Medical help – pneumonia, chest pain?

In My Humble Opinion
1

Hello All,

I Just found this great forum, and I have a medical question I am hoping someone can give me a clue on. I am a male, mid 20’s, I have an interest in medicine, to possibly go into that field in the future, but I have a lot to learn.

About three weeks ago I went from being fine to being very sick within 2-5 minutes. I had chills/shivering, I felt hot/cold, nauseous, extreme fatigue,(probably fever, did not confirm) and all the flu like symptoms. After 48 hours of being out of commission I was nearly better. I figured it was a bad case of flu, although I have never had such a rapid onset of flu before. From the second it started un till now I have had a strange feeling on my throat (like after exercise, not heartburn), and a constant unconformable feeling down my chest to the bottom of the sternum.

The pain accompanying this has changed, from being very specific (bottom of sternum) then moving a bit higher, with an expanding type pain/something being stuck for a day, and now more of a random stabbing pain over chest, right now with a more specific ache/burning pain located maybe an inch above and to the right, from the centre of my sternum. I have a very mild cough, more of a tickling feeling really, non productive (unable to confirm colour of anything coughed up)

I do not have a fever (temperature under 100f), blood pressure and pulse are normal (did drop during initial illness), heart sounds normal (stethoscope, S1, S2) although will look at getting an ECG to be sure. There is no pain when pushing on chest wall/ribs, there is some pain when moving in certain ways, there may be a mild shortness of breath (could be anxiety), also sometimes (not always) a pain at bottom of sternum and over chest after a very deep breath / speaking loudly. I am running a pulse-ox tomorrow to see if it yields any clues as to confirming a lung infection.

Pain and discomfort are mild, except occasional moderate pain, as its been three weeks I am guessing it fits mostly to pneumonia, (although no fever right now), with other possibilities being pleurisy, acute bronchitis, hiatus hernia?. I will be seeing a doctor soon, but wanted to check what I could be missing or if I am on the right track?

Thanks :slight_smile:

2

My son has pneumonia. Doc gave him antibiotics, steroids, and an inhaler. Five days later, he had a chest film which Doc said looked pretty good, but Kid still felt rotten and had chest pain on breathing so now we have a new antibiotic and a second inhaler. Kid has barely been out of bed for the last two days and says his chest still hurts.
I have never had pneumonia and I’m wondering about the lingering chest pain…any experiences to share? I’m probably expecting too quick a recovery here…he was sick with a viral infection for two weeks prior to this so I have to remember that the pneumonia was just diagnosed a week ago. Poor guy. :frowning:

3

In temporal order:

The aunt I never met, my mother’s elder sister, didn’t get a proper diagnosis. When her sister (Mom-to-be) showed the same symptoms, Grandma moved Heaven, Earth and a couple of corners of Hell until she found a doctor who didn’t handwave it as “a bad flu”; Mom spent a couple of weeks in bed under an oxygen tent. She was 3yo.

Coming back from picking our Christmas presents, I noticed 3yo Middlebro was absurdly quiet. I touched him and said “please, sorry for interrupting, Dad stop after the arch, Mom Edu burns.” A quick turn-around, what may have been the worst drive of Dad’s life, and two weeks at the hospital. I don’t know whether he was on oxygen or not, as I wasn’t allowed to visit, but his chest was still hurting when he came home for some more bedrest.

4

I used to get pneumonia on a regular basis. It would always wipe me out for the better part of a month, even after diagnosis and starting treatment. The pneumonia itself will wear you down, and then an antibiotic will also sometimes wear you down.

About all I can say is to give supportive care, which means painkiller as appropriate, and lots of fluids. Your kid probably won’t feel like eating very much. Now is not the time to be trying exotic new dishes, especially if the antibiotic upsets his stomach. Depending on the weather, he might enjoy some of those frozen fruit juice popsicles.

A lot of antibiotics shouldn’t be taken at the same time as vitamins and calcium. Ask about the one he’s on, because sometimes they aren’t labeled.

Steamy baths or showers help loosen congestion, so if he will soak in the tub, or stay in the shower for a while, that might help.

5

Could be pleurisy secondary to the pneumonia. I have had it a few times and it is blindingly painful, mostly on coughing or drawing a really deep breath. It feels like you are being stabbed at the site of the infection. However each time analgesics didn’t help the pain much but anti-inflammatories for a few days got me through it OK.

6

Hi,

Just to add, pulse oximeter is showing normal level - 99%.
so now I am more confused, I have some shortness of breath but oxygen levels
are normal. does 99% reading mean pneumonia is not the correct diagnosis, or could mild pneumonia still read at 99%?. Thanks

7

Factual answer: wait until you see that doctor. Strangers in the internet should not try to diagnose you, you should not try to diagnose yourself even if you were a doctor.

