# Why such a long recovery from pneumonia?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-such-a-long-recovery-from-pneumonia/463010>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [September 10, 2008, 10:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-such-a-long-recovery-from-pneumonia/463010 "2008-09-10T22:24:38Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 5\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![BwanaBob](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bwanabob/32/2985_2.png) [@BwanaBob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BwanaBob)\
**Post date:** [September 10, 2008, 10:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-such-a-long-recovery-from-pneumonia/463010/1 "2008-09-10T22:24:38Z")

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My doctor never really gave me a straight answer. I had it twice in my thirties and what bothered me the most was that I felt great once the antibiotics kicked in and the lungs started to clear. But damn no sooner did the lungs clear then I started to have no stamina left. What causes that? Were my cells so “robbed” of oxygen that I suffered the pangs of O2 deprivation?

Other people I know who had it said they went through the same thing.

Googling only confirms that there is a longish recovery time dependent on fitness before the pneumonia. Nowhere does it explain the reasons.

Can anyone help?

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**Author:** ![MLS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/919ad9/32.png) [@MLS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MLS)\
**Post date:** [September 11, 2008, 12:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-such-a-long-recovery-from-pneumonia/463010/2 "2008-09-11T00:58:48Z")

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IANAD, but I did have pneumonia, twice. My theory is that the body just has a whole lot of work to do repairing the damage.

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**Author:** ![Lynn\_Bodoni](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e47c2d/32.png) [@Lynn\_Bodoni](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lynn_Bodoni)\
**Post date:** [September 11, 2008, 5:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-such-a-long-recovery-from-pneumonia/463010/3 "2008-09-11T05:10:42Z")

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This isn’t an answer to your question, but have you asked your doctor about getting a pneumonia shot? Those things are great, and I’ve been told that they last for about 10 years. They won’t prevent every case of pneumonia, but they seem to have prevented most of mine. I used to get it at least once each winter, but now I hardly ever get it.

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**Author:** ![NinjaChick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/71c47a/32.png) [@NinjaChick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NinjaChick)\
**Post date:** [September 11, 2008, 3:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-such-a-long-recovery-from-pneumonia/463010/4 "2008-09-11T15:12:37Z")

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I just barely remembering having pneumonia when I was about six years old and I vividly remember feeling fine about a day into the antibiotics. I don’t recall any particular fatigue or anything after that.

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**Author:** ![BwanaBob](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bwanabob/32/2985_2.png) [@BwanaBob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BwanaBob)\
**Post date:** [September 11, 2008, 4:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-such-a-long-recovery-from-pneumonia/463010/5 "2008-09-11T16:36:26Z")

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Yes Lynn, thanks, I already got the pneumovax shot. It’s one of those vaccines that people should just get because it can spare a whole lot of grief later, and would probably save some lives.