly. Other than that lots of fluids and rest rest rest.
Christmas will have to come to you this year, but I wish you a speedy recovery xx
Hi Mark, given your history I think that a visit to your GP before Christmas is in order. They know of your previous problems with tia s and pulmonary embolism.Also seven days of antibiotics with pneumonia is a very short course. Check if you have a temperature before you go to the doctor. He/she may decide to prolongue the course. After all, you don’t want to be going off to hospital over Christmas to long waits and doctors who don’t know you. Good luck, I hope you feel better soon.
Thank you everyone for your swift replies and best wishes.
My sats level sits between 95% and 97% at the moment when it's normally 99% eventhough I'm a smoker. When the paramedic came out he did my blood pressure sat down, he said it was low (I'm normally textbook) and I saw his expression change when he did it with me stood up as it dropped and he asked how long the ambulance would be as my sats were worrying him. I don't have a nebuliser but I'm not smoking as I want to get better and hopefully it helps me give up which is the only positive I can see at the moment as I lost my job the day before this started.
I would love to say thank you again to the crews from south Central ambulance service for all of their help and say that they don't get enough credit for what is a difficult job made worse by the queues at qa hospital.
Hi, littlepom is right, 7 days of antibiotic (and not a very good one at that) is rather short, especially someone with your history. Please return to GP before Xmas, you must have lungs checked to ensure the infection has completely gone.
I've had both several times, a few times no symptoms at all for sudden onset of pneumonia, just wham bam zero to feeling dreadful.
Brilliant for your lungs that you've given up smoking, please don't start again as your lungs will be susceptible for some time. Take care & do as little as possible. P
PS pleurisy can be weeks to recover from, pneumonia knocks you for six. Used to take me 2-3 months to completely recover from & I didn't smoke! When you're well, ask doc for pneumonia vaccine and from now on always have flu vaccine too.
I'm so sorry your poorly, I had pneumonia few christamses ago, was awful. I agree with the others 7 days abs is not enough, go to GP and ask for another 7 day course, actually Insist! You can take a medicine for mucus to help cough it up. Please bed rest, I know it's boring but rest is totally the best cure for this. Lots of fluids, and hot water is especially good.
Get the rest and then you'll feel better sooner, hopefully next year will be better for you. Anymore chest probs after this one make sure you see a specialist who can see what's going on.
Hi everyone, I'm starting to get a bit concerned that I haven't managed to go for a number two for a week. Should I raise this matter when I phone the doctors to get more antibiotics?
Hope everyone has a good Christmas and thank you all again for your advice
The codeine in co-codamol is notorious for making you constipated. I’m amazed they didn’t give you something for this when they prescribed it. The best remedy is Dulcolax which you can buy over the counter. I know this from a friend with a stoma. I have the opposite problem & have to take Imodium daily!
Ok thank you, I'll get the other half to grab some of that today. As time goes on I'm eating less and less and I don't want to lose weight like I did in the past (3 stone in 6 weeks) and the hospital never found the problem, I just started putting the weight back on after 6 months
Had a second chest xray done and hopefully I'll get the results tomorrow. I'm not as breathless walking to the school and back now but still got a bit of pain when breathing
Hello MarkHavant, sounds like your feeling a lot better now, that's good. Good luck with your exray results Mark, fingers crossed. Let us know how you get on please ✋️😊
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