8

Asking for personal medical advice is best suited to our forum IMHO. Moved from General Questions.

samclem, Moderator

9

I’ll get him to add Motrin to the meds and see if that helps. His appetite was pretty good until yesterday, but the change may be due to the new meds. I guess I’m used to the more typical infections we swap here, which usually respond more quickly to antibiotics.
Now I feel that creepy itch in my chest that usually means bronchitis. Damn.

10

I’ve been diagnosed with pneumonia a couple of times. It was like having a weight in my lungs and it took more than a few days to go away. I am not a doctor. Antibiotics help kill the infection but my lungs still had a lot of fluid in them and it took time to hack that up. I had that heavy weight on my chest and the feeling that I might cough every time I took a breath for maybe two weeks? Something like that. But I’m old.

I’ve never understood the suggestion of using humidifiers. I had fluid in my lungs, wouldn’t dry air help more than very humid air?

11

I have had pleursey several times, and I will second the opinion that drawing a full breath is like having a knife rammed in your chest. VERY painful.

I had pnemonia once, in 2008. It was the sickest I’ve ever been (had strep throat at the same time). I was down for close to a month with it, absolutely NO energy. Just dragging myself off the couch to let the dogs out to potty wiped me out. I went days without eating.

I hope to never be that sick again.

12

I’ve had pneumonia six or seven times. IME you get several types of chest pain:

  1. ouch, coughing hurts because I’ve been doing so much coughing
  2. dull ache from fluid-filled lungs pressing on back or ribs or whatever (may develop into full pleurisy pain)
  3. pleurisy causing sharp stabbing pain when coughing or inhaling

I don’t always get all of those in the same bout of pneumonia. Generally the sharp pains start going away once the pneumonia fever breaks and I start getting my energy back. The dull bachache pains linger a bit longer.

It will not be a quick recovery. Even the times when I didn’t know I had pneumonia for a week, and was still swimming laps every day until diagnosed, the recovery took weeks.

If he’s still in bed, expect that things will still hurt. Once he’s out of bed even if its to zone in front of the tv or computer – or if he’s complaining of being bored – that’s when to expect the pain should be going away.

13

Weird thay he has been sick for weeks with first a virus and now this, and has not once run a fever. His appetite until the new antibiotic hit was still really good, but then we are talking about a 13 yr old boy so maybe that’s no shock. He really doesn’t cough a lot either, except for occasional “fit”.
I’m thinking, Lightray, options 2 and 3 sound most likely. He says it feels like the dog is standing on his chest.*
Hearing all this, I feel even worse for him!

*It’s a big dog.

14

Apparently, pneumonia can be difficult to diagnose if you’re really healthy. I’ve had it a few times without knowing it, because I’ve got good lung capacity and wasn’t running a fever nor too rundown – just thought I’d pulled a muscle in my side until the doc sent me for an x-ray on a whim.

Healthy 13yo, I could see not running a fever. And I never had much phlegm that needed coughing up, either. But, yeah, dog on the chest sounds about right. (Particularly if it’s a dog that stabs you in the side/back when you don’t expect it. Although that really sounds more cat-like.)

15

I’m guessing this is bacterial pneumonia and not viral since the doctor is prescribing antibiotics?

I’ve had it twice and concur that it’s no fun. Took forever, it seemed, before the lingering cough went away.

16

I never had it (diagnosed) myself, but I had several friends that have. It can take months to feel right, maybe less for kids. The one friend died, but he was 60 and a smoker who was not diagnosed soon enough.

My best suggestion is to go overboard seeking treatment. Don’t just wait to see if things get better tomorrow if you don’t see what you should expect today. The doctor has to tell you what to expect. You can take chances with yourself, but not with your kids.

17

He’s feeling a little better today…at least has been on thecouch instead of bed. Will see how he is tomorrow, but I think this medicine may do the trick. Day by day…

18

I made up my mind that I wasn’t going to respond, but I have no will power.

Can you tell me, please, why you think you have pneumonia? In other words, what symptoms/signs do you have that you feel indicate the presence of pneumonia?

Equally, or maybe even more importantly, do you think there are any symptoms that you do not have that would have suggested or indicated the presence of pneumonia had they been present?

19

The fluid in the lungs isn’t just water, it’s mucus. And if the patient breathes dry air, then the mucus dries out and gets sort of stuck in the lungs. If the patient breathes moist air, then the mucus runs a bit more freely, and can be coughed up more easily. And trust me, coughing that stuff up is a GOOD thing.

20

IANAD. However, the stabbing pain you describe sounds like pleurisy.

Pleurisy is AWFUL!!! I had it for about a month :frowning: When I had it, it hit me out of nowhere, too – fine one minute, took a nap and when I woke up I thought I was dying.